Working ergonomically

Responding is Jaime McKeown, creative services content manager, SafeStart, Belleville, Ontario.

Ergonomics is about how individuals interact with their environment. Have you heard the adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”? When it comes to ergonomics injuries, you can provide the proper training and equipment, but if additional measures aren’t taken by workers, they’ll end up being pretty parched.

When people think about human factors and ergonomics, they believe it’s all about personal fit, but they should also be thinking about the other human factors, namely the mental and physical states that influence workers to not use their equipment properly.

Correct body positioning is a great example of ergonomic practices that require a mental focus at the worker level. Trudging forward with the “that’s way we’ve always done it” mindset without a second thought may seem like normal practice, but that’s why it’s so easy to become complacent about body position – directed attention needs to be placed on proper lifting techniques. Other mental states such as feeling the need to rush, frustration and fatigue can lead to an error in judgment and compromised lifting decisions. One example is at the end of the day when workers are in a hurry to finish their tasks and might not bend with their knees, keep their backs straight or ask for help.

Safety culture can also have a big effect on how workers perform lifting techniques or whether preventive measures such as stretching are common. Gauging your employees’ attitude toward safety can be a window to your safety culture to see how it supports ergonomic outcomes. Observing and discussing how work is being done each day will help you recognize how much of the problem is human factors (and which states are common), and how much of it comes from issues such as fit or not knowing how or why to use ergo equipment.

Stretching relieves the strain on muscles and nerves from maintaining the same position for long periods and can significantly reduce – if not avoid entirely – repetitive strain injuries and back pain conditions. Telling everyone they need to start stretching regularly if it’s not part of the culture is the same as telling a horse to start drinking cola – it’s not likely to happen. But introducing a program to encourage regular stretch breaks could be a critical step toward managing the human factors that can get in the way of stretching and can help embed it in the culture.

True success when targeting ergo injuries will come from human factors management. The right training and equipment won’t be effective unless workers recognize the effect their mental and physical states have on their ability to follow through and provide feedback to others. Workers will be more likely to have positive ergonomic interactions if the workplace culture includes a common language and practice of human factors such as positively embracing taking the time to be in the right body position, stopping work to stretch and self-triggering on mental states such as rushing that may cause workers to take a shortcut.

Editor's note: This article represents the independent views of the author and should not be considered a National Safety Council endorsement.