at: Presented Association of Canadian Ergonomists Annual Conference, Hull, Quebec, 1999
Roles and Relationships for Making Ergonomics Change: Results of a 2-Day focus
session with industry personnel
W.P. Neumann*, R. Wells, R. Norman, B. Jeans, D. Dubblestyne, H. Harvey and O. Peter
Ergonomics Initiative in Injury Prevention
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1
A series of group focus sessions were held with both union and management
representatives who were involved in ergonomics programs in a number of
different manufacturing facilities. This paper summarises the participant comments
on important components of ergonomics programs.
1. Introduction & Methods
Focus groups are a useful approach to identifying and capturing the information, knowledge, and
experiences of a group of individuals on a particular topic of interest. A series of three focus
group sessions were held over the course of a 2 day ergonomics workshop held at the University
of Waterloo. This workshop was held as part of the Ergonomics Initiative in Injury Prevention; a
joint initiative between the University of Waterloo, General Motors of Canada, The Woodbridge
Group, and A.G. Simpson Ltd. These sessions were attended by 42 people involved in
ergonomics in the participating companies including both worker and management
representatives. Each focus group session addressed a different aspect of the practice of
ergonomics in industrial environments. The first session addressed objectives within the
organisation which need to be considered and accommodated in a successful change attempt.
The second session focussed on the various stakeholders and their possible roles in the
ergonomics process. The third session addressed specific issues related to making change
happen in these industrial environments. For each session three separate groups were formed and
each group dealt with the same issues. The results were then collated and summarised.
2. Organizational Goals & Ergonomics
Ergonomics could affect the plant beyond just its health and safety operations and could benefit
the manufacturing plant in the following aspects:
2.1 Quality - An ergonomically designed workstation would allow the worker to pay more
attention to monitoring quality than to performing the operations. If an individual is working in
pain, or struggling to keep up with an operation, then he/she is less likely to be as concerned with
quality and more likely to make errors which result in decreased quality. Common problems may
be decreased identification of quality issues, damaged or mishandled parts, and increased re-
work costs. Operations with high absenteeism may also be forced to use replacement workers
who are not as familiar with the operations or the quality control issues in their new workstation
2.2 Health & Safety - Ergonomic principles can be used to control injuries resulting from
physical loading on the job and to help injured workers return to work by controlling the physical
loads at the injured workers station. A well-designed workstation can also help reduce
unnecessary fatigue and may result in reduced numbers of accidents.
2.3 Production - Ergonomic changes dont necessarily slow production - in many cases it is
possible to improve the ergonomics of a workstation and still maintain or increase throughput.
The reductions in absenteeism due to ergonomics improvements can also help Production reach
its targets more easily. The challenge for Production to decide when to invest time and money
into ergonomics changes sometimes makes it difficult for the ergonomics committee to meet its
goals and may contribute to problems in reaching production and profitability targets.
2.4 Early Return to Work - Ergonomics can be of assistance in returning an injured worker to
work promptly by controlling/limiting the physical operations which the injured worker finds
difficult to perform. While the collective agreement and the workers own restrictions sometimes
constrain the possible interventions, the ergonomic analysis can be useful information for the
medical practitioner who is treating the injured worker.
2.5 Continuous Improvement - Ergonomics can be one of the tools used to demonstrate the
existence and operation of a continuous improvement process. The ergonomics process
provides an opportunity for the company to engage in a cooperative team-based approach to
solving problems and issues in the plant - an ability which is much needed in a rapidly changing
manufacturing environment.
3. The Players: Roles in Ergonomics
Successful ergonomic change demands the participation of a variety of people - it cant be
achieved by a single person or group. Here are some of the players in the ergonomic process and
the roles they might play in making ergonomics change in the plant:
3.1 Ergonomist - While an Ergonomist provides a local source of expertise in ergonomics, they
cannot solve a plants problems single-handedly. Instead the Ergonomist can act as a resource
person for plant personnel, as a facilitator for solving immediate problems (e.g. work refusals),
and as a trainer to educate workers and management on ergonomics issues. Although few plants
have achieved it; the most cost effective use of an Ergonomist would be a pro-active role in
ensuring that sound ergonomics principles are designed into plant operations right from the start.
