Ergonomics training ensures your risk assessment team is empowered with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully execute their responsibilities in the ergonomics process. Read this article to learn how to train your ergonomics team.
“Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars – mere globs of gas atoms. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination – stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern, of which I am a part… What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it.”
– Richard Feynman
There is a certain type of beauty to work. The end product doesn’t always have to have a beautiful aesthetic for that to be true. I’m talking about the process of building the thing.
Carefully selecting the materials. Fretting over the designs. Assembling the pieces. Making adjustments as you go. Polishing the edges.
Then the moment happens. You set the thing you built in its new place. You make a few slight adjustments until it’s perfect. You take a step back. And that’s when you feel it: the satisfaction of doing your work with excellence. A job well done.
Often, this process feels like a form of art. And it is. But it’s also a science.
Ergonomics is the science of work and it governs all of the activities we do to build products and deliver services.
Through the ergonomics improvement process, you are making the work better and more enjoyable for those doing it.
There are fewer forceful exertions, awkward postures, and repetitive motions. There is less wasted movement. There is less fatigue and discomfort throughout the day.
This gives the person doing the work more energy to focus on their craft and build a better product. It gives the person more energy when they go home to their family at night. And they will have more energy when they wake up in the morning to do it all over again.
Viewed this way, ergonomics delivers significant value to your organization and its people. It’s how you can build great products and deliver a good experience for the people who build them.
Everyone in your organization should have this understanding about what ergonomics is and how it adds value. Everyone should be aware of it and your ergonomics team should be highly skilled in executing each step of the ergonomics process in order for you to get the most value out of it.
Ergonomics Training: Who, When, Where, What, and Why
Ergonomics training is about transferring knowledge and skills to people in your organization so they can effectively meet their ergonomics process responsibilities.
Regardless of whether or not you bring in an outside expert, this knowledge and skills development is critical as you execute an ergonomics improvement process.
Who should get ergonomics training?
Everyone should get ergonomics training. Yes, everyone.
Earlier I said, “Ergonomics is the science of work that governs all of the activities we do to build products and deliver services.” By definition, everyone in your organization is involved in these activities and so it logically follows that everyone should get training.
What should the ergonomics training content include?
The goal of ergonomics training is to transfer knowledge and skills to your organization. Knowledge is relatively easy to accumulate quickly, but it also depreciates quickly. Skills are harder to win, but keep their value a little longer.
The knowledge and skills requirements are different for each role in the ergonomics process, so ergonomics training content and frequency should be adjusted according to each role.
When should they get ergonomics training?
This depends a little bit on the context of your situation and the maturity of your ergonomics process. If you’re just getting started, you’ll want to sequence your ergonomics training top-down to get management support and sponsorship before moving on.
Where should ergonomics training take place?
Most organizations today use a combination of online and onsite ergonomics training.
Online training is great for building knowledge quickly and at scale, and then reinforcing this knowledge over time through micro-learning sessions available anytime, anywhere.
Onsite training is better for skills-development through step-by-step instruction from an ergonomics expert combined with real-life practice and application of knowledge.
Why does ergonomics training matter?
Training is one of the highest leverage activities for any manager. Here is Andy Grove, former Chairman and CEO of Intel, on the subject, “Training is, quite simply, one of the highest-leverage activities a manager can perform. Consider for a moment the possibility of your putting on a series of four lectures for members of your department. Let’s count on three hours of preparation for each hour of course time — twelve hours of work in total. Say that you have ten students in your class. Next year they will work a total of about twenty thousand hours for your organization. If your training efforts result in a 1 percent improvement in your subordinates’ performance, your company will gain the equivalent of two hundred hours of work as the result of expenditure of your twelve hours.”
The benefits of ergonomics include reduced musculoskeletal disorder related costs, improved productivity, better product quality, better employee engagement, and a better safety culture.
Ergonomics training is the highest leveraged activity you can engage in that will empower you to realize these benefits at scale.
Develop an Ergonomics Training Plan
Now that we know the who, what, when, where, and why of ergonomics training, it’s time to develop a documented ergonomics training plan.
Keep in mind that ergonomics training, like the ergonomics improvement process itself, is a process and not a one-time event.
Ergonomics knowledge and awareness, especially for the people not on the ergonomics team executing ergonomics tactics every day, tends to depreciate quickly.
Ergonomics skills are developed over time as knowledge is put into practice and hands-on application.
This is why an ongoing ergonomics training plan should be part of your ergonomics process that is documented and tracked.
Your training plan should include:
- Each role in the ergonomics process
- The responsibilities of each role
- The training objectives for each role
- The training frequency for each role
Only when your ergonomics training plan is on target can you know whether or not your people are properly equipped to execute their role in the ergonomics process.
Remember: knowledge and skills are fundamental to productive work and training is one of your highest leverage activities as a manager.
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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