Ergonomics Report: Analysis of Workplace and Recommendations

This report provides a comprehensive overview of ergonomics, focusing on its principles, assessment methods, and practical applications within a workplace setting. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction to the concept of ergonomics, emphasizing its role in enhancing employee efficiency and comfort. The main body delves into essential ergonomic principles, such as maintaining neutral postures, promoting comfort zones, encouraging movement and stretching, reducing excessive force and motions, minimizing stress, and ensuring adequate vision and lighting. It then explores ergonomic assessment, detailing various methods, influencing factors (organization, workplace, workforce), and elements like scope, objectives, and limitations. The report analyzes the interactions between users (employees) and equipment, distinguishing between cognitive and physical interactions, and organizational ergonomics. Furthermore, it identifies actual and potential ergonomic issues, including repetitive tasks, awkward postures, and cold temperatures. Using Wesfarmers Limited as a case study, the report offers recommendations for remedial measures and concludes with a summary of key findings and references.

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Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Understanding about essential principles of ergonomics with relevant examples.................2
Detailed understanding for ergonomic assessment................................................................4
Analysis of all important interactions between users and equipment, and other relevant
features of workplace.............................................................................................................5
Identification of actual and potential ergonomic issues.........................................................6
Implications of the identified ergonomic mismatches............................................................7
Recommendations for practical remedial measures...............................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ergonomics is a process of designing workplace environment in such in way that it can be
suitably fit for people who work in that environment. Main aim of this project report is to
provide an understanding about the concept of ergonomics. By studying this concept and this
report, reader can ascertain various benefits of ergonomics which are improving the efficiency of
workers at workplace and determine abilities of those employees. An organisation has a
workplace environment where tools of ergonomics must be present from which performance and
efficiency of their employees can be enhanced. In this project report, various recommendations
are provided for the study and implementation of ergonomics.
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INTRODUCTION
Ergonomics is a study of human factors which aims to learn about human abilities and
limitations. It is a branch of science that helps in identifying application of psychological
principles to design and process products for human which can improve their comfort and
efficiency. There are various types of ergonomics but in this project report, organisational
ergonomics is studied in order to ascertain the applications of the concept. An understanding is
build about benefits of this concept and its usefulness to bring effectiveness and efficiency in
employees due to workplace environment. In order to recommend ways and techniques of
effective ergonomics application in an organisation, a real life organisation is used that
Wesfarmers Limited. This company is an Australian large scale company which is engaged in
manufacturing and processing industry. Using Wesfarmers as an example, various scope,
objectives and limitations are discussed along with relevant legislations, standards, codes of
practice and benchmarks (Jasiulewicz-Kaczmare and Drożyner, 2013).
MAIN BODY
Understanding about essential principles of ergonomics with relevant examples
According to OSHA, Ergonomics is that branch of science which deals with postures of
human body due to which interaction and communication in a business organisation is affected.
There are various applications to this study which are mentioned below:
Maintain neutral postures – Neutral postures are referred to the human body postures
which are aligned and balanced. These postures applies to both sitting and standing position. By
aligning all joints, it is considered that stress can be minimised. Aligned and balanced postures
can reduce the physical stress on muscles, nerves and bones. For example: Management of
Wesfarmers must provide workplace conditions and equipment such as chairs which can allow
employees to maintain an aligned posture. Awkward postures results in stress on musculoskeletal
system which can lead towards risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders. These disorders can
reduce working ability of an employee and will ultimately effect productivity of the business
firm.
Comfort Zone – This principle is similar to maintaining a balanced posture. This principle
states that if an employee is able to work in its comfort zone then there are major chances of
innovation and efficiency. Scientifically stating, comfort zone is the power zone of a human
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body which is considered to be close between mi-thigh and mid chest height. It is considered that
this zone is where the arms and back can lift the most with the least amount of effort. For
example: If the employees of Wesfarmers are working in their comfort zones that you working
from proper heights and reaches, it can reduce MSD risk.
Movement and stretching – This principle is based on the fundamental system of human
muscles referred as musculoskeletal system. This system is also known as movement system of
human body which allows them to move. Working for long hours in a static position can cause
intense fatigue which reduces working ability of employees. For example: Wesfarmers must
allow their employees to move. Working for long hours results in static load, this load can be a
resultant from activities like stand for straight eight hours, write with a pencil for continuous
sixty minutes and many more.
