Ergonomics software streamlines your ergonomics process, keeps your team on the same page, and automatically measures progress over time. Read this article to learn how you can leverage ergonomics software to save time, get more done, and get the most out of your data.
“The temptation in the existing business is to always feed yesterday and starve tomorrow. It is, of course, a deadly temptation. The enterprise that does not innovate inevitably ages and declines. And in a period of rapid change such as the present … the decline will be fast.”
— Peter Drucker
Believe it or not, the period of “rapid change” Peter Drucker was referring to was the 1980’s.
Things were certainly moving fast during that time period. Faster than they were before, anyway. But in 1985 when Drucker’s book was published, the internet as we know it was just getting started. The first web page wasn’t built until 1991.
Change has dramatically accelerated since then. To say there is rapid change in today’s world is putting it mildly. But Drucker’s observation about enterprises and innovation is still spot on. It’s even more true today. The enterprise that does not innovate inevitably ages and declines, and that decline will be fast.
Perhaps the biggest contributor to the acceleration of change is software.
Marc Andreessen, creator of the Mosaic internet browser, penned his famous, “Why Software Is Eating the World” essay nearly a decade ago.
“Six decades into the computer revolution, four decades since the invention of the microprocessor, and two decades into the rise of the modern Internet, all of the technology required to transform industries through software finally works and can be widely delivered at global scale.”
He was right. Software is pervasive in everyday life and more so all the time.
At home, you can have nearly anything you want delivered right to your door at the swipe of a finger. You can stream an unimaginable choice and variety of content to any of the multiple devices you have laying around the house at the touch of a button.
At work, you can meet with anyone in the world at any time just by opening up Zoom or GoToMeeting. You can get in touch with any of your colleagues by opening up Slack or your email client. Your organization has powerful tools to manage customers, allocate resources, manage payroll and employee benefits. All of this information is available to you all of the time. How do you get stuff done at work? You log in.
At home and at work, there is little you do not have access to. You have more knowledge and power at your fingertips than even the wealthiest of kings did for all of time before modern technology arrived.
So why are we still managing ergonomics using outdated and unreliable methods and tools?
Software Needs to Eat Ergonomics
When you’re just getting started, it makes sense to reach for whatever tools you have available to you.
With ergonomic risk assessments, this usually means either a paper-based worksheet or an excel spreadsheet that has been created to perform calculations for you.
You needed to do an assessment, so you did some research and found a tool to get the job done.
This works fine for a while! We did the same thing at first.
But we soon realized how problematic paper-based methods and general purpose tools are and how badly software needs to eat ergonomics
The data starts to pile up. You end up with hundreds (and eventually thousands) of files to keep track of. It gets very difficult to compile the data into a coherent monthly or annual report. It’s hard to know what the status of the ergonomics process is. It’s hard to keep the ergonomics team on the same page.
Does everyone have access to the information they need? Does everyone know what to do next? Is everyone using the same set of tools?
It’s hard to tell with documents and files scattered all over the place.
We kept running into this issue more and more as we managed complex, large-scale ergonomics programs for our clients. When we went looking for a software solution to this problem, we couldn’t find anything that worked for us.
We couldn’t find one, so we built one.
Benefits of Ergonomics Software
What we’ve found is that using software instead of outdated tools is just as good as we hoped. There are many benefits to using ergonomics software.
The benefits of a new technology can be measured along the three dimensions of new value creation:
Speed, get it done faster
Before ergonomics software: You want to do a REBA assessment. First, you have to search for the file you need. If you’re using a paper-based tool, you have to print it off and walk over to the printer. You do the assessment. Now you have to transfer the data manually or scan the document to get a digital copy.
After ergonomics software: You sign in. Click Add New. Click REBA. Do the assessment. You’re done.
How it’s better: Using ergonomics software is so much faster and more streamlined. You don’t have to waste time hassling with finding, printing, scanning, and saving documents. The next time you need the information from the assessment, you always know where to find it. Everyone on the team has access to that data, too. You don’t have to email the results to communicate. Everything is in one place and everyone on the team knows exactly where to find it. This streamlined workflow results in a massive time savings.
Quality, get it done better
Before ergonomics software: Using paper-based tools or general purpose software creates more surface area for mistakes. If you’re using a paper-based tool, you often have to do the calculations yourself. And if you’re using general-purpose software like Excel, you’ll need to manually transfer data from one place to another to track your workplace ergonomics process. Both of these methods are outdated and unreliable because your manual calculation and data transfer is more prone to errors and mistakes.
After ergonomics software: Results are calculated and saved automatically in the system. There is no need for manual calculations or transferring data from one spreadsheet to the next. Everything is accurate and up to date, always.
How it’s better: Using outdated and unreliable methods and tools results in sloppy work. The opposite is true with the modern approach. Using ergonomics software helps you get the job done better.
Output, get more of it done
Before ergonomics software: Ergonomics requires a significant amount of documentation. It feels like a lot of work. And it is when you’re doing everything manually. Individual assessments aren’t too bad, but what about collecting and combining all of the data you’ve gathered in order to generate a monthly or annual report? What is the state of your worksite’s ergonomics process? It takes quite a bit of effort to put all of this information together to find out.
After ergonomics software: Reports are automatic. Because all of the right data is in the right place, ergonomics software can instantly generate reports and tell you the status of your site’s ergonomics process.
How it’s better: Not only does ergonomics software help you get the job done faster, but it also helps you get more of it done. The result of a painfully manual process is that many ergonomics teams don’t have a coherent view of how they’re doing. They don’t generate a report at all. It’s too much work! Ergonomics software solves this problem by making it automatic so that you get more work done.
Embrace Innovation or Embrace Decline
Digital transformation is a core strategy of most Fortune 500 CEO’s today, and for good reason. It’s because they know they can either embrace innovation or embrace decline.
It’s time for safety and ergonomics leaders to embrace innovation.
Your Free Ergonomics Planning Guide and Complete Toolkit
This article is an installment of the How to Get Started With Ergonomic Risk Assessments series, which is now available to you free of charge as part of the Ergonomics Planning Guide and Toolkit.
Your toolkit includes:
- How to Get Started With Ergonomic Risk Assessments
- How to Choose Short and Long Term Ergonomic Assessment Metrics
- How to Build Your Ergonomic Assessment Team
- How to Select Your Ergonomic Assessment Tools
- How to Train Your Ergonomic Assessment Team
- How to Leverage Technology to Get the Most Out of Your Ergonomic Assessment Data
- A free spreadsheet to help you track progress as you launch or revamp your ergonomics process
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