5 Essential Components of Ergonomic Programs (Part 1)

Are you frustrated with your ergonomics program because the results haven’t been effective? Are you having difficulty sustaining momentum and justifying keeping the program going? Are thinking of implementing an ergonomics program? Or, are you looking for ways to improve your program? If you said yes to any of these then keep on reading. Based upon my experience in working with companies as well as talking to others who are in charge of ergonomics at their respective companies the reasons most companies struggle with establishing effective ergonomic programs are fairly consistent—they lack a solid foundation. There are certain components that must be in place in order for ergonomic programs to be successful long term. The top 5 essential elements are as follows:

System based
Tied into the mission and strategic initiatives of the company
Effective business case
Ergonomic performance standards built into everyone’s performance expectations
Real time metrics combined with continuous improvement

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

System-based

Ergonomics needs to be approached as a system in two ways. First, the application of ergonomics must be applied in a systems approach manner, meaning looking at the problem or design of a process or product as a whole and its individual parts. All too often the symptom is the focus of the ergonomic investigation. It’s not that the symptom, i.e. “site of the problem”, shouldn’t be looked at but instead all of the areas, process and equipment associated with the symptom. Very rarely does anything happen in complete isolation. In order to identify the correct root cause it is imperative to look at things as a system—interconnected pieces working in concert with each other.

The second system is to treat and use the ergonomics program as another business system. Many companies already use a form of process improvement and lean in their operations. What are they? They are a type of business system that focuses on improving and reducing waste within the business system. Similarly, ergonomics is focus on optimizing business system and human performance. Ergonomics is a business system. Only when fully integrated into business operations will your ergonomics program achieve its full impact on your company.

Tie into the mission and strategic initiatives of the company

It’s probably a very safe bet that ergonomics isn’t mentioned in the mission and value statements of your company. It might be listed as a strategic initiative, but again I would venture to say that that is highly unlikely. However, does your company have initiatives that are focused on increasing employee engagement? Reducing production time/unit? Increasing quality? If so, those are exactly the point and purpose of ergonomics. Remember ergonomics is used to increase productivity, efficiency, quality, employee satisfaction/retention, customer satisfaction and safety. Ergonomics should be used with any initiative that involves one or more of these things. In addition, when ergonomics is aligned with the company’s operating goals, the program will automatically prove its benefit and value to the company’s bottom line.

Effective Business Case

Does your ergonomic program struggle for funding each year? If so, why? What is your business case built on? One of the most common limitations and mistakes I see with ergonomic programs is that they are built only on preventing injuries. The entire business case on built on decreasing workers’ compensation costs and injuries. There isn’t anything wrong with using ergonomics to focus on injuries; however, it is only a fraction of the impact of ergonomics. We all know that ROI (return on investment) is calculated by dividing the benefits of the ergonomic process by the cost of the ergonomic process. The only way to improve the ROI is to either have minimal cost or to broaden the benefits of ergonomics. The first can present a challenge; the latter can easily be done if one is aware of the many stakeholders and benefits of ergonomics. Here’s a partial list of the key stakeholders and their associated “pain points” that ergonomics can benefit:

Plant manager—profits, everything listed below
EHS manager—injuries, reducing risk
HR manager—employee satisfaction, engagement, retention, turnover
Operations/engineering—productivity, quality, cost/unit, time/unit
Employees—personal safety and satisfaction
Supervisors—job rotation schedule, employees on restricted duty

By including all of these stakeholders the benefits to the company are greatly increased with a ROI that every CFO can love.

One other point on ergonomic business cases that are based solely on injuries—what happens when your injuries go away? If your ergonomics program is based only on injuries, then it doesn’t need to continue once your injuries are gone. Don’t be surprised or upset if your ergonomics program isn’t being funded fully or is being cut when you limit your program and business case only to work comp and injuries. Once the injuries goals are achieved, there is no reason (ROI) to continue ergonomics—unless ergonomics is used as a business system and is used improve system performance. Then and only then will ergonomics truly be embraced and appreciated by all levels of the company.

In Part 2 we'll cover the 4h and 5th components of an ergonomics program along with recommendations on where the program should reside within your organization.