Ergonomists Without Borders: 2010 Review; Plans for 2011

Still in its formative stages, Ergonomists Without Borders (a project of the Foundation for Professional Ergonomics) had a very productive 2010. A number of milestones were achieved last year and the future is looking bright for 2011. Here’s a re-cap and a look ahead:

• The year started off with the launch of the Ergonomists Without Borders (ErgonomistsWB) website: www.ergonomistswithoutborders.org. The site is in blog format so that those who are interested in the group’s activity can subscribe to the RSS feed in order to get quick updates.
• Shortly after the website launch, Facebook and LinkedIn groups were created to gain visibility in the social media realm. Word of mouth spread quickly. Currently, between people who have emailed expressing interest or have joined the Facebook/Linked In groups, Ergonomists Without Borders has over 125 followers from 11 different countries.
• In a major step towards gaining global credibility, the International Ergonomics Association and ErgonomistsWB drafted a formal agreement to officially coordinate resources. The Memorandum of Understanding is currently going through revisions. This will make the IEA ErgonomistsWB’s second partner, alongside NIOSH.
• Program Director, Peter Budnick, PhD, CPE was a keynote speaker at the ErgoFuture2010 conference in Bali, Indonesia, where he officially introduced ErgonomistsWB in a public forum of international ergonomists. He also presented a workshop and a special conference session sponsored by ErgonomistsWB and kindly supported by the conference organizers and the esteemed Professor Adnyana Manuaba.
• Director of Information Services, Curtis VanderGriendt, CCPE presented at the Association of Canadian Ergonomists annual conference in Kelowna, Canada. He was greeted by an enthusiastic group of practicing ergonomists, academics, and students who were all interested in getting involved to some degree.
• To round off the year, Dr. Patricia Scott was recruited as the Regional Director for Africa. Dr. Scott is highly regarded within the ergonomics community; Ergonomists Without Borders is excited to officially welcome her aboard! 

• Marketing – The foundation is now in place and it’s time to start spreading the word about ErgonomistsWB. 2010 was relatively quiet in terms of marketing because there was a lot of activity going on behind the scenes. Look forward to more activity on the social media front to boost awareness.
• Funding – Up to this point ErgonomistsWB has been operating on a shoestring budget of donated time, money and resources. As the organization grows, so will operating costs. There will be a major push for funding through donations from individuals, corporations and grants. We encourage you to visit the Foundation for Professional Ergonomics (FPE) donation page and pledge your support today (be sure to earmark your contributions for ErgonomistsWB. FPE is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization).
•  Initiatives – There has been a tremendous amount of interest from individuals who want to be involved – everything from carrying out initiatives in IDC’s (Industrially Developing Countries) to translating materials and resources into different languages. The help is overwhelmingly available; it’s now a matter of deploying these resources to those in need. To accomplish this, ErgonomistsWB will be looking to spread its resources by recruiting more Regional Directors in other areas of the world.