Reduce excessive force – Another principle of ergonomics is reducing excessive force. This
force can be physical as well as mental. Excessive force is one of the major risk factor of
ergonomic that is why reducing this force is considered as a most important principle. There are
several working conditions which trigger force and in order to eliminate these forces it is
important to maintain a balance. For example: Wesfarmers should adjust work station for
employees in a way that they must fit to employees’ height. Working tools must have powered
equipment and ergonomic tools which reduces muscle exertions.
Reduce excessive motions – It is important to study the concept of ergonomics and its
principles as it builds an understanding about proper amount of physical stress which can be
levied on the employees that will not impact productivity and profitability. It is important to
allow employees to move but even excessive motion can result in inefficiency. For example:
There are various tasks which are repetitive in nature and in order to reduce stress, management
of Wesfarmers should provide breaks to their employees.
Minimise stress – Whether physical or mental, stress should be reduced or minimised in an
organisation. According to OHS that is Work health and safety organisation, contact stress
results from continuous contact with hard surfaces.
Adequate vision and lightning – Poor lightning is the major issue faced by number of
organisations these days. This ergonomic principle is concerned with providing adequate amount
of lightning to employees. Excessive or dim light can affect vision of employees which can be
major hazard for employee safety.
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Detailed understanding for ergonomic assessment
Ergonomic assessment is a process in which an organisation is assessed in order to identify
whether the workplace premises are accurately equipped or not. There are various methods and
tools by which, ergonomic assessment can be conducted. There are various factors which can
affect this assessment process such as organisation, workplace and workforce. These methods of
ergonomic assessment along with its factors are discussed below:
Methods of ergonomic assessment – There are various methods or techniques by which it
can be determined whether a workplace is suitably equipped for employees or not. The main aim
behind conducting this assessment is to ensure that interest of personnel. Methods of this
assessment are Rapid Entire Body assessment (REBA) in which health of employees are
assessed medically. Another method of ergonomics assessment is Rapid upper limb assessment
(RULA) in which upper limbs that is hands are medically check in order to ascertain work load
and pressure. Besides these two most important methods, there are few other techniques also
such as risk assessment checklist, lifting calculator, lifting equation and many more.
Factors which affect ergonomic assessment:
Nature of organisation – Nature of the organisation is a major factor which can influence
ergonomic assessment. Nature can be classified as service or production industry as benchmarks
for both the industries are different.
Workplace – Another factor is workplace, this is the environment and conditions of work
premises. While conducting ergonomic assessment, it is important to ascertain work place as it
can provide a clear view about stress that is levied on employees.
Work activity – Under this factor, Work activities or operations which are performed by
employees are analysed. While performing ergonomic assessment it is significant that work
which is performed by the employees is assessed. Different work performed by different class if
employees has various benchmarks.
Work force – This factor is related with the type of employees. Age, gender, height and
weight are the factors of work force which influence assessment of ergonomics (Clarke, 2017).
Elements of ergonomic assessment:
Scope – Comfort and appropriate working conditions are a right to every employee due to
which scope of ergonomic assessment is wider than any other assessment. In various countries
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such as Australia, government has mentioned several rules regarding ergonomics which are
required to be fulfilled. In order to assess these suitable practices of these rules, every large scale
organisation is assessed by officers.
Objective – The main aim behind conducting this analysis is to protect interest of
employees. Government and other regulatory bodies check the adherence of ergonomic practices
in organisations.
Limitations – There are various demerits of this assessment such as in order to suitably equip
working premises, it is important to invest ample of time and money. Another limitation is that in
order to train employees about this concept, management has to invest ample of time of their
employees due to which productivity and profitability is affected (Gyi, Sang and Haslam, 2013).
Relevant standards and benchmarks – Government of a country and its safety regulation
boards develops various types of standards and benchmarks which are necessary to be followed
by an organisation. Some of the examples of these standards are no employee is allowed to stand
continuous eight hours, workstations must be properly equipped with suitable height, lights
provided in work premises must be adequate according to benchmarks etc.
Analysis of all important interactions between users and equipment, and other relevant features
of workplace
In order to analyse interactions between users that are employees and equipment that are
tools of ergonomics, it is important to study their domains. According to International
Ergonomics Association, there are two types of interactions between these parties which are
mentioned below:
Cognitive – This interaction is related with mental processes such as perception, memory,
reasoning and responses. These processes affect humans and other elements of a system.