3.2 Purchasing - Purchasing is a control point for the acquisition of tools and equipment which
are used on the plant floor. Consequently, many of the decisions made during the purchasing
process affect, for better or for worse, the ultimate ergonomic design of the target workstation.
At this time some purchasing departments are, some are not, part of the ergonomic process.
However, few plants had a communications channel between the ergonomic and the purchasing
processes.
3.3 Maintenance - Maintenance can play an important role in the ergonomics process of the
plant as they are often responsible for building or installing the equipment to be used in the
modified workstation. Regular maintenance of tools and assistive devices is critical in ensuring
proper function and avoiding the jolting and increased effort associated with poorly maintained
tools. While not always included in the ergonomics process, maintenance personnel can be
helpful both in the solution development and solution implementation stages of the ergonomics
change.
3.4 Supervisor - The line supervisor can be under conflicting priorities to maintain production
schedules while trying to be responsive to operator complaints. The supervisor is managements
closest contact with the ergonomics problems on the floor but he/she often lacks the training and
tools to identify or handle these problems. Ideally the supervisor would have sufficient training to
be involved in the ergonomics process in his/her area and would be given the authority and
responsibility to handle these problems both proactively and immediately as they arise.
3.5 Union Leadership - Union leadership plays a supporting role in the companies ergonomics
process and can act as a resource to the plant representatives in reactive ergonomics. Union
leadership can provide a strong voice supporting ergonomics issues and could be more active in
promoting pro-active long term ergonomics strategies. In addition union leadership could help
overcome some limitations to ergonomic intervention which result from clauses in the collective
agreement.
3.6 Union Rep. - Union Ergonomics representatives are currently being given ergonomics
training in many of the participating companies plants. The union rep is one of the first people
involved in the ergonomics issue and is involved throughout the process. The union rep often
carries more credibility with the worker when trying to implement changes to a workstation and
provides a communication link between the workers and management.
3.7 Worker - Poor ergonomic designs have adverse impact on workers. As a result, workers are
often ergonomic problem identifiers (not the source of the problem). The worker is the local
expert on the workstation. He or she has the most in-depth knowledge of the physical loading
demands of the job and is a valuable asset to the ergonomics team. Workers are sometimes
concerned about job losses relating to automation changes and technology improvements.
Workers must be included in the change process as they are the ultimate users of any solution that
is implemented. - worker buy-in is crucial to the success of any ergonomics intervention.
3.8 Ergonomics Consultants - Consultants can act as an external source of expertise who can
provide technical measurements and access to the latest ergonomics information. Unfortunately
there are no standards or certification for ergonomists so quality can be a concern. The
consultant may also lack an understanding of the specific work-place situation which could hinder
the solution building process.
3.9 Engineers - The engineering staff must coordinate any ergonomics changes in workstations
with the manufacturing process generally. For this reason the responsible engineer should also be
involved in the solution generation process. Incorporating ergonomic principles in the job design
stage is key to pro-active ergonomics and is a strategy being developed in many plants.
Unfortunately, very few engineers have ergonomics training making pro-active ergonomic
intervention during the job design stage very difficult.
3.10 Occupational Health Nurses - Nurses can provide detailed injury information which can be
used to drive the ergonomic investigation process.
4. Making Ergonomics Change Happen
Implementing an ergonomic change can be difficult for a variety of reasons. People are generally
resistant to change, old habits can be difficult to break, and some people will always be resistant
to exploring new ways of doing things and/or unwilling to participate in the change process. Often
there can be difficulty accessing the resources required to make a change in the way a plant gets
work done. In each instance of ergonomic change then it will be necessary to include the right
people in order to guide and push the particular change process through to completion. Most
roadblocks to successful change come from an individual or group who are not directly involved
in the change process and who have work priorities which conflict with the change process. For
example:
4.1 Production - Production may be resistant to ergonomics changes due to concerns with
down time during the change, loss of efficiency due to the change, and general concern due to the
uncertainty involved in the ergonomics change process. Including a production representative in
the change process is one of the best ways of ensuring that production concerns are addressed.
