Ergonomics & Ergonomic Assessments:
Overview
It is a requirement of the Safety, Health and Welfare Act, 2005 that all employers provide a safe place of work and a safe system of work for all employees and others who may enter the place of work. This is acheived by carrying out written risk asessments to identify the hazards, assess the risks and put control measures in place. Under current legislation the maximum fine for a Health and Safety related offence is £3000 on summary conviction and up to £3,000,000 or 2 years imprisonment on indictment. If you would like more information on risk assessments, please contact us.
By adopting an ergonomic approach and completing risk assessments in the workplace, costly accidents and ill health and absenteeism can be prevented. As well as ensuring compliance with legislation, an ergonomic approach makes business and financial sense.
Ergonomics is the study of how the worker interacts with their environment and the equipment used to complete a task with the view to ensuring that this occurs in a safe and efficient manner. When conducting an ergonomic risk assessment the key areas to be addressed are the task(the job to be done), the individual (the person doing the job), the load if relevant (the object to be moved) and the working environment (the location where the task is carried out observing factors such as lighting, noise, temperature and relative humidity etc).
If an organisation is unfortunate enough to have an accident, an ergonomic risk assessment is the best method to investigate the causes of work related upper limb disorders (WRULDs), Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and neck and back pain etc to ensure that the risk of further injury and accidents can be prevented.
For more information on our risk assesment service, please contact us.