budnick – Page 26 – Ergoweb LLC

March 26, 2013

Listening: A Powerful Macroergonomic Tool

Workplace problems must be addressed in context, and the key to understanding context is careful and respectful listening. In this reprint from The Ergonomics Report, renowned Ergonomist Andy Imada shares workplace experiences and solutions with journalist Jennifer Anderson. Imada's insights take us well beyond a typical ergonomics risk factor focus by considering psychosocial factors that often trump workstation-based improvement efforts. For example, according to Imada, "people will not remember you for what you did, or what you said or how many millions of dollars you saved. They will remember you for how you made them feel."

March 26, 2013

Webinar: Cost-Benefit Analysis for Ergonomics, featuring Rick Goggins

Are your ergonomics recommendations sometimes met with questions about cost and effectiveness? Do you hesitate to recommend some solutions because they seem too expensive? Are you looking for tools to help you promote ergonomics as an investment and not just a cost? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you'll want to hear what renowned Ergonomist Rick Goggins has to say in this informative webinar on April 11, 2013, at

March 13, 2013

We Told Them to Lift with Their Legs, But They Just Won’t Listen!

Common wisdom says we should lift with our legs, not our backs. Some companies mistakenly base much of their ergonomics strategy on training employees to "lift with your legs." This research study sheds light on why many people typically don't lift with their knees, and instead use a back-lift strategy. In this article, reprinted from The Ergonomics Report, study reviewer Peter Budnick offers his thoughts on how companies can apply this new knowledge.

March 13, 2013

Ergoweb’s Peter Budnick to Deliver Keynote Presentation Next Week at Applied Ergonomics Conference

Peter Budnick, Ergoweb's President and CEO, will deliver a keynote presentation on Global Ergonomics at next week's Applied Ergonomics Conference in Dallas, TX.

March 1, 2013

Ergoweb’s Peter Budnick to Present at 2013 GOSH Conference in Portland, OR

Peter Budnick will present "Ergonomics Analysis for Safety Committees," a 90 minute basic level presentation, and "Advanced Ergonomics Analysis - Using Quantitative Ergonomic Assessment Tools," a full day workshop, at the Oregon Governor's Occupational Safety & Health Conference (GOSH), taking place March 4-7, 2013.

February 6, 2013

Hospital Bed Research to Improve Patient and Nurse Safety and Performance

Researchers have devised new methodologies and metrics to analyze patient migration while laying in hospital beds. The results of the study reviewed here should help hospital bed designers better understand patient migration patterns and influence new designs that will reduce migration, as well as reducing the pressure ulcers and skin tears migration can cause, and reducing the caregiver patient repositioning tasks that lead to high rates of back injury among nurses.

February 1, 2013

Research Review: Value of Back Injury Prevention Training Questioned (reprint)

While a staple of many health and safety programs, the value of back injury prevention training is strongly challenged by a review of eleven recent studies.

January 30, 2013

Thumb Reach Distances and Envelopes for Handheld Devices

Applied researchers Otten, Karn and Parsons where tasked with designing a handheld consumer camera requiring thumb operated controls. They were surprised to find that very little data was available for such devices, so they embarked on a collaborative research and design project to collect their own data, which they later shared in the published journal Human Factors. Peter Budnick reviews their work, describing it as a good example of "informed design," which he describes requiring an ergonomic, human-centered approach. The researchers also used novel techniques to collect thumb reach distance and envelope data, and also applied the "Mr. Potato Head" method to investigate control location preferences.

January 10, 2013

You Can’t Achieve Six Sigma Without Ergonomics (reprint)

Reprinted from a 2002 issue of The Ergonomics Report: Any team presented with a big project that seemingly becomes more and more complex might groan at the prospect of putting ergonomics into the mix. But with a Six Sigma project, ergonomics neither conflicts with nor takes resources from other management or process systems that may already be implemented within a company. Instead it adds to the proper execution of the Six Sigma process. Authors: Jeanie Croasmun, Rachel Michael. Contributors: Ben Zavitz, Mike Wynn.