Return to work and injury risk data are possible ways of justifying the need for change while time
statistics and production monitoring systems can help address concerns about disruptions to
production.
4.2 Accounting - This is one of the potential major roadblocks to making ergonomics change,
especially for larger more expensive interventions. Many accounting systems require a 15-18
month payback period for any intervention and few ergonomics committees have a discretionary
budget with which to work. In addition, the savings to due injury prevention, or the production
benefits due to decreased absenteeism, are generally not well quantified benefits of ergonomic
interventions. While WCB data can be used if a claim can be linked directly against a
manufacturing process, this does not allow development of pro-active ergonomics interventions.
4.3 Union & Workers - Resistance to change is a common finding among workers who fear job
losses due to ergonomic interventions. Other potential problems include the loss of recovery or
rest time due to ergonomic changes, conflicts between individual and collective interests, peerpressure, or changes which disrupt the usual job seniority hierarchy. Most of these concerns can
be overcome with good communications and by using participatory approaches so that the
individuals affected in some way own the changes being made.
4.4 Medical - For most plants there appears to be very little communication between the
clinician and the company. It was felt that the clinicians had very little understanding of the
industrial work-place and that lack of involvement inhibits early return to work.
4.5 Engineering - The importance of ergonomic design for the engineer will depend on the
priorities set by the engineers supervisor. Engineers need both sufficient knowledge and an
appropriate priority list to ensure that a workstation is designed with both the operation and the
operator in mind.
5. Conclusions
The results of the group focus sessions identified a number of ways that ergonomics can support
existing programs and goals in industrial systems. By ensuring that ergonomic efforts are
consistent with existing corporate goals it is possible to take advantage of existing momentum to
achieve ergonomic objectives. Making sure everyone in the organisation is appropriately involved
in the process and trying to achieve the same goals will result in better solutions and smoother
implementation. Roadblocks can exist in any change process but careful planning and
anticipation of possible problems can reduce the extent to which these obstacles slow the
ergonomics process. While senior management was not discussed explicitly in these sessions the
elements discussed are all intended to help secure necessary senior management buy-in.
Management support is critical to any ergonomics activity within the organisation. Finally the
results of this session can be used to integrate ergonomics change efforts with the existing
corporate personnel and functions which will reduce the costs and delays associated with special
projects while ensuring optimal solutions are implemented.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Barry Hayward, John Morrissey, and
Gary McCullough in the completion of this project. The Ergonomics Initiative is a multi-year joint
venture between the University of Waterloo, General Motors of Canada Ltd., The Woodbridge
Group, and A.G. Simpson Automotive Systems.
Objectives
Roles and Relationships for Making
Ergonomics Change:
Results of a 2-Day focus session with industry
personnel
To identify important components of
successful ergonomic programs
Patrick Neumann, Richard Wells, Bob Norman,
Brian Jeans, Dan Dubblestyne, Heather Harvey,
Otto Peter
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Organisational Goals & Ergonomics
Methods
42 worker and management personnel
3 focus group sessions held over the course
of 2-day Ergonomics Initiative workshop:
1. Objectives within organisation to be considered
during successful change attempt
2. Stakeholders and possible roles in ergo process
3. Specific issues related to ergo changes in
industrial environments
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Ergonomics change may affect:
Ergonomics could affect the plant beyond its
health & safety operations and may benefit
the manufacturing plant in many aspects:
Quality
allows worker to focus on quality
replacement workers
Health & Safety
fatigue, injuries, accidents
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
The Players: Roles in Ergonomics
Production
maintain or throughput
Early Return to Work
ergo analysis can help Health Care Practitioner
understand job demands, loads
Continuous Improvement
Successful ergonomic change demands
participation of variety of people
cannot be achieved by single person
or group
encourages team problem solving
ergo improvements as a CI element
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
1
Roles in Ergonomics
Ergonomist
Roles in Ergonomics
Purchasing
local source of expertise
resource person, facilitator, trainer
Workers
decisions can influence ergo design of workstation
rarely formalised into ergo process
Maintenance
identifier of ergonomics concerns
local expert on workstation
ultimate user of implemented solution
implement changes
maintain tools
help develop solutions
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Roles in Ergonomics
Supervisors
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Roles in Ergonomics
Union Representatives
floor level management
recognise ergo problems
fast, proactive response
involved throughout process
credible with workers
communication between workers and mgt.
