The ergonomics audit

If ergonomics is to have its full impact upon a company's competitiveness, it needs to emerge from its project-oriented mode and address overall company needs. As with any other discipline, it requires a methodology for evaluating the overall state or ergonomics within an organization. Such a methodology was developed at the request of a large multi-national company and has since been used in three cases. This paper summarizes the methodology as originally developed, and the lessons learned in applying it in diverse industries. An audit program was initially developed from process and outcome measures, by comparing existing workplaces against ergonomics standards and by using accident and performance measures to locate sub-areas within the plant as foci for ergonomics effort. The workplace survey procedure covers many different aspects of the task (environment, manual materials handling, controls and displays, physical workload, anthropometry) but allows the analyst to branch past areas considered irrelevant to the workplace at hand. This survey is computer-based but can be performed by hand when required.