Ergonomic Assessments: Top 5 Reasons They Fail To Solve The Problem

“Ergonomics doesn’t work.”  “Ergonomic changes didn’t solve the problem—it continues just the same.”  “Ergonomics just frustrates me—it just doesn’t seem to produce the type of changes (benefit) I think it should.”  Those of words I’ve heard from clients who have tried ergonomics and obviously, have not had good results.  I know more people who are frustrated with ergonomics or don’t put much stock into ergonomics after seeing little or no benefit from implementing “ergonomic changes”.  Have you ever heard or said those words?  If so, keep reading.  I’d like to address what I see are the top five reasons for why ergonomics fails to solve the problem, although the list could certainly be longer.   I believe it all starts with the assessment.

Reason #1:  Ergonomic assessment limited to just “Physical” Ergonomics

In this series on the ergonomic assessment I described the three categories of ergonomics:  physical, cognitive and organizational.  If one just looks at the physical aspects of a problem and neglects to analyze the cognitive and organizational factors the result will be 1/3 complete.  This will lead to inaccurate determine of root cause and subsequent solutions.

Reason #2:  Failure to ask the right questions

Asking questions is an art as well as a science so to speak.  How you ask a question is sometimes just as important as the question itself.  Look at the problem and ask questions from all angles, not just the convenient angle.  Include questions from all three ergonomic categories.  Be prepared that some answers to your questions do not come easily or quickly—that’s ok.  It’s better to ask and wait for answers than to move on without having them.

Reason #3:  Assuming the answer before doing the assessment/investigation

Assessor/investigator bias is one of the hardest things to guard against.  It is very easy to hear about a problem/outcome and assume one knows the root cause and solution before even starting the assessment.  I tell people to check their bias, emotions and feelings at the door before beginning an assessment.   This can be very hard to do as it’s easy to let your “gut” tell you where to focus your investigation.  Take a step back and ask yourself if you’re looking for a cause or looking for facts/information to support what you think is the cause.

Reason #4:  Stopping at blaming the human

All too often assessments begin and end with the human involved in the problem.  It is so easy to do a “blame and train” assessment, meaning the root cause is the result of human error and the solution is to do more training (or in some cases, companies fire the human to get rid of the “problem”).  It more much more difficult and sometimes not politically correct to look at the process and system involved for the root cause.  Very rarely to workers get up in the morning and say to themselves, “I want to hurt myself today” or “I want to screw up the job I do as much as possible”.  Most often there are little defects that occur over time within a process that finally manifests itself as a “human error” problem.  Take a closer look; it just may be a process problem.

Reason #5:  Solutions revolve around training, new tools/equipment; not process

Reason #1 and 4 leads us to reason #5 which is focused on the physical and the humans involved and ignoring the system within which the work is done.  Many times companies buy new equipment or tools for their workers to use that will make their job “safer” only to have the employees not use the new tools or continue to have the same problem or a new problem due to the new equipment.  New tools/equipment may very well be necessary but the new tools/equipment has to be evaluated for hazards that they may create.  Or new tools may be treating a symptom but the root cause is still unaddressed.

This is just an overview of what I believe are the primary reasons for why ergonomic assessment fail.  What are some of the reasons you see for why ergonomic assessments fail to produce