Union Leadership
Ergonomics Consultants
support ergo process
resource for plant representatives
promote pro-active ergo
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Roles in Ergonomics
Engineers
external source of expertise
unfamiliar with workplace
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Making Change Happen
Implementing ergonomic change can be
challenging for a variety of reasons
- people resist change
key to pro-active ergonomics
solution generation
few trained in ergonomics
Nurses
treatment of injuries, involvement in return to work
collection of injury info to drive ergo intervention
Management
- hard to break old habits
- groups unwilling to participate in process
- difficulty accessing resources
Most roadblocks come from an individual or
group not involved in process
provide support ($)
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
2
Union & Worker Concerns
Production Issues
job loss due to technology improvement
decreased rest time due to changes
conflicts between individual vs. collective
interests
interruptions of usual job seniority hierarchy
must ensure strong communication lines
and use participatory process for making
change
resistant due to down time during change
initial loss of efficiency with change
concern about uncertainty with ergo project
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Accounting Issues
Many accounting systems require a 15-18
month payback period for intervention
Savings due to injury prevention not well
quantified
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Roles in Ergonomics
Ergonomist
Purchasing
Maintenance
Supervisor
Union Leadership
Union
Representative
Worker
Ergonomics
Consultants
Engineers
Nurses
Management
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
should include a production rep to make
sure issues are addressed, justify need for
change with risk data, monitor production
throughout process
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Conclusions
Ergonomic efforts must be consistent with
existing corporate goals
Everyone in the organisation must be
appropriately involved
Potential problems must be anticipated and
planned for
Management must be supportive
Continuous communication is critical
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Ergonomists
Local source of expertise in ergonomics
- resource person for plant personnel
- facilitator for solving immediate
problems (e.g. work refusals)
- trainer to educate workers and
management re: ergonomics issues
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
3
Purchasing
Control point for acquisition of tools and
equipment
Purchasing decisions can influence
ergonomic design of workstation
Rarely formalized into ergonomic process
Maintenance
Responsible for implementing changes
Regular maintenance of tools required to
ensure proper function
Can be helpful in developing and
implementing solutions
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Supervisors
Union Leadership
Managements closest contact with
ergonomics problems on the floor
Should be educated to recognize
ergonomics problems
Given authority, can handle ergonomics
problems both proactively and immediately
Supporting role in ergonomics processes
Resource for plant representatives regarding
reactive ergonomics issues
Promotion of long term pro-active
ergonomics
Ensure language in collective agreement
supports and fosters ergonomic change
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
ERGONOMIC
Union Representatives
One of first people involved in ergonomics
issue and often involved throughout process
Good credibility with workers
Provides communication link between
workers and management
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
ERGONOMIC
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Workers
Identifier of ergonomics concerns
Local expert on workstation
- most in-depth knowledge of physical
loading demands of job
Ultimate user of implemented solutions
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
ERGONOMIC
4
Ergonomics Consultants
External source of ergonomics expertise
- provides technical measurements and
access to latest information
Quality of expertise limited by lack of
standards and certification for ergonomists
May lack understanding of work- place
situation
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Nurses
Engineers
Incorporation of ergonomic principles at job
design stage is key role to pro-active
ergonomics
Should be involved in solution generation
process
Very few engineers trained in ergonomics
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
ERGONOMIC
Management
Treatment of injury
Return to work
Provide detailed injury information that can
be used to drive ergonomic intervention
process
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Provides support for ergonomics processes
www.ergonomics.uwaterloo.ca
ERGONOMIC INITIATIVE Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
5