Ergonomic risk Assessments
Through ergonomic risk assessments, you can build full-function ergonomic work environments that support your people to work effectively, safely and in sufficient comfort to be able to concentrate and communicate well. Along with behavioural feedback and incident reporting (see below), valid assessment of risks acts as the anchor to a safe, healthy work environment.
Our ergonomic risk assessments address demands of specific taks as well asn the broadest range of human statures and other physical dimensions relevant to the task. That is, our we relate the dimeniosns of employees we work with to 90%, male and female, of the UK population.
These assessments can support expansion of facilities, a retrofit, resticking or upgrde project which integrates ergonomic components. Desingin a safer work area incorporates interior design concepts with the ergonomic factors of workplace function, work flow, body dimensions ('anthropometrics') of your workforce, complaince with safety and discrimination (disability, age and gender) legislation as workplaces envionrmental factors.
When you are considering new workplace furniture for a facility, it is advisable to evaluate all of hte proposed workplace components before you order them, to confirm that your selection provides the levels of comfort, safety and adjustability you anticipate. Too often, furniture, equipment and tools are purchased based on design appeal, colours and/or net price that turn out to be much less suitable and much more expensive before very long.
Anchoring your investment
You can anchor your investment in an ergonomic risk assessment - i.e. maintain its value - only if you keep the information about hazards and about relevant employee behaviour up-to-date.
This requires carrying out two simple but far-reaching tasks regularly:
- Coaching employees to conduct reliable observation of the behaviour of one another at work and to offer accurate feedback;
- Making it safe and fair for employees to report all 'near miss' incidents in which damage to property or injury might have occurred but in this incident did not.
Especially in an unionised environment, it is advisable to consider the principles of a 'just culture at work' as part of the climate for maintaining your investment in these ways.
