A successful launch sets your ergonomics process up for long-term success. Read this article to learn what a successful ergonomics process launch looks like.
In the first article in this series on sustainable ergonomics, I made the case that the most important part of ergonomics is compounding. The idea is that viewing ergonomics as a continuous improvement process that you can sustain over time leads to compounding returns.
Over time, this is where the magic happens. Ergonomic improvements lead to safety, quality, and productivity improvements, creating a dividend you can reinvest back into more improvements. Once you get the flywheel turning, it starts to create a positive momentum that helps you sustain your ergonomics process.
Making regular, seemingly small improvements can make a big difference over time. To illustrate this point, this is the math behind getting just 1% better every day:
This is why viewing ergonomics as a continuous improvement process is so important. The thing about continuous improvement, though, is that your ergonomics team needs to be capable of making improvements. The 1% better every day math only works if your workplace is actually getting 1% better every day.
We’ve found that having a launch event is a great way to build ergonomics knowledge and skills that enable ergonomics team members to successfully execute the ergonomics process.
Ergonomics launch event prerequisites
The launch event is the last step to take as you’re establishing a new ergonomics process (or re-launching an existing process).
At this point, you should have already:
1. Conducted a gap analysis by comparing the current state of your ergonomics process with where you want to be.
2. Documented your ergonomics process in a policy document that includes your vision and mission, goals and metrics, standards and guidance, and roles and responsibilities.
3. Chosen a data management system that is scalable and adheres to best practices for managing your ergonomics data.
4. Sent your ergonomics team through online ergonomics training that builds ergonomics knowledge before the event. This frees up the launch event to be focused on developing real-world skills.
The ergonomics launch event
Now that you have a solid foundation in place, it’s time to launch your ergonomics process! You can certainly run one of these events on your own, but it is tremendously helpful to have one of our ergonomics experts support it for you.
This is how we would run an event for you. The objective is to transfer real-world ergonomics skills to your team by going out to the floor and getting hands on experience with an expert at their side.
Review online training and answer questions
The first step is to review the online ergonomics training and answer any questions your team has. After that, we move on to the workshops where we practice the core elements of ergonomics at your worksite.
Assessing Risk workshop
This Assessing Risk workshop covers the use of ergonomic assessment tools at your worksite, and ensures your team can confidently assess your worksite for MSD risk factors.
Planning Improvements workshop
Next, the Planning Improvements workshop is a hands-on activity where the team will practice prioritizing, planning, and scheduling improvement projects inside the ErgoPlus Industrial software application using the ergonomics data they gathered during the previous workshop.
Measuring Progress workshop
The Measuring Progress workshop focuses on verifying risk reduction after improvement projects have been completed. Team members will also leave this workshop with a complete understanding of the ergonomics metrics your worksite is tracking and how their activity impacts those metrics.
Scaling Solutions workshop
The Scaling Solutions workshop focuses on ergonomic design principles and how to scale successful ergonomics solutions to similar jobs and tasks at their worksite as well as across other worksites in the company.
Launch a sustainable ergonomics process
Launching your process through an ergonomics launch event ensures your team gains the knowledge and skills necessary to make your worksite just a little bit better every day.
1% gains add up surprisingly fast. An ergonomics process launch event ensures your team is up for the job.
Stay tuned for this series on sustainable ergonomics …
Upcoming articles in this series on sustainable ergonomics are going to provide more detail and step-by-step guidance on how to implement and sustain an ergonomics process at your worksite, so stay tuned.
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Need help?
If you’d prefer more help than we can provide in a series of articles, we’d be happy to chat! We have over 30 years of institutional experience helping clients implement sustainable ergonomics programs. Just get in touch and we’ll schedule an introductory call to see if it makes sense to work together.
