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:
Over the remainder of the year I’m going to blog about some of the lessons I’ve learned through the years through practicing, facilitating and consulting on ergonomics, lean and process improvement. Today is the first blog in this series on “Lessons Learned”.
It is becoming more and more apparent that shift work has a negative effect on workers’ performance, injury level, sleep quality and quantity and overall health. In recent blogs I’ve shared studies and articles that showed the increased work-related injuries in shift work employees, and the negative effects caused by worker fatigue in general. Another study, Job Stress and Work Schedules in Relation to Obesity was recently released in the Journal of Nursing Admi
In my previous blog I discussed the indisputable fact that working extended hours causes worker fatigue and lowers performance. This was regardless of the time of day that was worked. Another aspect to consider is the effect of shift work on worker performance. I will define shift work as either the night shift or rotation shifts working normal amount of work hours (8-10 hours/shift). A recent study of Canadian workers shows some interesting results in regards to work injuries. The study covered a 10 year period, 1996-2006, and examined the injury rates of workers differentiated by the
In an article I wrote last year, “To Stretch or Not To Stretch”, I concluded that stretching programs for the purpose of reducing injuries were not shown to be or not be effective. As such, businesses should closely evaluate the costs of devoting time and resources to stretching programs compared to the supposed benefits. I’d like to follow up that article with research done by Hess and Hecker on Workplace Stretching Programs: The Rest of the Story. In their research
How many people or friends do you know who work 12+ hour shifts or work long shifts several days in a row with little sleep? How many professions do you whose work requires the same? I can name at least 12 friends that I know who long hours. I also know the toll those hours take on them professionally and personally. As for professions, probably the first ones that come to mind are doctors, nurses, police, firefighters and military personnel. There are other workers who have similar work demands, although they may occur when production demands (i.e.
If I had a penny for every time I’ve heard that ergonomics is “expensive” I wouldn’t be writing this blog but instead sitting on a beach somewhere. The perception that ergonomics is expensive seems to be a widely held belief in many people I’ve talked to whether they are clients, potential clients or at people I’ve met at conferences, meetings or networking events. I’ve seen this perception prevent the implementation of ergonomic programs at more companies that I’d care to admit. The question that must be asked is, “Is the perception true or false?” The answer is both, true and false, d
In this blog series I’ve been focusing on ergonomic assessments. The first one dealt with the 5 components of an assessment. The second dealt with the type of questions to ask for the gathering background information and physical ergonomics. In this blog I want to provide some examples that relate to understanding and examining the impact of the mind and the organization.
Asking the right questions and getting the correct answers are necessary in order to do a thorough ergonomic assessment. In my previous blog I laid out the 5 components of an ergonomic assessment. Let’s do a brief overview of the type of questions to ask in the first and second components.
One of my recent clients that had me analyze the design of their products also asked to me assess the human factors of the brand and associated marketing and instructional material. What was very interesting for me was to learn about the process they undertook when developing a brand campaign for their products. That experience serves as part of the basis for this blog. There is much to be learned and can be applied from an external customer focused branding/marketing campaign to an internal project branding/marketing campaign. The framework and phases involved serve as the foundation o
