With increasing incidence in work-related injuries, ergonomics is touted as critical in workforce safety. The way you implement ergonomics and safety programs can be just as important as the chairs, keyboards and computer screens these programs advocate. Consider a systematic, data-driven approach to ergonomics.

Health professionals and marketing mavens have often thrown around the term “ergonomics” with abandon. For some, it has a very specific meaning; for others it covers everything from ergonomic computer chairs and workstations to display screens and keyboards, even ergonomically efficient ink pens and, at least in one case, ergonomic underwear.

OK, perhaps the lattermost example is less likely. Yet in office, manufacturing or hospital settings, where ergonomics is most common, there are complications of heat, noise, slippery surfaces and myriad exposures of extension, lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, pinching, grasping, bending and reaching. There may be electrical issues and fall protection challenges, as well as repetitive tasks such as valve turning. There may be headaches, back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, repetitive strain injuries are the fastest-growing occupational hazard. Computer vision syndrome affects almost 66 million people — in fact, 91 percent of all computer users suffer from eyestrain, says the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety.

While businesses in the United States are spending more than $60 billion annually for compensable injuries in every type of work environment, according to Occupational Hazards, the costs associated with ergonomics-related work disorders are more than $2 billion of direct and indirect costs estimated annually in the U.S. alone, says Arianne Verhagen, Ph.D., a physical therapist and epidemiologist at the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, in a recent Reliable Plant article.

But really, it’s about people getting hurt on the job and the responsibility of the employers and the diligence of the employees to protect themselves and each other.

With increasing incidence in work-related disorders, strains and sprains, ergonomics is touted as critical in both workforce safety and productivity.

Now, conventional wisdom states that if your ergonomics and safety program spends enough money on ergonomic chairs, keyboards and computer screens, you can kiss your company’s repetitive-strain injuries (and related productivity losses) goodbye. However, the way you implement corrective changes to improve safety and ergonomic issues can be just as important as utilizing a goofy-looking, albeit more comfortable, ergonomic keyboard.

Kaizen, the implementation of low-cost, team-based improvements resulting in measurable impact, “might just be your ergonomics program’s new best friend,” according to Occupational Hazards.

Many safety managers, especially (though not exclusively) those in small businesses or small facilities, have limited resources and staff to focus on this area, and the bureaucratic nightmare that is the process can also be slow and exhausting. Obviously, not implementing corrective actions in a timely manner can result in a hazardous and unsafe workplace, OSHA non-compliance or, in the worse case scenario, fatalities.

Christopher Chapman, a senior program manager at the Center for Excellence in Lean Enterprise at the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology, proffers an interesting concept: using kaizen to enhance safety programs.

The systematic approach popularized by the Toyota Production System (TPS) primarily has focused on production and efficiency numbers, Chapman notes, yet it can also be shifted effectively toward improving safety and ergonomics.

By aggressively integrating kaizen efforts with efforts to better safety and ergonomics, a number of companies already have achieved measurable improvements: TRW’s facility in Cookeville, Tenn., for instance, utilized the kaizen approach and achieved a 90 percent reduction in severity rate while improving plant-wide throughput by 15 percent over 2 years; and DENSO achieved a 27 percent reduction in recordable injuries between 1998 and 2000 by applying ergonomic and kaizen methodologies and practices.

“Companies must ensure that recommendations and preventive actions are implemented promptly,” Chapman writes. This is where the kaizen approach can help significantly. The approach quickly organizes and deploys safety kaizen teams to implement safety and ergonomic solutions. To run a safety kaizen effectively and as waste-free as possible, it is important to perform the following steps:

1) Describe the opportunity
First, the safety kaizen team must assess the current situation and describe the opportunity. Injury investigation reports and OSHA injury logs must be reviewed, and accident trends data in the targeted area must be analyzed. The team should visit the gemba (i.e., where the work is performed) to gain a firsthand understanding of current conditions by conducting safety audits, observations or interviews or by videotaping the work process to identify hazards.

2) Select and train the team
Team members should be chosen for a purpose and be effective problem-solvers. Include workers from the kaizen area, as well as workers upstream and downstream from the selected area, as this creates a broad range of ownership. Kaizen events are led by a team leader and a co-leader who have “proven leadership skills, including good communication and people skills,” and they should be experienced in the kaizen process. Team size should be based on what makes sense given the scope of the kaizen.

3) Set goals and collect baseline data
The safety goals for each area should be assigned by top management. The team, with guidance from management, should link the kaizen objectives to the area goals. “Specify the degree of injury reduction that you are targeting and the period in which you intend to achieve it, writes Chapman. “Also, specify the class or type of injury you hope to reduce in each kaizen objective.” This will provide a yardstick, documented on the kaizen target sheet and safety metrics, to measure your safety performance.

4) Clearly outline responsibilities
Finally, management and the kaizen team leader and co-leader must clearly outline team members’ responsibilities by creating a checklist (kaizen newspaper) that specifies the description of the problem, countermeasures, team members’ responsibilities, due dates, percentage complete and the completion dates. During the kaizen event, the leader and co-leader should review the kaizen newspaper and status with the team as well as with top management, process owners, safety/ergonomic coordinators and/or plant physician so they can offer support, address any obstacles and give additional course direction if needed.

Throughout, be sure that the entire process aligns with the company’s overall lean initiatives.

In addition to integrating ergonomics with kaizen, notes Woody Dwyer, CPE, CIE, Senior Risk Control Consultant, St. Paul Travelers, in a recent interview, businesses can further achieve safety objectives by integrating ergonomics into lean manufacturing and Six Sigma.

Of course, you could always wipe out your ergonomics program completely and require workers to do stretches during breaks like world-class athletes.

Resources

Using Kaizen to Improve Safety and Ergonomics
by Christopher D. Chapman
Occupational Hazards, Feb. 21, 2006

Exercise better than ergonomics to treat upper-body injuries
Reliable Plant, July 25, 2006

TRW Improves Health and Safety While Increasing Productivity with Humantech
Humantech, 2002

Ergonomics and Manufacturing Excellence
by Scott Smith
Occupational Hazards, September 2002