Edition No. 13
Zavitz on Ergo:
Injury Prevention Through Ergonomic Risk Assessment
by Ben Zavitz, CPE
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What is ergonomic risk assessment? Isn't ergonomics just common sense? Why would I want to waste my time evaluating a job when it is obviously unsafe? Shouldn't I spend more time trying to solve the problem? If this is your belief, read on.
Ergonomics is no different than anything else in our lives –going to the doctor, taking your car to the garage, or identifying a bad odor in your plant. In order to effectively solve a problem you must first define the problem. When you go the doctor, he doesn’t prescribe medication immediately; he first performs a series of tests to determine what’s wrong with you. When you take your car to the garage because your engine light came on, the mechanic doesn’t start fixing it until he performs a diagnostic test to determine what’s wrong. It’s the same thing when someone complains about a bad odor in your plant. You must first determine what the odor is and whether it is safe or unsafe before you can address the problem. Ergonomics should be approached the same way. In order to effectively resolve an ergonomics problem you must first define the problem you’re trying to resolve. As the old saying goes, “if you can’t measure it, it probably doesn’t exist.”
Identifying Ergonomic Issues
How are most ergonomics problems identified? Typically, an employee reports pain or discomfort to the company nurse or their supervisor, or they provide a note from their physician describing their work-related injury. From this point, the person responsible for ergonomics at your company (i.e., company nurse, environmental, health, and safety [EHS] coordinator, supervisor, engineer, union rep, etc.) usually reviews the person’s job tasks and using common sense or basic ergonomic principles concludes that, yes, this job has ergonomic risk factors. The problem with this approach is you have not identified the risk factors of the job or the level of risk present. Without identifying the root cause and the level of risk, how can effective solutions be implemented or justified? In order for ergonomic solutions to be effective, root cause ergonomic risk assessment is needed.
Preventing Injuries – A Five Step Process
Our philosophy is that injuries, pain, and discomfort to employees can be eliminated through proactively managing ergonomic risks using a Five Step Process.
1. Define the Problem
The first thing you have to know is what ergonomic risks you have and where they are. To do this you need a standard and systematic way of identifying risk. To help our clients (and our ergonomists) identify ergonomic risks, we developed a risk-screening tool called START (System To Assign Ergonomic Risk). This simple two-page assessment form allows you to quickly and easily identify the presence or absence of key ergonomic risk factors that have a positive association to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). START uses a weighted numerical scoring system (0-10) to categorize the level of ergonomic risk factors by body part (wrists, elbows, shoulders, back, neck and legs) on a job. The higher the START scores, the higher the risk. The START tool is an excellent first step in developing a baseline or risk map of the current problems in your facility. From this map, a long-term plan can be developed that addresses jobs based on the level of risk (low, moderate, high concern).
2. Measure the Problem
After a job has been identified as an ergonomic concern, the next step is to quantify or measure the level of ergonomic risk to identify root causes. Risk evaluation/measurement allows us to set priorities, and measure the effectiveness of potential solutions. To help our clients do this we have developed the STEER (System To Evaluate Ergonomic Risk) methodology. This four page detailed risk assessment allows us to quantify the degree or level of risk by body part (i.e. is the back bend 15, 25, 45, 70 or 90 degrees?). Each risk factor has a numerical score and the combination of risk factors by body part can be tallied to determine the overall risk level for that body part (low, moderate, high). The STEER assessment answers the questions: “how bad is it,” “what level of risk is acceptable,” and “did I fix the problem?”
3. Develop and Analyze Solutions
Once the root cause and level of risk has been defined, solution development begins. The key to developing effective solutions is to target your solutions to specific risk factors present on the job. In other words, does your solution reduce the STEER score? Solutions that do not reduce risk should not be implemented as they are not effective and a waste of your time and company money. It is the prolific implementation of ineffective solutions which do not reduce risk that lead many people to think ergonomics in general is ineffective. Once solutions have been implemented, additional analysis can be performed to verify the effectiveness of the solution in reducing risk. Again, using the STEER evaluation, a post evaluation can be performed to verify that the solution actually did reduce or eliminate the risks and did not introduce new risks. This much needed step is often forgotten.
4. Improve and Repeat
If the solution was effective in reducing risks, a value statement for that solution can be developed and used to make sweeping site- or company-wide changes (fix the problem once and implement the solution on every job that has the same defined problem). Value statements may include the following: before and after risk scores with a percent reduction (50% reduction in risk), impact on production and cycle time (37% reduction in cycle time), employee comments, injury data, before and after pictures, and return-on-investment calculations. Value statements are mini case studies that can be used to demonstrate the value of ergonomics to management. This allows your ergonomic efforts to be scalable to other sites.
5. Control and Prevent
Through the use of risk assessments (pre and post), value statements, mini case studies and design guidelines, current and future ergonomic problems can be controlled and prevented.
And finally…
Why use ergonomic risk assessment tools? Here is a summary of the benefits:
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Aligns ergonomics with accepted EHS approach (recognize, evaluate, control, and prevent);
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Provides a baseline and identifies when action is needed;
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Allows for the prediction of the impact a solution has on risk;
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Verifies the effectiveness of a solution; and
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Creates a management tool to measure the overall impact of your ergonomics program.
Remember, what gets measured gets done. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
If you would like a complimentary copy of the START evaluation, please email me at zavitzb@eorm.com.
Stay tuned for next quarter’s issue of Priority Press, when this column focuses on keeping jobs in America with Ergonomics. If you have questions for the ergonomist, send me an email at zavitzb@eorm.com.
Ergonomically Yours,
Ben Zavitz, CPE
EORM, Inc.
tel: 781.938.9152 ext 106
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