Ergonomics Part 3: Achieving Worker Buy-In

All the effective risk assessment and risk management strategies in the world will do your company little good without having workers on board when your ergonomics program hits the factory floor.

So says ergonomist Kent Hatcher of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Humantech Inc. Gaining worker buy-in should begin early in the process of designing your ergonomics program, and it should involve a very simple strategy: talking to your workers.

Soliciting operator input -- whether through interviews, observations or just good old-fashioned chit-chat -- can help safety professionals avoid making changes that could backfire or aren't feasible; give safety managers a sense of "what they've tried in the past and what's failed"; and reveal procedural or process obstacles that aren't apparent to anyone but the workers on the factory floor, according to Hatcher. (Via Occupational Hazards)