Category: Personal

European ergonomist

Vacancy Announcement: Ergonomist Position at the General Secretariat of the Council

Gyula Szabo Leave a comment

The General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) is seeking a qualified Ergonomist (Temporary Agent AD.6) to join the Safety Unit of the Safety and Security Directorate in Brussels. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the well-being of staff, delegates, and contractors by ensuring safe working conditions and ergonomic best practices at one of the EU’s key institutions.

About the Role

The selected candidate will work within the Safety Policy and Advice Sector, collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to improve workplace ergonomics. Key responsibilities include:

  • Conducting individual preventive ergonomic assessments to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
  • Performing analyses and interventions in physical and cognitive ergonomics.
  • Providing expert advice on integrating ergonomics and human factors into IT application design.
  • Developing policies related to occupational safety, hygiene, and ergonomics.
  • Conducting surveys, drawing up statistics, and prioritizing risk-prevention measures.
  • Organizing specialized staff training and delivering presentations.
  • Contributing to the implementation of ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety guidelines.

Who Can Apply?

To be eligible, applicants must:

  • Be a national of an EU Member State.
  • Have at least five years of full-time professional experience in ergonomics.
  • Hold a Master’s degree in a related field, with additional specialist training in ergonomics (60 ECTS credits).
  • Be a certified European Ergonomist (Eur.Erg.) or hold an equivalent professional registration.
  • Demonstrate fluency in English and French (C1 level minimum).
  • Show strong analytical skills, creative problem-solving, and a commitment to improving workplace safety.

Why to Apply

  • Competitive monthly salary of €6,681.51 (before deductions).
  • A four-year contract with the possibility of renewal.
  • A dynamic, collaborative work environment committed to diversity and inclusion.
  • The opportunity to make a meaningful impact on occupational safety policies at the EU level.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted via the EU CV Online platform by 21 February 2025, 12:00 CET. All relevant fields must be completed, and supporting documents (certificates, diplomas) may be required at any stage. Only online applications will be considered.

For further details on the role, eligibility criteria, and selection process, visit the EU CV Online portal or contact gsc-ta-selections@consilium.europa.eu, clearly indicating the reference CONS/1/2025/TA-AD/ORG.5.D.S1.

For the official announcement, go to https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/general-secretariat/jobs/vacancies/cons12025ta-adorg5ds1/.

This post was generated by AI and reviewed by a human.

Ilkka Kuorinka

Gyula Szabo Leave a comment

Ilkka Kuorinka worked at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) between the years 1968- 1995 and played an important role in Finnish ergonomics.

His contribution to bringing HFE knowledge into practice was substantial. He established an HFE researchers group in the institute (FIOH), and later 1985, he established the Finnish Ergonomics Association (ERY) with Osmo Karhu, the father of OWAS (Ovako Working Posture Analysis System), where Ilkka played an important role. ERY was an essential group and link of HFE specialists who spread HFE information and organized workplace training. The focus was on work-life, and the target was to organize and produce HFE training for designers.

Ilkka Kuorinka chaired the IEA from 1988 to 1991.

During his term, several initiatives were taken to build a better relationship with the International Labour Organization. This was successful: ILO agreed to support the development of a Checkpoints book for practical ergonomics interventions, primarily meant for industrially developing countries. Significant activity was the organization of the IEA triennial congress in 1991 in Paris. This became a big success in terms of the quality of the presentations, the number of participants and the financial outcome, with the support of SELF, the organizing Federated Society.

Through his investment at a global level, Ilkka was involved in ergonomics intervention in the 90s in Canada and France and worked in a French-speaking environment: in Canada (province of Quebec), at the IRRST, the Occupational Health and Safety public institute, he worked as manager of the newly set up safety and ergonomics department. He contributed actively to various books in French, especially on the prevention of musculo-skeletal disorders and a handbook in ergonomics.

