[Image courtesy of Flickr user Darren Johnson via a Creative Commons license]Believe it or not, the concept of ergonomics is not just about individual pieces of furniture, like a chair or keyboard. As all parts of your body form a system, so the ergonomics of helping your system move efficiently are a system and culture that needs to be instilled in your office.
Anyway, I will use this blog post to discuss these two articles and e-book that should help you decide the role that ergonomics can and should play in your work space, as this is usually a good time for companies – if hey deem necessary – to order new office furniture.
Ergonomic Program Management
Yes, ergonomics is not just about buying new chairs or those funky-looking keyboards. Ergonomics has to be a way of life, of sorts, in your office to be truly effective. In a way, it has to become its own culture within the overarching office culture that is tied to safety.
This is illustrated by the article written by Winnie Ip and Walt Rostykus for Interface magazine, the publication for the Ergonomics Practice Specialty of the ASSE.
The article, titled “Five Critical Elements for Managing an Ergonomics Program,” features what essentially are the building blocks to develop an ergonomics culture in the workplace.
There is a whole system behind the chair and keyboard, you see.
Ip and Rostykus use their article to spell out how an ergonomic culture can be instilled in a work space no matter the office or busness shifts that ar always inevitable. The article fleshes out each of the five elements, which should be present in an existing program and should be able to withstand whatever changes may come in the future.
These five elements of an effective ergonomics program are:
* Target cause,
* Common goal,
* Top down,
* Familiar system, and
* Regular checks.
The Ergonomics of Lifting
Yes, I know. We all seem to give consistent or constant reminders about how to best lift objects safely. Many workers at some point have to do some lifting, whether its’s a relatvely light piece of office euipment to a large box of cargo.
But you know, despite all of our reminders and the back braces and signage about how to lift objects, sprains and strains related to lifting still occur in large numbers. Why?
Elise Condie and Jessica Ellison delve into this mystery with their recent article in HealthBeat magazine titled, “Lightening the Load: Ergonomic Solutions that Reduce Patient Lifting Injuries.” What Condie and Ellison did with this article is take a look at several case studies in hospital settings where patients are lifted and moved.
As is plain to see, the human body is a heavy and awkwardly shaped object, so to lift it safely is a tremendous challenge and is not just about your feet being shoulder-width apart and having a back brace. Even with all the training and reminders, hospitals were still finding a number of their workers were suffering strains and sprains directly related to the lifting and moving of patients.
Condie and Ellison wrote that an entire culture change had to be undergone – which included commitment by management to ensure the changes, the right resources (type and amount), training, consultation (from ergonomic experts), equipment and the design of the facility itself – in order to see a marked reduction in the lifting-based injuries.
The article was an opportunity for Condie and Ellison to provide case studies of how this culture change was needed and the impact on the amount of injury-based lost time at the hospitals. The full article can be read at
www.asse.org/psextra.
Making the Ergonomics Argument
One common thread as you may notice is a familiar refrain among safety officers,no matter the safety initiative or procedure:
Management buy-in is a must, or any safety initiative goes by the wayside. And when it comes to ergonomics, it is no different. Getting management to understand the value of such an initiative is necessary, but it is also difficult.
How do you sell ergonomics to management, when the chairs and keyboards you currently have aren’t broken or need to be replaced on their own?
Fortunately, there is now a helpful resource for making the argument. Humantech has just recently published a free e-book titled, Five Steps to Getting Buy-in for Your Ergonomics Process.
The e-book, which can be downloaded (yes, for free)
at this link and was written by Humantech vice president James Mallon, walks readers through the questions that would undoubtedly be asked by management, and would need to be answered, in order for the C-suite to align behind an ergonomics initiative with some of its precious corporate resources.
The main questions that usuay need to be answered have to do with time, effort, one and the expected results of the initiaitve. If any one of these is not answered in a reasonably specific way, the initiative may be doomed for File 86.
Mallon helps answer the question by describing the five steps to getting approval by management:
* Present the full opportunity – no omissions or shortcuts;
* Understand the needs of the various stakeholders;
* Accurately define costs and benefits;
* Ensure a clear strategy for implementation; and
* Develop a system to monitor, take measurements and adjust as necessary.
Sounds like a piece of cake, right?
