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May 9, 2012
Don Bloswick, a professor in in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Utah, shares a variety of creative rehabilitation ergonomics applications he and his students have developed, including a tricycle designed to provide leg exercises for children with Cerebral Palsy (CP); an off-road walker allowing children with CP greater outdoor mobility; a wheelchair track device that allows wheelchair users to navigate on sand, snow and other rough terrain; foot and arm-lever propelled wheelchairs; and a paragliding system for people with disabilities. If you think ergonomics is only about preventing musculoskeletal injuries, this will open your eyes to new horizons.
May 2, 2012
Pass the word -- submissions for the 2012 Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award are due by May 31, 2012. Submissions for this prestigious award can be made individually or as a group. The award is open, world wide, to students (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Ergonomics and Ergonomics-related programs. Students who have completed their graduate degrees in the past year are also eligible.
May 2, 2012
This 10 year old article, republished with permission from ErgoWeb's subscription-based The Ergonomics Report, remains highly relavent today, and the title says it well: Profits, Not Compliance, Will Drive Ergonomics.
April 25, 2012
ErgoAdvocate's Gene Kay will present a free seminar in Cupertino, CA, that will explore Metabolic Syndrome and the twin epidemics of obesity and inactivity. Attendees will learn the basic causes and physiology of sitting disease, and then will join the instructor in exploring a number of approaches that can be used to mitigate the potential impact of this cluster of diseases. The goal is to create a more active work life for the office worker. This may include a combination of work practice, workstation, and social changes. The session will be held this Friday, April 27, 2012.
April 25, 2012
Guest contributors Linda Miller and Lucy Hart provide an update on the emergence of ergonomics as a points category in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building rating system. Over a decade ago, a coalition of building industry leaders in the U.S. created building design and construction guidelines for the environmental assessment of buildings. The LEED Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based standard that evaluates the environmental performance of a building over its entire life cycle. The primary goal of LEED is to promote building practices that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy for its building occupants, and Miller and Hart explain how ergonomics is gaining a solid footing in the LEED rating system.
April 18, 2012
This article, reprinted from The Ergonomics Report, summarizes a research article that showed that marked shoulder pain occurred three times more frequently among hotel room cleaners when psychosocial risk factors were present according to a University of California investigation. Sometimes, risk factors alone are not the source of perceived pain or injury.
April 17, 2012
In this Ergoweb exclusive, Dr. David Cochran shares the standard that he and many of his ergonomics colleagues would have preferred over the version that was rescinded by the USA Congress in 2001. Dr. Cochran was instrumental as an ergonomics expert and advocate within OSHA as the standard was being developed. As with any political process, compromises were made that many felt weakened the standard, and perhaps even determined its fate. The documents he shares in this article contain the full standard as he and others wished it would have been, and can now be used as an excellent blueprint for the elements of a successful ergonomics program.
April 10, 2012
On March 21, 2012, Ergoweb held a webinar titled "Improving Outcomes -- Office Ergonomics Success Stories." Attendees asked many questions -- far too many to answer during the webinar -- so we've compiled and answered the questions in this article, including laptops vs. desktops, how to convince management to invest in ergonomics, budgeting, liability, costs, ROI, sit-stand, chairs and more.
April 4, 2012
The Future of Ergonomics Committee, under the direction of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), has published a report summarizing a strategic initiative for the world-wide promotion of the ergonomics discipline and profession in order to reach global excellence in HFE (human factors and ergonomics). The report does a nice job of summarizing the field of ergonomics, and specifies numerous specific values we can and should produce. Ergoweb's Peter Budnick reviews the report and offers his opinions.