Lesson 222 of Industrial Engineering FREE ONLINE Course.
2.4 DEVELOPING AN ERGONOMICS STRATEGY AT WORK
2.4.1 Systems - Culture of an Organisation – Commitment and Decision-making
Organisations are systems and they are made up of sub-systems acting together to meet the objectives of the organisation. Systems are the structures that underlie complex situations. A system can be considered to be a set of interrelated and interdependent parts arranged so that it appears to be a unified whole. Organisations themselves are sub-systems within society.
The size and complexity of an organisation is often baffling and intimidating for individuals within it. Understanding what constitutes a system, how it works and how and why decisions are made can help individuals become more active in the process of change and development.
a) Managing Change
In the developed world change is a feature of most workplaces. As a result ‘change management’ is a term commonly used to denote a special approach to the way changes are handled in an organisation.
Responses of individuals to a change proposal will vary depending on the age, sex, education of the person and a range of other personal and social factors. What works well in one location for one group may not work in another. These issues need to be recognised as a barrier to change and addressed appropriately. managed. Therefore designers and decision-makers must take care not to impose change without adequate consultation or to transfer technology and systems from one workplace to another without a proper analysis of local requirements and limitations.
It is unreasonable and counter-productive to be too prescriptive in an approach to solutions for recognised and foreseeable problems. This tends to blunt imagination and discourage local, more appropriate solutions over the long-term. If general principles of good task and workplace design are understood and applied, and peoples’ local needs are given adequate consideration when planning the system, the basic mismatches and obvious problems can be avoided.
More specialist ergonomics input becomes necessary as the complexities of the systems increase and as the need to contain costs and to reduce errors and wastage becomes more critical. System reviews are essential to ensure that changes are working and to rectify outstanding problems.
Essential elements to successful change management are:
• Careful and iterative planning moving from generalised goals to more specific and concrete objectives
• Commitment to the change by the most senior managers
• Involvement of and participation by stakeholders (individuals or groups who will be affected by the change)
• Knowledge and communication including adequate feedback
• Incentives for individuals to change
• Support by managers and fellow workers
b) Consultation and Feedback
Consultation with workers is considered a necessary part of the organisation of work and is encompassed in some OHS legislation in Australia. It can be defined as the sharing of information and the exchange of views between employers, employees and their representatives. It includes worker participation in identifying and solving problems, in decision-making and in obtaining feedback from workers on the success of programs and interventions. It is an active and inclusive process and needs to be systematically practiced in order to gain the benefits.
Feedback and communication are necessary for effective worker participation. The process takes time and can be difficult to establish if workers are not used to making decisions and solving problems.
An essential component of a safety program is feedback to and from workers. Where there is a steady flow of information on progress, hurdles and developments workers respond better than when this information is absent.
Effective communication is central to all efficient management systems and in order to be effective it must be optimised (worker satisfaction is efficiency). Too much information, particularly if it is of marginal value, bogs people down and they may opt out by ignoring all communications.
Too little information and employees can feel left out and resentful. Information that comes down through an organisation’s hierarchy should be matched by information that goes up. Its impact will be related to its need-to-know qualities. (See also Risk Management, Section 3.2.)
2.4.2 Macro-ergonomics and Participatory Ergonomic Teams
Solving ergonomics problems involves improvements at various levels within a system. Local ergonomics solutions (microergonomics) often cannot be properly implemented because of wider issues. To be effective today’s systems require people to be involved in implementing changes including ergonomics solutions if they are to be really effective. This is also required by some occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation.
Systems ergonomics is also referred to as organisational design and management (ODAM) or macro ergonomics. It tries to examine the whole picture. It attempts to look at problems and issues in the perspective of the overall system so that it achieves effective and lasting change.
The macroergonomic approach allows an organisation to examine the root causes of ergonomic issues, rather than reacting to microergonomic problems, and as such is a comprehensive ergonomic method.
Participatory ergonomics teams can be formed within organisations to address macroergonomic issues. These teams are formed using employees from all levels and units of an organisation to address macro and micro ergonomics issues with the view to making good ergonomics part of the overall business strategy. This type of team demonstrates the organisation’s commitment to the role of ergonomics within the business/organisation and requires effective systems, teamwork training and communication methods.
Additionally, participatory ergonomics teams facilitate a process of continual improvement leading to strategic use of the teams within and across the business/organisation.
The diagram below shows a participatory ergonomics process model linking various key players and business units within an organisation.