Cognitive interaction is the response of employees to equipment which requires their mental
attention such as human computers and other technological tools. This kind of interaction
influences human reliability, work stress and training.
Physical – This interaction is related with characteristics of a human body. In this type of
interaction, elements which are necessary to be assessed are anatomical, anthropometric and
physiological characteristics of an employee. In a business organisation, ergonomic tools by
which interaction of humans is performed are working postures, repetitive movements,
musculoskeletal disorders and many more.
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In order to identify interaction between users and other relevant features of a workplace such
as organisational, it is important to study its domain.
Organisational – Organisational ergonomics is concerned with the optimisation of
sociotechnical systems including organisational structures, policies and processes. In this type of
domain human or employee response to management, work design, team work and other
organisational elements (Craig and Campbell, 2012).
Identification of actual and potential ergonomic issues
Human factors such as workforce variation, workplace premises and nature of organisation
helps in ascertaining various actual or potential ergonomic issues which are faced by employees
in their everyday work life. Some of these issues are discussed below:
Performing similar tasks repetitively – Human body is designed for movements due to
which performing similar task repetitively can lead towards fatigue and results into low
productivity. Same motion or series of motions frequently for an extended period of time is a
major issue to ergonomic.
Working in awkward positions for longer periods – Another issue which is identified by
considering human factors is working in an awkward position. An awkward position can vary
from user to user, which can be tolerable for a time period. But working in such type of position
can result in muscle contractions and can even lead towards bone damage. For example: If any
employee of Wesfarmers is higher than other employees but the workstation is similar to them
then there is a possibility that employee can experience issues related to health.
Cold temperatures – Working in cold temperatures is also an issue of ergonomic. Inner
body and muscles are directly proportional to external temperature due to which it is important to
maintain suitable temperatures in working premises. In an organisation, where cold temperature
is a necessity then employees must provide breaks during their work hours. For example:
Wesfarmers stores numerous of their products in a huge cold storage and there are various
workers which are employed to work under that storage should be provided necessary standards.
Vibration – This is a situation where employees face vibration in their whole body due to
vibration of heavy machineries. This vibration can cause number of health effects. Hand arm
vibration can lead to damage small capillaries which are used to supply nutrients. Vibration in
whole body can result into increased force exertion. For example: Using hand tools such as
drillers can cause excessive vibration.
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Combined risk factors – This is a case where number of risks factors are combined due to
which it result into major ergonomic issue. These combined factors can be shaking of arms or
hands along with rolling shoulders and many more.
Excessive force – Exerting excessive force to a specific body part can result into ergonomic
issue. For example: Lifting heavy weight equipment for a longer period of time can cause
excessive force in spinal cord and negatively influence health of the employees (Dul, 2012).
Implications of the identified ergonomic mismatches
Ergonomic mismatch is referred to the situation where furniture in the workplace is
mismatched with body physique of employees. This unsuitability of furniture raise various
implications. These implications are the causes for ergonomic mismatch. Some of these potential
and actual implications are mentioned below which the causes of ergonomic issues:
Secular trends – These trends are the classic trends which have no relevance in present
but are anyways accepted by our society. In this case, secular trends are applied to furniture used
by its users. For example: Wesfarmers is a large scale organisation which has various offices and
numerous employees. Furniture in their office premises has high level of arm rest at chairs which
logically has no relevance due to which constant arm pain can be caused. Other secular trends
can be low level of tables, un adjustable computer monitors and many more.
Expensive furniture – Another cause of ergonomic mismatch is expensive furniture.
This issue is common in organisation which has low budget for designing office premises. It has
considered that employees are the most important assets for the organisation due to which it is
important to satisfy them. Whereas now a days organisations follow approaches where they
satisfy needs of employees by fulfilling their monetary requirements. It has to be considered that
along with financial needs, physical requirements of employees should also be fulfilled (Eldridge
and Crombie, 2013).
Recommendations for practical remedial measures
According to OHS Australia, there are various measures which can resolve the ergonomic
issues. Some of these solutions for issues are discussed below:
Engineering controls – These are the most desirable controls as they result in highest
efficiency and adequacy. These controls helps an organisation to control ergonomic issues by
using engineering controls such as reposition of heavy objects and limiting force exertion. These
control requires resources to be implemented in an organisation due to which it is difficult for
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small scale organisations to do it. For example: Organisations such as Wesfarmers can use a lift
and reposition their heavy objects to limit force exertion. Organisations can reduce the weight of
a load to limit force exertion. Work stations or tales can be repositioned to enable neutral
postures. Tools which are used o business operations can be installed to direct materials toward
the worker (Zink and Fischer, 2013).
