What’s Up? Participatory Ergonomics at [Insert company name]:

Management Representatives:Enter names hereEnter names hereEnter names hereEnter names here

Worker Representatives:Enter names hereEnter names hereEnter names hereEnter names here

Ergo Team Members:

Ergonomics is “fitting the job to the worker, not the worker to the job.” Workstations, production lines, and the environment are designed, altered or controlled to reduce the risk of injury and make the task easier.

Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders

•Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) in production settings are associated with such activities as prolonged standing, repetitive motions, fast paced work, working in awkward positions, vibrations, forceful exertions, precise hand movements and heavy manual materials handling.

•Some examples of WMSDs are bursitis, carpel tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, tennis elbow, and low back pain.

•Symptoms of WMSDs include pain, burning, tingling and numbness.

•Many WMSDs can result in long-term or permanent discomfort or injury if not promptly identified and corrected.

Participatory Ergonomics at [INSERT COMPANY NAME]•In [Insert Year], company management asked an ergonomist to develop a new ergonomics program that would improve the occupational health and safety (OHS) capacity within the plant.

•We decided to create a Participatory Ergonomics (PE) program to address the current operational needs.

•In this PE program we are employing Participatory Ergonomics Principles to improve the ability of workers and management at the plant to identify activities and working conditions that could contribute to WMSDs and to develop solutions to these problems.

In participatory ergonomics, workers and management work in an Ergo-Team to identify ways to reduce risk. Both workers and management personnel learn how to identify and reduce risk and to apply their knowledge together.

Want to know more?

If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to one of the Ergo-Team members:

[Contact information for ERGO-TEAM members]

Comments and suggestions on this project are welcome!INTERVENTION AREA:______________________________

Developing an “Ergo-Team” at [INSERT COMPANY NAME]

Set up a joint worker-management Ergo-Team at the company. They are called the Ergo-Team because they are learning to use the basic principles of ergonomics to identify the risk of WMSDs associated with certain jobs and reduce those risks.

Members of the Ergo-Team learn about the ethics of workplace research. They learn about free and voluntary consent; the right of workers to refuse to participate; and about the need to explain what will be done with the information collected.

The Ergo-Team, in consultation with the ergonomist and management, identify work areas that could benefit from an ergonomics intervention.

The Ergo-Team learns about basic ergonomic analysis techniques including basic measurements and how to analyse work videos to identify risk.

The Ergo-Team video-records volunteer workers doing their jobs in areas selected for intervention, discusses the work with the volunteers, and develops potential solutions.

The Ergo-Team identifies problem areas and reports problems and potential solutions to the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee.

The Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee reviews the report and decides whether to forward it on to management.

The Intervention Process:

Area identified for ergonomics intervention:

Area workers were interviewed on:

Ergo-Team completed area ergonomics assessment on:

Ergo-Team met to discuss intervention options on:

Results and intervention recommendations were sent to OHS Committee on:

Proposed date for changes to work area are:

The Participatory Ergonomics Process

Management &

WorkersErgonomist

Ergo-Team

Recommendations

OHS Committee

Management

Knowledge & Need