Top Tips for Sit-Stand working – by Expert Veerle Hermans

info Leave a comment

Several types of research show a direct link to our sedentary lifestyle and health problems. Sitting for an extended time can be a direct cause of obesity, heart and cardiovascular diseases. 

Veerle Hermans explains in this video how to improve your working day by simply switching between working in a sitting position and a standing position. Make sure you have a good balance between sitting, standing and moving.
Veerle was a member of the BES committee for many years and served several times as president and secretary.
She passed away after a long illness.

General Secretary hand over

info Leave a comment

According to the decision of the FEES council held on the 26th August 2018 in Florence, Aleksandar Zunjic has been unanimously elected, and took over Secretary General office from Pascal Etienne 1st December 2018.

Pascal Etienne, ergonomist and former Labour Inspector, member of the board and former president of SELF, the French Speaking Ergonomics Society, has been FEES secretary general from the year 2012 to 2018. In this positon, in addition to the achievement of the administrative tasks of the secretary general position, he has taken part to various FEES initiatives: the organization of the tenth anniversary of FEES in 2013 in Munich and the preparation of the symposia that were held during the event, such as one on the cooperation between ergonomists and other stakeholders with a presentation on ergonomics and Personal Protective Equipment. He provided lectures in several symposia which took place in Lisbon, Amersfoort, Paris and Naples on “ergonomics and creativity”, in preparation of the IEA 20th Congress.

Pascal EtiennePascal Etienne was also involved in the preparation of the conference on “workers and creativity”, held in Brussels in June 2017 organized by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), the Belgium Ergonomic Society (BES), CREE and FEES with the support of IEA. He has taken part to the preparation and the adoption of Memorandum of Understanding decided in 2017 by IEA and FEES which reflects the cooperation of both organizations.

Pascal continues his voluntary activity with SELF at national level and with FEES at the European level, handing over the secretary general tasks to the new Board, and acting on various issues such as the follow up of the initiatives on “the future of work” or “the future of ergonomics”.

Merci, Pascal!

As an ergonomist Dr. Aleksandar Zunjic debuted at the 12th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), Toronto, 1994. Today, he is a full Professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and is holding various courses in the domain of Ergonomics at BSc, MSc and Ph.D. levels.

Dr. Zunjic served as treasurer of the Ergonomics Society of (former) Yugoslavia, ten years as secretary of the Ergonomics Society of Serbia. Since 2016 he is the President of the Ergonomics Society of Serbia, councillor of IEA and FEES.

Aleksandar ZunjicDr. Aleksandar Zunjic works in the IEA TC – Work With Computing Systems (WWCS). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI).

Prof. Zunjic performs managerial functions for several scientific journals, e.g. Editor-in-Chief of IETI Transactions on Ergonomics and Safety and IETI Transactions on Engineering Research and Practice; Editorial Board member of Journal of Robotics and Mechanical Engineering Research, International Journal of Behavioral Research and Psychology, Information Management & Computer Science and Journal of Mechanical Engineering Research and Development.

Aleksandar has participated in the realization of several international and domestic projects. He has been a leader of an innovative project supported by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Serbia in 2018. He has five registered patents. Aleksandar Zunjic has been elected for the Secretary General position of FEES in 2018.

All the bests, Aleksandar!

Our president, Bernard Michez Eur Erg

info Leave a comment

Bernard Michez Eur Erg

Dear members and visitors of the FEES site,

I am honored to be the president of FEES since august 25th 2018.

I am grateful for the great work undertaken by the members as the executive committee of FEES. Since its creation in May 2003, many useful actions have been carried out, such as the support for the creation of new ergonomics organization in Europe, the organization of the Month of Ergonomics, the creation of our internet site, the organization of conferences, … it is now impossible to mention in short the wide range of activities.

Our Federation of European Ergonomics Societies demonstrated the full interest of its role, by welcoming the different candidates, gathering the needs about the profession from the different countries, and contributing to the consolidation of ergonomics. The links between the different regional networks, IEA and CREE are stronger than ever, and the cooperation will increase efficiency and effectiveness.

