Leveraging Technology for Successful Ergonomics Deployments in Municipalities

1. Leveraging Technology for Successful Ergonomics Deployments in Municipalities Presented by: Steve Meyers, CIH, CSP EORM

2. Introduction • Ergonomics Issues Fall into Two Distinct Areas: Office Non-Office

3. Why Leverage Technology? • Many office ergonomic issues are relatively easy to fix compared to non-office tasks. • Companies spend too much time/effort solving office ergonomic issues and not enough on non-office tasks. • Majority of serious ergonomic injuries come from non-office related tasks. • Using technology to manage the majority of office ergonomic issues creates more time to devote to non-office ergonomic issues.

4. Some Background Data • EORM Internal Study Data: • Most office ergonomic evaluations were taking approximately 1 hour to complete. • The majority of recommendations were off-the-shelf solutions with multiple vendors. • Customer is left with simple solutions that had anywhere from 15 to 20 data points (vendors and products) to review.

5. Outcome of Study • Too much time was spent to complete assessment. • Solutions were typically off-the-self. • Customers had difficulty reviewing all solutions presented. • What about follow up?

6. Leveraging Technology Approach • Use effective Risk assessment tools in the office • Effective improvement solutions that solve know problems • Develop assessment media • Demonstrate measurable results in risk, time and cost reduction

7. Effective Risk Management • Accepted strategy for Occupational Health & Safety is Risk Management: • Recognition (Observation), • Evaluation (Measure), • Control (Fix), • Anticipation of workplace hazards (Prevent)

8. Effective Risk Management • Recognition tools need to be quick and easy to use. Answers the question: “Do I have a potential problem?”

9. Do I have a Potential Problem?

10. STARTSystem to Assign Risk Thresholds • START has two components: • Workstation Evaluation Section • Physical Attribute Questions • Risk Screening Tool • Risk Measuring Tool

11. Effective Risk Management Tools System ToAssign RiskThreshold(START)

12. Site Office Ergo Risk Map

13. Leveraging Technology Approach • Use effective Risk assessment tools in the office • Effective improvement solutions that solve know problems • Develop assessment media • Demonstrate measurable results in risk, time and cost reduction

14. What is the Problem?

15. START Form • Phone & Lighting

16. Leveraging Technology Approach • Use effective Risk assessment tools in the office • Effective improvement solutions that solve know problems • Develop assessment media • Demonstrate measurable results in risk, time and cost reduction

17. Paper Media • Strength • Consistent approach to managing ergonomic risk in the office • Weakness • Requires reproduction time • Difficult to perform mass surveys • Increase time to compile data • Solutions set needs to looked up after assessments have been completed

18. Palm Media • Strength • Consistent approach to managing ergonomic risk in the office • Only enter data in once • Solution set can be part of program • Camera and video capturing • Weakness • Difficult to perform mass surveys • Requires synching of data to download results

19. Personal Home Page Media • Strength • Consistent approach to managing ergonomic risk in the office • Only enter data in once • Solution set can be part of program • Mass assessments can be performed in short amount of time • Weakness • Interaction with customer

20. Leveraging Technology Approach • Use effective Risk assessment tools in the office • Effective improvement solutions that solve know problems • Develop assessment media • Demonstrate measurable results in risk, time and cost reduction

21. What is the Problem?

22. Measure (How bad is it?) START: 50% neck risk factors are present

23. START Form • Phone & Lighting

24. Did Solution Solve the Problem?

25. Results for Headset Solution 18% reduction in ergonomic risk

26. Scoring Physical Attribute Questions

27. Cost to Perform 1,000 Evaluations • Paper Method with Interview Costs • Perform assessment: 1,000 hours @$32.50/hr = $32,500 • Perform follow up: 250 hours @ $32.50/hr = $8,125 • Total for one year = 1,250 hours or $40,625 in labor costs (does not include employee time to participate) • Personal Home Page Method • Total time for one year: 15 min/assessment = 250 hours • Software = $25,000 (does not include employee time to participate)

28. Conclusions • Leveraging technology has the following benefits: • Internalizes the tools, methods and skills to complete office ergonomic assessments freeing up time to work on difficult non-office ergonomic issues • Allows for mass evaluations to be completed very quickly so that ergonomic needs can be prioritized from high to low. • Pre-approved solutions are tied to ergonomic issues to reduce risk

29. Conclusions • Leveraging technology has the following benefits: • Can reduce the cost associated with performing one-on-one evaluations. • Creates a consistency approach to the evaluation, solutions and follow up • Employees learn about their work environment (physical attributes) and how to make improvements • Extends ergonomic assessment methods to remote or at home offices