Ergonomics Thoughts by Auburn Engineers
Welcome to Ergonomics Thoughts by Auburn Engineers!
7 May 08
We have the luxurious opportunity to discuss many issues with folks who have deep insights into ergonomics. Most days, someone in some corner of the world poses a question or raises an issue that gives us pause to think. These conversations are what make our job interesting and exciting. Issues ranging from risk to injury and from managed systems to training teams are discussed in our office, over the phone and through the internet.
Rather than repeating these questions and discussions over and over, I am going to raise them through this blog. This will allow you to weigh in with your thoughts on these issues and raise the bar on the discussion so to speak.
Lately we have had frequent discussions on managing ergonomics – and what that means. And believe me, it seems to have far ranging meanings. One thing does appear clear, that we in the ergonomics profession have matured from trying to do laboratory-like research in the workplace to being expected to consistently produce results in a predictable fashion. For us practitioners with roots in science and research this can create a dilemma. How do we overcome this tension between science and business. It seems that one requirement is a repeatable process that provides consistent data across a wide variety of situations. In other words, it seems like we need convergence in the way we do things so it can be explained in the same way over and over again to different people. Unfortunately very few folks can claim to do this. Or at least I haven’t talked to many. This may why Eastman Kodak was so impressive. They had a consistent methodology and process for ergonomics. The voluminous and ahead-of-their-time books spoke to this detailed process. However, it would be interesting to know if such an approach would stand up in today’s need for continuous improvement and ever-shorter improvement and change cycles.
I could continue on this theme for a long time. I will stop for today. Next blog I will continue on this theme of the business of ergonomics – unless someone raises a more exciting discussion over the next few days.
Please chime in. Contact me and add your thoughts.
I’ll be back soon.
Stephen
