‘Implement ergonomics management at workplace’

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SIBU: Industry players should start implementing systematic approach to ergonomics management at the workplace, says National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.

He pointed out that ergonomics should also be part of the management system.

“It’s important to develop the ergonomics aspect in the workplace. I believe it’s time for the industry to start looking at ergonomics management at the workplace in a systematic approach and Niosh is more than willing to work with the industry to help them develop and implement their own Ergonomics Management System (ErgoMS),” Lee stressed.

Among them are the establishment of procedures relating to the organisation of ergonomics in the workplace, ergonomic risk identification and risk assessment methods and procedures, early reporting and investigation of disease, elements of training, procedures of the selection and supply of equipment based on ergonomic consideration.

On the established Ergonomics Excellence Centre in its Southern Regional Office in Johor Bahru, he explained that its purpose, among other things, is to become a leader in the field of ergonomics in Malaysia by conducting research and development (R&D) activities.

It also aims to become the main reference point/authority in the field of ergonomics in Malaysia and to facilitate the necessary authorities to help establish guidelines and standards for Malaysian industries.

Lee said through Niosh’s excellence centre, they had offered various programmes to the industries such as courses and talks, advisory services and consultations and R&D.  The Centre has one of the most advanced ergonomics laboratories in Malaysia on par with developed countries.

“Previously, most of the ergonomic promotions were only made through campaign poster or short talk given to the employees. Nowadays, due to increased awareness and the efforts made by all parties, a lot of industry have started to take a more serious view to manage this problem,” he noted.

He said ergonomics itself has many disciplines, and the three major disciplines are physical ergonomics, mental ergonomics and organisational ergonomics.

On physical ergonomics, he said this is related to human anatomical, anthropometric, physiological and biomechanical characteristics as they are related to physical activities.

Relevant topics in physical ergonomics include working postures, materials handling, repetitive movements, work-related musculoskeletal disorders and workplace layout.

On the other hand, mental ergonomics or cognitive ergonomics is concerned with mental processes, such as perception, memory, reasoning and motor response, as they affect interactions among humans and other elements of a system, explained Lee.

Relevant topics include user friendliness, human error-analysis, mental workload, decision making, skilled performance, human-computer interaction, human reliability, work stress and training as these may relate to human-system design.

As for organisational ergonomics, it is concerned with the optimisation of sociotechnical systems, including their organisational structures, policies and processes.

Relevant topics include ergonomics management programme communication, crew resource management, work design, design of working times, teamwork, participatory design, community ergonomics, cooperative work, new work paradigms, virtual organisations, telework and quality management.

“These three major domains give us a lot of opportunities to address ergonomics issues at work such as workstations/tasks/tools design, environmental assessment, human error analysis, ergonomics management system and so on,” Lee said.