Transcript Information Poster

What’s Up? Participatory Ergonomics at [Insert company name]:
Ergonomics is “fitting the job to the worker, not the worker to the job.”
Workstations, production lines, and the environment are designed, altered or
controlled to reduce the risk of injury and make the task easier.
Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders
• Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) in production settings are associated with such
activities as prolonged standing, repetitive motions, fast paced work, working in awkward positions,
vibrations, forceful exertions, precise hand movements and heavy manual materials handling.
• Some examples of WMSDs are bursitis, carpel tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, tennis
elbow, and low back pain.
Developing an “Ergo-Team” at [INSERT COMPANY NAME]
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Set up a joint worker-management Ergo-Team at the company. They are called the Ergo-Team
because they are learning to use the basic principles of ergonomics to identify the risk of
WMSDs associated with certain jobs and reduce those risks.
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Members of the Ergo-Team learn about the ethics of workplace research. They learn about
free and voluntary consent; the right of workers to refuse to participate; and about the need to
explain what will be done with the information collected.
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The Ergo-Team, in consultation with the ergonomist and management, identify work areas that
could benefit from an ergonomics intervention.
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The Ergo-Team learns about basic ergonomic analysis techniques including basic
measurements and how to analyse work videos to identify risk.
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The Ergo-Team video-records volunteer workers doing their jobs in areas selected for
intervention, discusses the work with the volunteers, and develops potential solutions.
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The Ergo-Team identifies problem areas and reports problems and potential solutions to the
Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee.
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The Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee reviews the report and decides whether to
forward it on to management.
• Symptoms of WMSDs include pain, burning, tingling and numbness.
• Many WMSDs can result in long-term or permanent discomfort or injury if not promptly identified and
corrected.
Participatory Ergonomics at [INSERT COMPANY NAME]
• In [Insert Year], company management asked an ergonomist to develop a new ergonomics program that
would improve the occupational health and safety (OHS) capacity within the plant.
• We decided to create a Participatory Ergonomics (PE) program to address the current operational needs.
Ergo Team Members:
In participatory ergonomics, workers and management work in an Ergo-Team to
identify ways to reduce risk. Both workers and management personnel learn how
to identify and reduce risk and to apply their knowledge together.
Worker Representatives:
Management Representatives:
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• In this PE program we are employing Participatory Ergonomics Principles to improve the ability of
workers and management at the plant to identify activities and working conditions that could contribute to
WMSDs and to develop solutions to these problems.
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The Intervention Process:
Management
OHS Committee
Recommendations

Area identified for ergonomics intervention:

Area workers were interviewed on:

Ergo-Team completed area ergonomics assessment on:
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Ergo-Team met to discuss intervention options on:
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Results and intervention recommendations were sent to OHS Committee on:

Proposed date for changes to work area are:
Ergo-Team
Want to know more?
Knowledge & Need
Ergonomist
Management
&
Workers
If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to one of the Ergo-Team members:
[Contact information for ERGO-TEAM members]
The Participatory Ergonomics Process
INTERVENTION AREA:______________________________
Comments and suggestions on this project are welcome!