Work practice controls – Another measure which is effective to reduce the impact of
ergonomic issues is work practice controls. This controls can be rectified by the organisations
itself sue to which it is less expensive but less effective as well when compared to engineering
controls. There are various practices which can be conducted by organisations such as rotating
tasks and proper use of power tools. For example: Wesfarmers can reduce heavy loads to reduce
force exertion. Organisations can also establish systems in order to rotate duties of workers in
such a way that tasks can be minimised the duration of continual exertion. Other work place
practice controls are proper use of power tools and pneumatic tools (Eweje and Perry, 2011).
Personal protective equipment – Another measure which can be used by an organisation to
limit ergonomic issues is personal protective equipment. Employees can use tools which can
protect them from any harmful hazards during work. These equipment can include padding and
gloves. For example: Wesfarmers can provide special clothes to their employees which has
intense padding which can help them to reduce direct contact with hard, sharp and vibrating
surfaces. Employees should be given good fitted thermal gloves which can help them in cold
conditions while making ability to grab things easily.
The above mentioned measures are provided by governmental authorities which should be
followed by an business organisations in order to ensure health and safety of their employees.
These measures can be used according to the level of hazards in an organisation. These measures
require time and money to be invested but in order to protect interest of investors, business firms
such as Wesfarmers must use them (Ryan and Wilson, 2013). Many industries have successfully
implemented ergonomic solutions in their facilities as a way to address their workers' MSD
injury risks. These interventions have included modifying existing equipment, making changes
in work practices and purchasing new tools or other devices to assist in the production process.
Making these changes has reduced physical demands, eliminated unnecessary movements,
lowered injury rates and their associated workers' compensation costs, and reduced employee
turnover. In many cases, work efficiency and productivity have increased as well. Simple, low-
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cost solutions are often available to solve problems. Use the information on this page to see what
has worked for others in your industry or in other industries.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it has been ascertained that ergonomic is a study of
movements and comfort in a human body. This concept has its own significance and relevance in
corporate world as it is important to consider human beings or employees as their primary assets.
In this report, various ergonomic issues are identified which are faced by employees of modern
business companies. All of these issues have few solutions which should be considered and
followed by organisations in order to ensure health and safety of their employees. The concept of
ergonomic should be assessed by all organisations in order to train employees about their safety
measures.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Jasiulewicz-Kaczmarek, M., & Drożyner, P. (2013, July). Social dimension of sustainable
development–safety and ergonomics in maintenance activities. In International
Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 175-184).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Gyi, D., Sang, K., & Haslam, C. (2013). Participatory ergonomics: co-developing interventions
to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal symptoms in business drivers. Ergonomics, 56(1),
45-58.
Craig, T., & Campbell, D. (2012). Organisations and the business environment. Routledge.
Dul, J., Bruder, R., Buckle, P., Carayon, P., Falzon, P., Marras, W. S., ... & van der Doelen, B.
(2012). A strategy for human factors/ergonomics: developing the discipline and
profession. Ergonomics, 55(4), 377-395.
Eldridge, J. E. T., & Crombie, A. D. (2013). A Sociology of Organisations (RLE: Organizations).
Routledge.
Zink, K. J., & Fischer, K. (2013). Do we need sustainability as a new approach in human factors
and ergonomics?. Ergonomics, 56(3), 348-356.
De Paoli, D., Arge, K., & Hunnes Blakstad, S. (2013). Creating business value with open space
flexible offices. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 15(3/4), 181-193.
Neumann, W. P., & Village, J. (2012). Ergonomics action research II: a framework for
integrating HF into work system design. Ergonomics, 55(10), 1140-1156.
Eweje, G., & Perry, M. (Eds.). (2011). Business and sustainability: Concepts, strategies and
changes (Vol. 3). Emerald Group Publishing.
Ryan, B., & Wilson, J. R. (2013). Ergonomics in the development and implementation of
organisational strategy for sustainability. Ergonomics, 56(3), 541-555.
Clarke, T. (2017). The Ergonomics Programme at Network Rail. In Rail Human Factors (pp. 41-
44). Routledge.
Online
Ergonomics. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/controlhazards.html>
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