Prominent ergonomics research, Dr. David Rempel will present the results of two recent studies:

1. An initial study on biomechanical factors associated with wrist tendonitis, which is part of a multi-site, prospective, field study to assess exposure-effect relationships between biomechanical risk factors, personal, and psychosocial measures and the incidence of specific upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders.

2. Results from a 5-year study to develop and evaluate interventions for overhead drilling, which is a common task for plumbers, electricians, and sheet-metal workers that is associated with shoulder and arm injuries. The interventions were tested in the field by over 100 commercial construction workers in Oregon, Washington, BC, and California.

David Rempel, MD, MPH is Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at UC San Francisco and Director of the Ergonomics Graduate Training Program at UC Berkeley. The research of his group focuses on understanding how tendons, muscles, and nerves are injured at work and how workplace tools and tasks can be designed in order to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. The publications of his group and a description of the research projects are at http://ergo.berkeley.edu/.

This is a MEMBERS-ONLY event for PSHFES members, free of charge. You are encouraged to come early to socialize and have dinner. Dinner and drinks are your responsibility and you will be billed individually.

Even though this event is free to members, please register for it at: http://www.pshfes.onefireplace.com/ so that we know how many people to plan for. Click on "Event Registration". This will take about 15 seconds, total. Don't miss hearing this world-famous ergonomic specialist!

Continuing our International Visiting Speaker Series, PSHFES is pleased to welcome Australian researcher Dr. Leon Straker. Dr. Straker’s presentation is titled: ‘Children, computers and ergonomics: ‘grommets’ riding the third wave.’ This presentation will outline the growing importance of computers in the lives of children in affluent communities, provide an overview of a decade of research into the physical aspects of child-computer interaction and introduce the first evidence-based guidelines for wise use of computers.

Leon Straker is Professor and Director of Research at the School of Physiotherapy at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia.

He has a PhD from the department of Occupational Medicine at the University of Sydney and a Masters in ergonomics from the department of Engineering at the University of London. Leon has supervised over 50 student research projects and has over 200 scholarly publications. He has just finished a 3 year stint as the first editor for Ergonomics from outside the UK. His research has attracted international media interest including the New York Times and he has been a keynote speaker at conferences in USA, Canada, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and New Zealand. His research and practice for 25 years has focussed on the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders – starting with the ‘RSI epidemic’. For the last 10 years he has been investigating the physical aspects of the interaction between children and computers and this is his presentation topic.

This is a MEMBERS-ONLY event for PSHFES members, free of charge. You are encouraged to come early to socialize and have dinner from Billy Baroo’s special menu (link to PDF). Dinner and drinks are your responsibility and you will be billed individually.

Swedish Researcher Svend Erik Mathiassen will be PSHFES' guest speaker at our upcoming dinner meeting on MONDAY, MAY 24th at 7PM at Matt's Rotisserie in Redmond Town Center. Dr. Mathiassen is probably one of the most prominent ergonomic researchers these days focusing on exposure assessment of work. Learn what our colleagues in Sweden and Europe are doing in practical ergonomics! The title of his talk is: "Practitioner -based Ergonomics in Sweden and Europe".

This is a MEMBERS-ONLY event for PSHFES members, free of charge. You are encouraged to come early for dinner at Matt's Rotisserie in Redmond Town Center, a great menu with a wide range of choices and prices. Dinner and drinks are your responsibility and you will be billed individually.

PSHFES Council Member Sue Stewart, Transit Safety Officer for King County Metro Transit, will give PSHFES members a tour of one or two historically preserved buses from the 1940's and 1950's, contrasted against one of Metro's more recent buses. The ergonomic basis of some of the changes will be discussed. As a special treat, attendees will get a sneak peek at the sleek new Rapid Transit bus!

Summer PSHFES Facility Tour

Zoo personnel will take PSHFES members on a “behind the scenes” tour of the animal management jobs at the zoo, from an ergonomic perspective. We will see how the zoo has modified job tasks to make them safer and less stressful on their employees who take care of the animals. There are definitely some interesting challenges in this environment!

The tour is limited to 20 people, on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t wait to sign up!

PSHFES Dinner Meeting - Prevention of slips, trips and falls

Wayne S. Maynard, CSP, CPE, ALCM is Technical Director, Ergonomics and Tribology, Loss Control Advisory Services at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, MA. Wayne will provide an overview of human factors and causes of slips, trips and falls and a detailed discussion of a managed prevention process including flooring selection, slip resistant footwear, mats, housekeeping, slipperiness assessment and more.

Annual PSHFES business meeting and end of year event - All members are invited to attend this event! We'll have a brief business meeting followed by a time for networking and fun! Appetizers will be provided.

We look forward to seeing you there!

PSHFES Dinner Meeting - A presentation on Anthropometry by Rush Green (Boeing) Download a copy of Rush Green's presentation.

Rush Green is a Human Factors Engineer with Boeing's Commercial Airplane Group. His talk will explain what anthropometry is, how the data is collected, and its use in design and analysis. If you've ever wanted to know more about anthropometry from a practical perspective, this is the meeting to attend! There will also be a free prize drawing for one lucky attendee!

PSHFES Dinner Meeting - "The Evolving Global State of Lean - and Related Ergonomic Issues" presentation by Dr. Richard Schonberger (President, Schonberger and Associates)

Richard Schonberger presents hard evidence showing the birthplace of lean -Japan, including Toyota, to have grown fat with average company inventories soaring for 10 to 15 years. Other global regions rank much higher in long-term "leanness," though all have slipped in recent years. Higher ranking industries include electronics and distribution, with chemicals and pharmaceuticals near the bottom. Among the explanations is the fact that lean is applied mostly in operations and presented only as waste reduction. This approach scarcely resonates among high executives, marketers, and the general public. A much better approach is to present lean for what it d oes for your customers, namely reduce response time in all things.

Human factors and ergonomics are affected in two primary ways:

(1) Most companies fail to treat the elements of process improvement - quick setup, safety, handling, ergonomics, etc. - as a single whole, thus slowing and losing potential benefits.

(2) As production migrates to less-developed countries, highly repetitive, boring, bodily taxing production-line jobs are the norm; whereas Western "best-practices" favor small work cells with more work content, frequent job rotation, and physical job variety.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 10:00 am. (The tour starts at 10:00 am and lasts 60 to 90 minutes.)

Come and see first hand the ergonomic improvements Kenworth has made to their assembly processes and the challenges they still face! Join the tour of the Kenworth truck assembly facility (Renton) on Wednesday, May 7. There is no cost, but you must register no later than Thursday, May 1. (If you wish to become a member in order to join the tour and partake in other PSHFES opportunities, you may do so online at www.pshfes.org/members.htm.)

If you missed the recent panel discussion with the local chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, you have another opportunity to "mingle with the engineers"! Join industrial engineers and ergonomists for an evening of "learning from the pros" about how they manage projects. Come with your questions! Drinks and light refreshments will be provided. There is no cost to attend this event, but RSVP is appreciated.

Want to learn more about industrial ergonomics from professionals in the field? Join industrial engineers and ergonomists for an evening of lively discussion. There will be a five-member panel made up of local industry ergonomists to talk about their work and answer questions from the audience. The event is sponsored by the IIE and PSHFES. Drinks and light refreshments will be provided.

Visitors need safety glasses (they can provide), and closed toed shoes (ANSI approved shoes if you'd like to get closer to the action). Parking is limited, so car-pooling is recommended.