Design

Part 1:

With the fairly recent identification of “sitting disease” and the focus on improving employee performance, health and wellness there has been a number of sit-stand computer workstation devices to hit the market.  Recently I had the opportunity to see, experience and evaluate a relatively new computer workstation sit-stand device called the VARIDESK.  I’ve seen the VARIDESK online before but never in person until now.  The VARIDESK website describes it as an “adjustable height stand-up desk that allows you to transform your workspace by switching from

“Sitting is the new smoking”   “Sitting is going to kill you”  “Stand Up!”

Patient falls in healthcare settings has long been a problem that despite many attempts to solve still continues to happen all too frequently.  The solution most hospitals and long term care facililities have implemented in recent years are bed and chair alarms.

What is the age that you use to define for an “older” worker?  Is it 45, 50, 55 or 65?  Employers across the nation are seeing the average age of their work force getting older each year as people are delaying retirement more than ever before.  This is a trend that has employers concerned for several reasons with two being the most impactful—potential injury/safety ramifications and upcoming knowledge loss.  The “common wisdom” has been that older workers don’t get hurt often but when they do the expenses are very high.  Is this “common wisdom” true?  A

Many companies devote time to training their employees on back safety in which they teach the basics of back anatomy and safe lifting techniques.  The question I have had on this training “Is the time and money spent on back injury prevention worth it?”  Of course, this question (“Is it worth it?”) should be asked of any training.  After all, training takes time, takes employees away from their jobs and therefore is a significant investment by the company in their personnel as well as financially.

It is well known that obesity is an epidemic in America with over 60% of Americans either overweight or obese. (1) Recently there have been two studies published which caught my attention due to fact that both were in regards to obesity and driving.  Both studies left me to believe that ergonomics and wellness are imperative for employers as well as communities.  Let me explain why.

Why does there still remain a chasm between productivity and prevention?  In the great majority of companies I’ve worked for and others I’ve known they maintain separate departments and personnel on productivity and prevention, i.e. operations, quality/lean vs. EHS, risk management.  There is little, if any, overlap or regular collaboration between them.  This disconnect often results in work policies, procedures and design that are less than optimal for employee performance.

This is the sixth blog in the series on deer hunting and Lean, Ergonomics (Human Factors, Six Sigma and Systems Thinking (L.E.S.S.).  In my last blog I discuss how I’ve applied process improvement principles to individual components of deer hunting.  In this part I want to focus on systems thinking and systems approach to deer hunting—the final “S” in L.E.S.S.

Pushing and pulling is involved in many tasks and jobs in a wide variety of industries.  In order to avoid injuries and optimize efficiency it is important to properly design pushing and pulling tasks.  A good online resource that explains the ergonomics of material handling in general and then goes into the details of pushing and pulling tasks is called “