Most companies use ergonomics in some degree to address related to workplace injuries. Unfortunately, despite their best intentions some companies make major mistakes with ergonomics. Below are three common mistakes companies make with ergonomics:
Mistake #1: The Wrong Emphasis
Culture: “the integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance”—E. Adamson Hoebel from his book Anthropology: The study of man.
(If you’re a regular reader of my newsletter or have had the opportunity to work with us, you are very familiar with our Do More With L.E.S.S. (Lean, Ergonomics, Six Sigma and Systems Thinking) strategy and approach to problem solving and increasing organizational performance. Today I want to give you the top 3 ways of getting the most out of L.E.S.S.)
In part 1 we looked at current business disciplines, their associated strengths and weaknesses and the reason for why a new strategy and approach is need for proactively and reactively solving productivity, efficiency and safety issues. In part 2 we are going to explore the power of L.E.S.S. ™
The Power of L.E.S.S. ™
Normally communication is a good thing, actually a necessary thing in order for work to get done properly and in a timely manner. In fact, I encourage my clients to evaluate and improve their communication and communication processes with their employees. This makes rolling out new initiatives (such as Lean, Ergonomics, etc.) as well as general everyday work go smoothly with minimal frustrations, misconceptions or “mis-work”.
Recently I gave a presentation at Safety 2013, ASSE’s professional development conference called the “Nuts and Bolts of Effective and Sustainable Ergonomics Programs”. The “Nuts and Bolts” focused on the management system of ergonomics, not on the tools and methods used for ergonomic assessment. I did this because the reasons most programs, whether ergonomics or other, fail is because they lack a management/business system. Thinking of ergonomics in terms of a management system isn’t routine or common to most people who are responsible for ergonomics. This was verified by the comments I
It seems as though everyone is doing Lean these days—Lean Office, Lean Manufacturing, Lean this and Lean that. Lean is a very good process improvement methodology started by Toyota.
Last week I presented the first 5 reasons of my Top 10 list for why ergonomics (and lean) programs failure. Here are the next five:
