Over 100 Participants
The Puget Sound Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society held its annual Occupational Ergonomics Symposium on September 15-16 at the Seattle Museum of Flight. This year our two-day symposium and workshop drew over 100 of the region’s ergonomists, engineers, vocational rehabilitation counselors, safety and health managers, occupational health nurses and physical/occupational therapists to hear Dr. Andrew Imada, President of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) open the symposium with an awe-inspiring keynote speech on “Participatory Ergonomics”. Dr. Imada began with a parable, weaving in the IEA definition of ergonomics, to “optimize human well-being and overall system performance” and the wisdom that, “you can’t help people you don’t understand” to illustrate the power of Participatory Ergonomics. Dr. Imada went on to share some of his own case studies to emphasize the critical need to understand the larger environment of a work situation, especially through the eyes of the end user, in order to come up with sustainable solutions to fix the ergonomics risks in the workplace.
Dr. Imada’s theme of “Participatory Ergonomics” carried on throughout the rest of the day’s presentations. Dr. Alan Jacobsen, a human factors engineer working for The Boeing Company discussed how participatory ergonomics played a role in the design of the new 787 airplane. Alan explained how human factors and ergonomics were integrated into the 787’s design goals, which were to create a design and product that was safe, effective and efficient for all different airplane user groups – from the pilots, to the customers, to the airplane mechanics. As you can imagine, all of these user groups had different needs, which could sometimes result in conflicting design goals, so the Boeing design group had to understand and orchestrate with the right people and tools at the right times to be able to address all of their various customers’ designs, as well as ergonomics, throughout the entire process of developing this new airplane.
John Von Lossow, a safety manager for McKinstry Sheet Metal, told the audience about their company’s journey using participatory ergonomics to identify and make the changes necessary to drastically reduce their worker’s compensation claims and costs from $125K to $700 a year. The company involved the workers from the beginning with communication and collaboration on making the necessary changes, and learned that greater efficiency from incorporating ergonomics into their jobs equaled greater profits for the company.
Other presentations during the Symposium included:
• Two PSHFES Board members explained a training module PSHFES had developed to teach basic ergonomics principles to older primary and middle school students on computer ergonomics. The module reflects the research studies that link musculoskeletal risk in children to spending extended periods using computers and other electronic input devices. The training module will be available on the PSHFES website [www.pshsfes.org] by the end of the year.
• An ergonomist and professional photographer showed us how a better knowledge of photography, and using focus, composition, color and light techniques in our picture-taking can enhance and provide power to our message and help us become more effective in illustrating the problems we are trying to resolve.
• An ergonomist and fitness instructor shared the latest research on the effectiveness of “stretch and flex” programs for companies and the difference between stretching and warming up.
• In another presentation from The Boeing Company, an ergonomist discussed how the company encourages creative thought and awareness of ergonomics and showed some great “before” and “after” slides of projects.
The format of the second day of the PSHFES conference was two, half-day workshops. Dr. Steven Bao, from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industry, helped us understand the ergonomics issues related to hand tools and the important features of good tool design and tool maintenance; and Susan Murphy, President of Essential Ergonomics, showed us how and what data can be used to justify equipment purchases and programs for successful process improvement in any business and how to develop a healthcare needs assessment in nontraditional areas, like diagnostic imaging and hospice.
One of the reasons PSHFES can maintain a modest registration fee for our Symposium is due to the support of our exhibitors and sponsors: BureauVeritas, Kinesis, ErgoHealth, Working Concepts, Neutral Posture, GrandStands, Steelcase/Details, Seattle Office Furniture, Remedy Interactive, Nu-Star Power Pusher, and The Boeing Company. It also gives the attendees a chance to try out equipment and meet local vendors.
Dr. Imada summed up his experience at the symposium with these words: “I had always heard that the PSHFES was a large and vibrant chapter and I was honored to be invited to participate in the 2010 Occupational Ergonomics Symposium. I was impressed by the energy and collegiality of the group and the number of first-time attendees to the meeting. The topics covered were varied enough to draw interest from a range of professionals in the field. The PSHFES meeting was a good example of how an HFES chapter can foster our profession on local and regional levels.”
