Need a new idea for ergonomics at your company? How about having an ergonomics contest!
A contest can motivate people to get to work on ergonomics in their area, and also yield solutions that may be applicable in other areas of the facility.
Contests like this are sometimes held as part of conferences, like the ErgoCup award given at the annual Applied Ergonomics Conference, but one contest set the stakes a bit higher.
Last year the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work held an Ergonomics Contest. The aim behind this European Agency initiative was to support the dissemination of good practice information about MSDs and to increase the exchange of information about effective ways of prevention and ‘practical solutions’ in Member States and at European level.
The winners came from 13 EU Member States and included small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies, a trades union and a specialist safety and health institute, operating in very different sectors.
16 winners were chosen and their work was published in a guide “Preventing MSDs in Practice”.
Each example describes the nature of the problem, the solution applied and the results. It is hoped the cases will give those in the workplace an idea of what is achievable.
The guide is available at as a .pdf (57 pages) from the European Agency’s website.
At your company you can announce the winners with a similar guide, or make a press release, or send it to Ergoweb! Employees and customers/clients are always excited to hear about successful improvements.
Good Luck!