As a committed professional, I have contributed to the creation and functioning of institutions that are useful in our field.

FFES LogoToday, my challenge is to be as relevant and effective as my predecessors and to continue the ongoing actions. The existing roadmap needs to be pursued and developed according to events and needs. To this end, I will interact closely with the Executive Committee and FEES members. Each of us will bring a stone to this building process. I know it’s an investment of time, especially for the executive bureau, as for all contributors within member societies.

This investment is worthwhile. To be convinced, just look at how far we have come in 30 years in the development and recognition of Ergonomics.

This story is to be continued…..

Bernard Michez
President of FEES

Trained in ergonomics and practicing ergonomist for almost 35 years, Bernard Michez started as a freelance, contributed to many industrial projects, learned every day about human functioning and project management. Today, he runs the company he created, with a team of 10 practitioners. He is member of SELF, registered European Ergonomist, co-creator of CINOV-Ergonomie and his company is member of it.

Our treasurers

info Leave a comment

The 2017th Council of the
Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) elected Pedro N.P.
Ferreira as treasurer, and thanked all the work to the outgoing treasurer, Reinier Hoftijzer.

Reinier Hoftijzer joint the Standard & Guidelines Committee of FEES in 2010. First he was responsible for the contact with the EU Commission for the Machinery and the PPE directive, later from 2011 to 2017 he represented FEES in both EU working groups for Machinery and PPE.

Mr. Hoftijzer was elected as Treasurer of FEES in 2011, and  was reelected in 2014. For a while he served as the Secretary General of FEES before the election of the President and Secretary General at the Stockholm Council in 2012.

In 2014 he was involved in the first MOU between FEES and Ergomach. ErgoMach is an initiative maintained by a steering group consisting of European experts bringing their competence on a voluntary base for the common objective.

From 2013 to 2015 Mr. Hoftijzer also participated on behalf of FEES in CEN TC/122 Ergonomics and in a new Working Group of CEN on Protective Clothing and Comfort. One of the results of this Working Group was the establishment of a new CEN TC/122 WG 8 on Ergonomics design and PPE.

Reinier continues his voluntary professional activity mainly on national level with humanfactors.nl.

Thank you Reinier!

Pedro N.P. Ferreira holds a PhD in “Manufacturing Engineering and Operations Management” by the University of Nottingham. His thesis (Resilience in rail engineering planning) addressed human factors, efficiency and safety issues, as well as the impacts of complexity within the planning and delivery of rail engineering work based on a resilience framework.

Pedro has over ten years of experience, both as a researcher and a consultant in the field of human factors and ergonomics, and over five years in the field of occupational health and safety at work and safety management. He has lectured several courses on these subjects within academia, and has worked as a vocational trainer with both private and public institutions.

Dr. Ferreira developed projects on a wide variety of industrial sectors, starting in the automotive industry during earlier years and more recently, within the rail, road and aviation industries. Particularly in the railways, he worked for three years at Network Rail in London, UK and more recently, he cooperated with the Portuguese Government as an advisor on rail issues for the Secretary of State for Transport. He is currently an invited associate professor at the Department of Aeronautics and Transport of the Lusófona University (ULHT), a researcher at CENTEC – Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering of the University of Lisbon and at the CIMCYC – Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento at the University of Granada.
His research focuses mainly in resilience within various safety critical domains, and he lectures on various safety related courses and operations management.

Good luck, Pedro!

New ergonomists in the Eur Erg register

info Leave a comment

The 51st Council Meeting of the Centre of Registration of European Ergonomist was held in Buxton, UK, 8-10 June 2017.

Yushi Fujita the president of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) and Sylvain Leduc president of the Federation of European Ergonomist Societies (FEES) attended the meeting,
and exchanged ideas regarding the international collaboration to promote ergonomics and the certification system.

The 51st Council Meeting of the Centre of Registration of European Ergonomist was held in Buxton, UK, 8-10 June 2017.

