Ergonomics in Practice

Summary: This 3 day course is designed to provide delegates with an understanding of ergonomics and provide them with a range of tools that can be used to promote safe working.

Provider: Human Applications Ltd
Location: UK
Duration: 3 days
Knowledge/experience needed: None
Email: joanne.higgins@humanapps.co.uk
Website: www.humanapps.co.uk

Who should attend and why?
Delegates should have good writing skills, be able to communicate to all staff levels, and be able to take a practical approach to problem solving. Engineers, safety professionals, HR managers, line managers and supervisors will all gain from attending. The application of good ergonomics is increasingly viewed as business critical. Organisations need to take account of good ergonomics at every stage of the process lifecycle – from commissioning new equipment, through routine use to its final decommissioning. Good ergonomics is about optimising the relationship between people and their whole work environment. It considers the people themselves, the jobs they do, the tools they use and the environment they use them in, as well as asking the fundamental question, why are people doing the job this way? The course will help delegates understand ergonomics and provide them with a range of tools that can be used to promote safe working. The course provides delegates with a practical insight as to how ergonomics should be applied in their place of work. The course is highly practical and is based around exercises requiring delegates to participate and to apply what they have learned.

After the course delegates will be able to:

  • Understand how to conduct a simple ergonomics survey
  • Apply a range of tools and techniques for analysing the way people work
  • Apply ergonomics principles and integrate these into existing policies and procedures
  • Understand the factors that lead to the development of musculoskeletal injuries and how to manage risks
  • Work as part of an ergonomics improvement team to ensure that better ergonomics is applied throughout the workplace

Expected outcomes:

  • To introduce the theoretical concepts of ergonomics
  • To introduce practical ergonomics tools, techniques and checklists so that good ergonomics practice can be understood and applied
  • To give delegates, through a programme of structured practical exercises, the opportunity to try out and evaluate ergonomics data gathering, analysis and requirements specification techniques
  • To underline the relevant ergonomics considerations arising from recent developments in health and safety legislation

Course content

  • Introduction to ergonomics
  • The components of ergonomics
  • Anthropometry practical
  • Stakeholder analysis
  • Musculoskeletal disorders
  • Postural analysis
  • Health & Safety Law – the ergonomics implications
  • Task analysis
  • Environmental ergonomics
  • Controls and displays
  • Binary decision making
  • Workstation and work equipment design
  • Building usability into design

Delegates are given an opportunity to apply the principles and techniques covered in the course to “live” cases. This may involve working in small teams in the workplace, or, where this is not possible, analysing video case studies. The programme concludes with a discussion on the application of ergonomics to existing and new work systems.