2.4.3 Ergonomics at the Design Stage
Design of equipment, workplaces and systems of work require design to ergonomic specifications as well as the production of the output. Ergonomics is about designing for the user population, but also to consider the potential population that may access the workplace. A good example of this is the consideration of wheelchair users when designing door widths and accommodating the needs of the ageing workforce given the foreseen increase in older workers in employment into the future. Workplaces, equipment and work environments that are designed for a greater range of people to use provide greater flexibility in terms of who can effectively operate in that environment. In other words, we need to design for the greatest percentage of the population, see Section 2.5.5.
However, even with the best design process, unforseen issues may arise. To overcome this, the process of trials, mock-ups or prototypes is undertaken in order to consult with the user group and make modifications based on the feedback.
This area will be addressed further in Chaper 3, Ergonomics Methods and Techniques.
2.4.4 Developing Ergonomics, Professional Ergonomists and Competence
The peak ergonomics body is the IEA (International Ergonomics Association). This association has on overarching aim of promoting the knowledge and practice of ergonomics through initiatives and cooperation of its federated societies around the world. The IEA lists its goals and objectives as:
• To develop more effective communication and collaboration with federated societies
• To advance the science and practice of ergonomics at an international level
• To enhance the contribution of the ergonomics discipline to global society
In order to fulfil these objectives, the “IEA establishes international contacts among those active in the field, cooperates with international organisations to facilitate the practical application of ergonomics in industry and other areas, and encourages scientific research by qualified persons in the field of study and practice.” (IEA 2008)
The IEA has established a number of technical committees working on key ergonomics issues across the globe, and lists these as:
• Activity Theories for Work Analysis and Design
• Aerospace HFE
• Affective Product Design
• Aging
• Anthropometry
• Auditory Ergonomics
• Building and Construction
• Ergonomics for Children and Educational Environments
• Ergonomics in Design • Gender and Work
• Healthcare Ergonomics
• Human Aspects of Advanced Manufacturing
• Human Reliability
• Musculoskeletal Disorders
• Organisational Design and Management
• Primary Industries
• Process Control
• Psychophysiology in Ergonomics
• Quality Management
• Safety & Health
• Slips, Trips and Falls
• Work With Computing Systems - WWCS
While the IEA does not act as an accrediting or licensing body, it does have a set of criteria and procedures for assessing and endorsing professional certifying bodies and programs around the world – the Criteria for IEA Endorsement, 2001. Additionally, the IEA has a series of competencies for Ergonomists and guidelines for accrediting tertiary education programs (within member societies/associations). A list of the guidelines and criteria is set out below:
• International Directory of Ergonomics Programs
• Core Competencies in Ergonomics: Introduction
• Summary of Core Competencies in Ergonomics
• Criteria for IEA Endorsement of Certifying Bodies
• Guidelines for Process of Endorsing a Certification Body
• Guidelines on Standards for Accreditation of Ergonomics Education
Programs at Tertiary (University) Level
• IEA Code of Conduct for Ergonomists (COCE)
Each member organisation around the world has various methods of accrediting or certifying Ergonomists in their own country. For example, the USA, Canada and New Zealand have a certification process, Britain and Australia a Professional Affairs Board which analyse applications for Fellow of the Society and Certified Professional Ergonomist respectively.
A detailed description of the certification process and approaches can be found in “Fundamentals and Assessment Tools in Occupational Ergonomics” 2006, Chapter 1, by Jahns.
2.4.5 Seeing the Whole Picture
As most people realise disorders arising from work can have a number of causes and they are not always obvious. Organisations are complex and people are too. For instance we now know that physical disorders may not arise purely from physical stresses. Psychological and social factors can contribute to the development of symptoms in some individuals at particular times. In order to understand these issues we need to examine the work and its organisation more broadly and understand how various work factors may interact with each other and how personal factors might change the impact of work factors.
In occupational ergonomics, the physical design aspects of work or the ‘hardware’ may be only part of the problem and therefore part of the solution. In some cases it may be a small part. Other factors influence the development of a problem including work organisation and task design, job content, work demands and control over workload, support and training. Usually these aspects require ergonomics to be integrated into the broader work systems.
Therefore to determine if an optimum solution has been achieved the people who will perform the work (the ‘who’), the nature of the tasks (the ‘what’) and the context in which they are done (the ‘where’, ‘when’ and the ‘how’) need to be considered.
REBA
Rapid Entire Body Analysis (REBA)
Vinayak Shete
Warehouse Solution Design | FMS MBA Exec | Part time writer
November 3, 2019
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rapid-entire-body-analysis-reba-vinayak-shete/
Ud. 15.11.2023
Pub. 12.11.2021
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