Just wondering if anyone had come across a simple system for assessing the ergonomics of manufacturing activities and designing a suitable rotation programme to reduce risk. Any tips or pointers appreciated. Gus

Hi, I found the ILO publication Ergonomic Checkpoints very helpful for ideas/approaches for this type of issue in a manufacturing environment: http://www.ilo.org/globa...en/WCMS_120133/index.htm Regards Steve

have a look at the ART tool from the HSE website. It might help you

Juan Carlos - thanks for the pointer to the ART tool at first glance that looks very suitable - have you actually used it? and if so what problems did you encounter?

Suffolkfman I don't know if this approach is of any use to you, but as I oversee production as well as Health and Safety I tend to have production teams. Each team covers an area of the overall production line and every team member is able by both physical and technical ability able do carry out every task within that teams section. We then allow job rotation on a weekly basis to avoid WRULD it also has a major benefit to the production and efficiency of the line and helps during sickness, holidays and finding someone who may wish to do some overtime, if we have suffered a mechanical breakdown somewhere on the line. It works for us and the guys don't get bored and they know everyone else's problems so we have some harmony, most of the time! Hope this helps MG

Suffolkman If you intend to apply ergonomics, the value of systematically gathering anthropometric (bodY) measurements of workers can't be overstated in the light of The Equality Act 2010, which came into force this month. Employers can leave themselves wide open to valid claims of unlawful discrimniation unless they design work activities and access to workplace equiprment, furniture and handtools taking into account physical diffrences in measurements of the workers involved. Soliciitors who pecialise in equality and discrimination law emphasise how easily they can find flaws in current practices at work, even though very few, if any, of them know how to actually conduct an appropriate design. It may save your company money, time and heartache in future if you consult a well-infomred HR (or other) specialist on this matter at this stage. And you can usefully consult 'Equality and Discrimination. The New Law', by Brian Doyle, Catherine Casserley, Simon Cheetham, Vivienne Gay, Oliver Hyams, Published by Jordans. 2010

Thanks folks some very helpful suggestions and advice. MG - I can certainly see the benefit of rotation both from a production and safety point of view but my experience is that it becomes more difficult if anyone is on 'light duties' as this tends to put more strain on the rest of the team, and of course it only works if everyone is up to speed on all the jobs. Kieran - the book looks good and the website link will I'm sure be useful - very interesting point on discrimination, we have also had to start thinking about this in relation to pre -employment health questionnaires and people with long term conditions, and in respect of the grading of temps vs full-time staff. Juan Carlos - I took another look at the ART tool and it certainly looks good, one area of concern I have with all risk assessment is how to complete an initial filtering exercise so that the detailed assessments and effort is focused on the real risk. I came across a useful approach in an Australian Publication on MSD The Smart move Toolkit http://www.smartmove.nsw...v.au/default.aspx?id=112 Take a look at the table on page 43 of part 3A 'Getting Started' I hope to adapt this decision table to ergonomic and other risk assessments. As it demonstrates that you have looked at injury/ ill health, consulted with the workforce and carried out an initial simple risk assessment before deciding on any further assessments. Gus

Suffolkman - no need to get the book, log on to http://www.org/safework_bookshelf/english for free access to the whole range of ILO publications.