By applying each of the following phases, an organization can better identify and mitigate ergonomic exposures, whether the workplace is a manufacturing facility or an office environment.

Build the Right Team

Many engineering projects fail for one simple reason—the designers do not communicate with the users of the equipment. As a result, critical production issues are not addressed by the new design, and costly retrofits are required. Even worse, new equipment or tools are not used due to a lack of employee input in the selection process. In both scenarios, engineering solutions have not achieved the desired results.

To avoid these costly errors, form a team consisting of critical staff members affected by the engineering changes. The "right" team members may include:

• Users of the equipment or workstation
• The supervisor of the area
• The maintenance staff
• Design engineers
• Other affected parties

• Hold user dialogues to obtain their input in each stage of the design.
• Form vendor partnerships to identify new applications for existing equipment.
• Conduct user dialogues to learn about employee design concerns and ideas.
• Form vendor partnerships to identify alternative applications for existing equipment.
• Establish protocols for:
  • developing and communicating design and layout specifications
  • simulating and testing of conceptual designs and new equipment
  • collecting and interpreting employee feedback
  • measuring the impact of new designs
  • quantifying returns on investment and/or pay back periods
  • developing standardized work methods incorporating new designs and/or equipment
• Develop plans for training employees and supervisors on safe and efficient use of new workstation designs and equipment.