Industrial Ergonomics

Does your Organisation need Industrial Ergonomics expertise?

Are you doing the work the same way you have always done it, despite becoming a bigger organisation and taking on more people over the years? Are your staff doing physically demanding or repetitive tasks but you don’t know how to improve either the productivity or safety of the work? You may have heard of Industrial Ergonomics but not sure what it really involves or where to start! You may even be concerned about the costs and whether there will be a significant benefit from bringing in an Ergonomic Consultant.

How can Industrial Ergonomics help?

Industrial Ergonomics Is a branch of ergonomics that uses specific techniques designed for manufacturing and production areas to improve performance and productivity.

Industrial Ergonomics can be used to
• survey whole departments such as electronic assembly, food production etc
• assess individual’s with industrial injury claims
• assess an individual workstations for risks of injury

What type of tasks benefit from an Industrial Ergonomics Assessments?

Most of the tasks that require an ergonomic assessment have a certain amount of risk associated with them. This can include repetitive tasks, manual handling tasks, pushing and pulling tasks, or tasks with a high incidence of upper limb disorders or musculoskeletal disorders. If the tasks themselves are not strenuous or physically demanding then it can be that the individual has to work in an awkward posture, or there are other risk factors such difficulties with the tools or PPE.

Some of the sectors we have worked in include
• Electronic assembly
• Food production
• Telecoms installations
• Construction manufacturing

What does an Industrial Ergonomics survey involve?

An ergonomic survey is a comprehensive analysis of the workplace that considers a whole range of issues around the work. This can include incident reporting, existing health screening, operating procedures, organisational issues, workplace environmental factors as well as training and working practices.

Ergonomic surveys can require interviews, data collection, staff surveys, questionnaires as well as measuring the work and taking photos of the workplace.

How long does take to do an Industrial Ergonomic Survey?

This would depend on the size of the area involved, the number of operations and the number of people but for a department of 15-20 people it would usually take approximately 1 day on-site and 2 days to analyse and write the report.

Ergonomics can make a difference to you staff and organisation

The benefits of an ergonomic survey is that it covers a broad spectrum of workplace issues, often areas that you might not think are directly involved. This ensures that the Ergonomist gains a good overall picture of the problem which offers the best scope for making improvements. Often simple changes in one area can impact on another. It isn’t always about an expensive solution but it should always mean that the tasks are done in the easiest and most efficient manner.

You can choose from our range of Industrial Ergonomic Assessments

Manual Handling Operations
Upper Limb Disorders
Departmental Surveys following HSE improvement notices
Bespoke Training in Ergonomics