human factors

This is the second of the 4 part blog series on the 4 M’s to Effective Ergonomics Systems in the Short and Long Term.  The second “M” is Marketing.  By marketing I mean that the ergonomics systems and associated projects should have a brand.  Consider the following:  What company name comes to mind based on the following:  a Swoosh and the tagline “Just Do It”?  Or what company comes to mind if I tell you the logo is a red bullseye?  If you said Nike and Target you’d be correct.  What about the company you work for?  Does it have a brand—a logo and/or tagline?

I was at a business association meeting recently when I sat down at a table with 5 other attendees.

The new Ford Escape 2013 has recently got into dealer showrooms.  It has been advertised as a complete makeover compared to the old model in both body style and interior comforts and safety features.  The safety features in vehicles today are quite impressive as they try to prevent human error and if error occurs, protect the occupants of the vehicle.  I took a test drive of the 2013 Escape which had a few features that got my attention.

There recently was a short article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune in which a nursing home was cited for neglect in a resident’s death.  In reading the information contained in the article I think a better, more accurate way to state the problem instead of neglect would have been to cite the nursing home for a breakdown in their resident care system.  I see a lack of a systems approach using human factors for resident care.  For if one was in place the death of the resident could have been prevented.

Are you involved in running a business or “program” within a business such as Lean, Ergonomics, Process Improvement, Safety, Quality, Operations, …you get the idea?  If so, what is your goal?  Often I hear people say something similar to the following, “I want an effective and sustainable fill-in-the-blank program”.

There are times when I have a few free moments that I will ‘surf the net’ and see what headlines grab my attention.  I was doing this last week when I came across this headline “AIG’s Benmosche, Speaking From His Seaside Villa, Says World Will Need To Retire At 80” which was posted on www.zerohedge.com.  Mr.

I’m attending and presenting at ASSE Safety 2012 this week.  The speaker of one session I attended yesterday said something that really got my attention.  He was talking about how to influence employee behavior in order to achieve better safety performance.  He was explaining that it is difficult to get employees to behave safely.  Then he said this, “We (meaning safety professionals) have to admit that it is harder (for employees) to work safer than not.”  I was taken aback from that statement.  Working safely shouldn’t be harder than working unsafe–unless, of course, the work environment,

In my previous blog I described the how behavioral based safety and ergonomics are not the same and definitely do not utilize the same approach.  That being said, companies are really good at identifying “bad” employee behavior and using policy, observations and enforcement to correct it.  So the question becomes how do companies who aren’t versed in ergonomics learn how to change behavior through workplace design?  Let’s start with a simple framework on which built upon.

There are basically 7 steps to determining design solutions to change behavior.

I recently attended a presentation in which the speaker was trying to make the case that behavioral safety and ergonomics are virtual the same and go hand in hand together.  He started off by saying that bad behaviors are caused by bad ergonomics and that good ergonomics can produce wanted (good) behaviors.  I totally agreed with him but then he gave the following example:

This hasn’t been the week for me in terms of health.  It started last weekend with a nasty sore throat and by Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I had a fever of 102.  Not being accustomed to being sick, especially having a fever, I decided to go into an Urgent Care clinic.  Despite having a fever, chills and body aches I was able to focus on the incorporation of ergonomics into the design and equipment of the exam room.  Here are a few observations that caught my attention for meeting/fitting the needs of the patients and caregivers alike: