A proactive ergonomics process identifies and reduces ergonomic risk factors before injuries occur.

It is well established that ergonomics can benefit your organization in a number of ways.

If you do it well, ergonomics can lower costs, boost productivity, increase employee morale, and even improve product quality to name a few benefits.

If you do it well. That’s the key.

Part of doing it well is to get proactive with your ergonomics process.

The difference between proactive and reactive ergonomics

Too often, your ergonomics efforts look like this.

• You are waiting for an injury to occur before ergonomic risk factors are measured
• Ergonomics isn’t tied to strategic organizational goals
• Workplace improvement projects get little funding or support
• Results are lacking because of a reactive approach

That’s the classic reactive approach. It’s often frustrating for safety leaders because you can get see the potential of ergonomics but just can’t quite get there.

That’s when you have to shift your mindset and adopt a proactive approach.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Ergonomic risk factors are measured before an injury occurs
• Ergonomics is viewed as a continuous improvement process (not a one-time program or event)
• You’ve tied the ergonomics process to strategic organizational goals
• You’ve made the business case for proactive ergonomics to acquire the funding and resources you need to implement proactive ergonomics
• Ergonomics training ensures your people develop the knowledge and skills needed for an effective and efficient ergonomics process.

Can you see the difference?

The second scenario is how you get results and achieve the benefits listed in the introduction of this article.

A proactive ergonomics process doesn’t wait for an injury to occur before being implemented. This type of process is embedded deeply into your existing operations to reduce risk and improve performance.

Only when you get to this level will ergonomics have a strong impact on your organization.

The powerful advantage of a proactive ergonomics process

The advantage of a proactive ergonomics process is that you can stop guessing and start knowing what the risk is in your workplace.

Then you will have the opportunity to focus your efforts on workplace improvements rather than reacting to another injury.

You can get in front of the problem rather than deal with the consequences of a reactive approach.

Proactive ergonomics: stop guessing and start knowing

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be covering a variety of topics aimed at helping you get started with a proactive ergonomics process.

You’ll learn:

• The elements of a proactive ergonomics process
• How to implement proactive ergonomics
• Leading indicators and metrics to track your process
• What a proactive ergonomics process looks like in action

Stay tuned …

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