Patrick_Kazmierczak_Assignment_5_2

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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University *

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Mechanical Engineering

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Jan 9, 2024

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Patrick Kazmierczak Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University SFT-Y320 5.2 Huston, We’ve Got an Ergonomics Problem! November 19, 2023

When we think of safety, we tend to think of the big things such as safety on a flight line around engines and moving equipment and aircraft, or noise hazards. One often overlooked aspect when it comes to safety is ergonomics. Ergonomics is such an issue that during my time in the Navy, many people didn’t know that there was certain budgeting specifically for ergonomics in the workplace. Everything from desk chairs to shelving, computer locations etcetera can all be tailored to the workplace. In fact, in rough terms ergonomics can be said to be the study of fitting a workplace to the worker, rather than a worker to a workplace. My team and I have been tasked with finding ways to improve the safety and efficiency of the workplace to better serve our customers. My team believes that the main issue has been ergonomics within the workplace. We have seen a rise in safety related problems, whether its with general safety violations or in some cases injuries. To better understand the problems and find solutions, we have decided to observe the day-to-day operations in the workplace and see what is causing the problems. We believe that being a part of the operations we will gain a better understanding of what the root causes are and can better determine solutions. Based on past experiences, we believe that human factors can play a major part in the overall culture of a workplace. Whether it is complacency, or ergonomic factors at play, a small issue if not addressed can quickly become a major impediment to the product and cause delays and frustrations for our customers. Based on our observations, we believe we have identified two main issues at play. One is a lack of proper training caused by complacency. This has caused an attitude in the workplace of “well this is the way we’ve always done it.” Complacency can be defined as a normalization of deviance. As pressures mount to produce a product, be it by a rise in sales or a greater push by

management, workers tend to find ways to, for lack of a better term, cut corners in order to meat the demand. When this happens, and nothing bad happens as a result, it becomes easier and easier to keep cutting corners. This causes the deviance from written procedures to become normal. As a maintenance supervisor in the military, I was never really worried about the new airman doing a job for the first time. They often were in the publications and following procedures step-by-step. I was more worried about the technician that has done the job a few dozen or more times and feels that they don’t need toe publication to do it because they have the experience. This “experience” can lead someone to think that they can identify a step or procedure that is not needed and can be skipped to get the job done faster. It’s common to have a meeting to discus a procedures or job that is not done often, or one that is particularly hazardous. In order to combat complacency, we recommend also doing this from time to time on common jobs that are performed often as well. This will reinforce the importance of following established procedures. The second issue that we identified was with ergonomics in the workplace. As mentioned earlier, ergonomics is not something that is often though of as a safety issue. In many industrial workplaces, benches tend to be higher than a standard desk or table. Think sitting at a bar. Working for hours on a barstool without any kind of back support can cause pain and injury. Another issue is having to lift heavy items, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2001 that more than 36% of injuries that resulted in lost workdays were the result of injuries caused by overexertion and cumulative trauma. To combat this, we recommend improvements to the workspaces such as stools that have a back and arm rest. This will give workers something to lean against and prevent pain and injuries. We also recommend the use of anti-

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fatigue mats. Often workers have to take heavy items off of shelves and move them to workstations or other places. To prevent injuries, we recommend designing shelving that can place items at a height that doesn’t require workers to bend down and remove items. We also recommend carts that can lift and lower items to the height of the shelf or workstation so items can be slid with minimal lifting. Where this is not an option due to space constraints, we recommend training workers on lifting techniques that will minimize the chance of injury caused by this type of work. Something to consider is that these two issues may not necessarily be separate problems. In some cases, the ergonomic issues can lead directly to the complacency. If a job is not comfortable, or is overly stressful on the worker, this can cause an attitude where people will find ways to get the job done faster and avoid the stressor as much as possible. We believe that by a combination of these recommendations, we can reduce the strain on the workers, improve safety and the efficiency of the workplace. This will have a result of a better product, more efficiently for our customers. This is not a one-and-done solution. To effectively combat these issues will be an ongoing process. We will need to continue to monitor the workplace and continually stress the importance of CRM and ergonomics within the workplace.

References: Furst, P. (2021, October 1). Normalization of deviations in performance . Occupational Health & Safety. https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2021/10/01/Normalization-of-Deviations-in- Performance.aspx Laboratory ergonomics . Environment, Health and Safety. (2022a, November 21). https://ehs.unc.edu/topics/ergonomics/laboratory-ergonomics/ Lifting and material handling . Environment, Health and Safety. (2022b, November 21). https://ehs.unc.edu/topics/ergonomics/lifting-and-material-handling/