Workplace Ergonomics: A Practical Guide to Reducing Ergonomic Risks
Workplace ergonomics focuses on designing tasks, equipment and work environments to better match human capabilities and limitations while reducing exposure to ergonomic risk factors.
What Is Workplace Ergonomics?
Workplace ergonomics is the application of knowledge about people, work and equipment to the design and organization of work. The objective is to improve the fit between workers and the tasks they perform.
Ergonomic considerations can apply to offices, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, warehousing, laboratories, transportation and many other work environments.
Effective ergonomics goes beyond adjusting chairs or desks. It considers the complete interaction between the worker, task, equipment, environment and organization of work.
Common Workplace Ergonomic Risk Factors
Ergonomic risk can arise from several factors, particularly when exposures are frequent, sustained, forceful or combined.
Repetitive Motion
Frequently repeating the same or similar movements can increase physical demands on particular parts of the body.
Forceful Exertion
Lifting, pushing, pulling, gripping and other activities requiring substantial force can increase physical loading.
Awkward Postures
Bending, twisting, reaching or working in other demanding positions can increase stress on muscles and joints.
Static Postures
Maintaining the same position for extended periods can contribute to fatigue and physical discomfort.
Contact Stress
Repeated or sustained contact between the body and hard or sharp surfaces can create localized pressure.
Vibration
Exposure to vibrating tools, machinery or vehicles can contribute to ergonomic and other occupational health risks.
Identify Ergonomic Hazards in the Workplace
Ergonomic hazards should be considered as part of the broader workplace hazard identification process. Observation of actual work can provide important information about how tasks are performed rather than relying only on written procedures.
Organizations can examine task frequency, force requirements, posture, reach distances, work height, equipment design, load characteristics and the amount of time workers spend performing particular activities.
Worker feedback can also help identify tasks associated with excessive effort, fatigue, discomfort or difficulty.
Assess Ergonomic Risk Factors
After ergonomic hazards are identified, the associated risks should be evaluated. Assessment should consider more than the presence of a single risk factor.
Frequency, duration, intensity and combinations of exposures can all influence risk. Individual tasks may also vary considerably between workers, shifts or operating conditions.
The assessment should provide enough information to prioritize action and determine whether changes to the task, equipment, environment or work organization are needed.
Improve the Design of Work
One of the strongest approaches to workplace ergonomics is improving the task itself rather than relying only on workers to adapt to poor work design.
Changes might reduce unnecessary lifting, excessive reaching, repeated movements, awkward access or prolonged static positions. The appropriate solution depends on the task and identified risk factors.
Where practicable, ergonomic improvements should address the source of exposure rather than depending entirely on instructions or personal protective equipment.
Consider Ergonomics During Manual Handling
Manual handling can involve lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing, pulling, holding or moving objects. The level of risk depends on factors such as load characteristics, required force, posture, frequency, distance and workplace conditions.
Organizations should first consider whether hazardous manual handling can be eliminated or reduced through work design, mechanical assistance, changes to materials or different methods of performing the task.
Training in handling technique can support an overall control strategy, but training alone should not be used as a substitute for addressing avoidable ergonomic hazards in the task.
Design Workstations Around the Task and Worker
Workstation design can influence posture, reach, visibility and the amount of physical effort required. Appropriate dimensions and adjustability can help accommodate differences between workers and tasks.
Frequently used tools and materials should generally be positioned to reduce unnecessary reaching and movement where practicable. Work surfaces and equipment should also support suitable working positions for the activity.
There is no single workstation arrangement that is appropriate for every person and every task. Ergonomic design should reflect the actual work being performed.
Apply Ergonomic Principles to Computer Workstations
Computer-based work can involve prolonged sitting, static posture and repeated keyboard or pointing-device use. Workstation arrangement should allow the worker to use the screen, input devices and work materials without unnecessary physical strain.
Chair adjustment, screen position, input-device placement, work-surface height and the organization of frequently used materials may all be relevant.
Variation in posture and opportunities to move can also be important because maintaining any single position for extended periods may contribute to discomfort.
Select Tools and Equipment With Ergonomics in Mind
Tool and equipment design can affect grip force, posture, reach, vibration exposure and repetition. Selection should therefore consider how equipment will actually be used.
Where practical, tools should support the task without requiring excessive force or unnecessarily awkward positions. Equipment condition also matters because poorly maintained tools can increase the effort needed to complete work.
Workers who regularly use the equipment can provide useful feedback when selecting or evaluating alternatives.
Consider Duration, Repetition and Recovery
Ergonomic risk is influenced not only by how a movement is performed but also by how frequently and for how long it occurs.
Work organization can affect exposure through task duration, work pace, repetition and opportunities for recovery or variation. Where appropriate, changes to workflow or task organization may help reduce sustained exposure.
Job rotation should be designed carefully. Moving workers between tasks that expose the same body areas to similar demands may provide little meaningful reduction in ergonomic risk.
Involve Workers in Ergonomic Improvements
Workers often understand practical difficulties that may not be obvious during a brief inspection. They can explain which movements require unusual effort, where access is difficult and how tasks vary during normal operations.
Worker participation can therefore improve both hazard identification and the design of potential solutions.
Proposed changes should also be evaluated in practice because a modification intended to solve one ergonomic problem can sometimes introduce another operational or safety issue.
Use the Hierarchy of Controls for Ergonomic Risks
Ergonomic hazards should be managed using the same systematic risk-control principles applied to other workplace hazards.
Eliminate Exposure
Where practicable, redesign work so that a hazardous manual task or unnecessary physical demand is no longer required.
Engineering Improvements
Use mechanical assistance, adjustable equipment, improved workstation design or other physical changes to reduce exposure.
Administrative Measures
Work practices, scheduling, task variation and training can supplement stronger controls where exposure cannot be fully eliminated.
Ergonomics Training Should Support Better Work Design
Training can help workers recognize ergonomic risk factors, understand controls and use adjustable equipment correctly.
Supervisors and others involved in work design may also need sufficient knowledge to recognize when tasks require further ergonomic assessment.
Training should support physical and organizational improvements rather than transferring responsibility for poorly designed work entirely to the individual worker.
Monitor Whether Ergonomic Controls Are Effective
Ergonomic improvements should be reviewed after implementation. Organizations should determine whether the change reduced the intended exposure and whether it created new hazards or practical difficulties.
Worker feedback, workplace observations, inspections and relevant reports can help evaluate effectiveness.
Ergonomic assessment may also need to be repeated when equipment, production methods, workloads, workplace layouts or task requirements change.
Common Workplace Ergonomics Mistakes
Relying Only on Technique
Instructions about posture or lifting technique cannot replace improvements to tasks that contain avoidable ergonomic hazards.
Focusing Only on Offices
Ergonomic risk can occur in industrial, healthcare, construction, logistics and many other work environments.
Ignoring Actual Work
An assessment based only on procedures may miss the physical demands and variations present during real work activities.
Effective Workplace Ergonomics Starts With Better Work Design
Workplace ergonomics should focus on understanding how people interact with tasks, equipment and their working environment. Identifying physical demands and ergonomic risk factors provides the foundation for meaningful improvement.
Where possible, redesigning tasks and equipment to reduce exposure is preferable to relying only on workers to adapt to difficult conditions. Continued worker participation and review can help ensure that ergonomic improvements remain practical and effective.
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