Yushi Fujita the president of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) and Sylvain Leduc president of the Federation of European Ergonomist Societies (FEES) attended the meeting,
and exchanged ideas regarding the international collaboration to promote ergonomics and the certification system.

Having approved 23 new applications and 37 renewals, there are over 500 person in the register, including Sirge Triinu, the first registered ergonomist
from Estonia assessed by the recently founded Latvian NAB.

The meeting was hosted by Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (the CIEHF), and included a field visit to the Health and Safety Laboratory. (Photo taken at the site visit)

CREE M51

More than 500 Registered Ergonimist in Europe

info Leave a comment

CREE
At the meeting of the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists 19 new applications were processed and 14 renewals of registration. At the end of the meeting there were 515 people registered as European Ergonomists. The collaboration between CREE and FEES on a number of projects continues.

CREE
At the meeting of the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists 19 new applications were processed and 14 renewals of registration. At the end of the meeting there were 515 people registered as European Ergonomists. The collaboration between CREE and FEES on a number of projects continues. The main themes are the preparation of good practice examples for publication to promote the work of ergonomists in practice, improving information about training courses for professional ergonomists and networking ergonomists with European organisations, committees, associations and multinational businesses.

On 3rd-4th June, 2016 the 49th CREE meeting was held in Gothenburg, Sweden. The venue for the meeting was organised by the representative of the Nordic Ergonomics Society, Anders Sundin, and other members of the National Assessment Board who participated as guests in the first day of the CREE meeting. The NES hosted an evening cruise around the beautiful archipelago which was very much enjoyed and offered lots of discussion time and networking opportunities between the participants and the local NAB.

CREE
The council of the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists and NES representatives before boarding MS Trubaduren

Interested people should contact their local CREE representative. See www.eurerg.eu for further details.

Professor Valdis Kalkis

info Leave a comment

Valdis Kalkis

With deep sadness we announce that Professor Valdis Kalkis of the
University of Latvia passed away on 12th of July, 2014. 

Professor
Kalkis will always be remembered as the founder of scientific
ergonomics in Latvia. He was one of the first to obtain the title of
certified European ergonomist (Eur.Erg.) in Latvia.

Valdis Kalkis

With deep sadness we announce that Professor Valdis Kalkis of the
University of Latvia passed away on 12th of July, 2014. 

Professor
Kalkis will always be remembered as the founder of scientific
ergonomics in Latvia. He was one of the first to obtain the title of
certified European ergonomist (Eur.Erg.) in Latvia.

His scientific and professional activities in the field of
occupational health and safety, including ergonomics, has been highly
appreciated at the University of Latvia, the Latvian Academy of
Sciences, as well as in the wider world (International Ergonomics
Association, FEES – Federation of European Ergonomics Societies,
CREE – Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists).

Number of European Registered Ergonomists has passed 400

info Leave a comment

In the last council meeting of the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE), 24 new applications and 25 prolongations were approved. With those, the number of Eur.Erg.s has grown to 404.
Despite the economic crisis, over the years we have seen an increasing number of ergonomists who want to stress their professionalism by applying for certification.

In the last council meeting of the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE), 24 new applications and 25 prolongations were approved. With those, the number of Eur.Erg.s has grown to 404.
Despite the economic crisis, over the years we have seen an increasing number of ergonomists who want to stress their professionalism by applying for certification.

CREE is the organisation that, together with national or regional assessment boards, manages the registration of ergonomists in Europe.  These high-level professionals have the title “Eur.Erg.”. It guarantees that an ergonomist has:

  • a broad education in ergonomics at university level

  • at least three years of practical experience as an ergonomist

  • continuously developed his or her skills in ergonomics.

CREE is happy to welcome the first two Eur.Erg.s from Latvia, as well as two new from Hungary, the newest member society. The number of Eur.Erg.s in France has increased to 110!

More information: www.eurerg.org