Category: Resosurces

Ergonomics Resources

New Ergonomic Resources from OHCOW

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We are pleased to inform you about a valuable resource from The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers Inc. (OHCOW) that can significantly enhance your knowledge and practices in workplace ergonomics. OHCOW is a prominent organization dedicated to improving workplace health and safety in Ontario, Canada, and its focus on ergonomics provides critical insights and practical solutions to prevent occupational injuries and diseases.

Injury Prevention through Ergonomics

OHCOW’s Injury Prevention page is an excellent resource highlighting the importance of ergonomics in the workplace. Poor ergonomic practices are a leading cause of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and OHCOW provides comprehensive information to help mitigate these risks. The page covers:

  • Ergonomic Risk Factors: Identification of repetitive motions, awkward postures, and excessive force as key contributors to MSDs.
  • Practical Solutions: Guidelines for proper workstation setup, tool and equipment adjustments, and safe manual handling techniques.
  • Ergonomic Assessments: Expert evaluations of workplace setups with tailored recommendations for improvement.
  • Educational Materials: Brochures, guides, and checklists that serve as useful references for ongoing ergonomic enhancements.

These resources are designed to help workers and employers create safer and more comfortable work environments, reduce the incidence of MSDs, and promote overall workplace health.

Ergonomics Podcasts

OHCOW also offers an engaging podcast series featuring several episodes specifically on ergonomics. These podcasts provide in-depth discussions and practical advice from experts in the field:

  1. Ergonomics in the Workplace
    This is an overview of workplace ergonomics, including the importance of ergonomic design, proper posture, and regular breaks to avoid repetitive strain injuries.
  2. Office Ergonomics: Creating a Healthy Workspace
    Tips for setting up an ergonomic office environment, addressing the correct placement of computer monitors, keyboards, and chairs, and the impact of prolonged sitting.
  3. Manual Handling and Ergonomics
    There are strategies for minimizing injury risks in manual handling jobs, including proper lifting techniques, the use of assistive devices, and the importance of training.
  4. Ergonomic Solutions for Remote Work
    This article provides advice on setting up a home office to address the unique ergonomic challenges of remote work. Emphasis is placed on selecting ergonomic furniture and equipment and incorporating regular breaks and physical activity.

These podcasts are an excellent way to stay informed about the latest trends and best practices in ergonomics, helping you create safer and more comfortable work environments.

The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers Inc. (OHCOW) provides essential resources that can benefit all members of the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies. Their comprehensive injury prevention programs and engaging podcasts offer valuable information and practical solutions to enhance workplace health and safety. We encourage you to explore these resources and integrate their insights into your practices.

For more information and to access these resources, please visit OHCOW’s website.

Summer School in DHM and Simulation 2024

Gyula Szabo Leave a comment

The University of Antwerp’s Centre for Health and Technology (CHaT) is excited to announce the Summer School in Digital Human Modeling and Simulation 2024. This event offers an international platform for researchers and professors to share and teach the latest innovations, discuss the state-of-the-art in the field, and exchange ideas and visions in all areas of digital human modelling research and applications.

Event Details

  • Dates: Monday, 23rd September to Wednesday, 25th September 2024
  • Location: University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Building R
  • Format: Hybrid (both online and onsite participation available)

Registration Fees

  • Academics (Online and Onsite): €300
  • Non-Academics (Online and Onsite): €600
  • Discount: Members of the Belgian Ergonomics Society or other Ergonomics Societies receive a €50 discount.

Program Schedule

23rd September

  • 10-11 AM: Introduction to DHM, Prof. Sofia Scataglini
  • 11-12 AM: Comfort and Discomfort, Prof. Xuguang Wang
  • Lunch Break
  • 1-2 PM: Extended Reality in Medicine, Prof. Marco Mandolini
  • 2-3 PM: Modelling the Hand, Prof. Esteban Peña Pitarch
  • 3-4 PM: The Role of Diagnostic Imaging (in silico medicine), Prof. Francesco Feletti
  • 4-5 PM: Design and Analysis of Mechanical Devices with Musculoskeletal Models, Prof. Michael Skipper Andersen
  • 5-6 PM: Biomechanical Perception Models Predicting Motion Comfort and Sickness in Automated Driving, Prof. Riender Happee

24th September

  • 10-11 AM: Neuroergonomics, AI and Passive Brain-Computer Interface (pBCI) for Enhanced Human Performance, Prof. Umer Asher
  • 11-12 AM: Computer-aided Technologies (CAD/CAM/CAE) for Prosthetics, Prof. Gregor Harih
  • Lunch Break
  • 1-2 PM: DHM in the Product Realization Process, Prof. Dan Hogberg
  • 2-3 PM: Human-Centred Robotics, Prof. Giacomo Palmieri
  • 3-4 PM: Inclusive Design in DHM, Prof. Silvia Imbesi
  • 4-5 PM: Human-Autonomous Systems, Prof. Simone Borsci
  • 5-6 PM: DHM and EEG, ECG, Posturography Affection, In-Cockpit Motion Modeling, Pilot Studies, Prof. Vladimir Socha

25th September

  • 10-11 AM: Modeling and Simulation of Movement for Stroke, Prof. Redha Taiar
  • 11-12 AM: DHM and Anthropometry, Prof. Erik Brolin
  • Lunch Break
  • 1-2 PM: DHM for Human-Centric Engineering and Medicine, Prof. James Yang
  • 2-3 PM: DHM and Infrared Thermography, Prof. Ameersing Luximon
  • 3-4 PM: Digital Work Planning: Integrating Ergonomics, Productivity, and Age-Appropriate Production Design using ema Work Designer, Michael Spitzhirn
  • 4-5 PM: DHM and IMMA, Prof. Lars Hanson

Registration

Please visit our registration page to register for the Summer School in Digital Human Modeling and Simulation 2024.

For further information, contact:

  • Prof. Sofia Scataglini (Chair of TC DHM at IEA, International Coordinator of 4D4ALL)
  • Prof. Steven Truijen (Chair of 4D4ALL)

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from leading experts in the field and connect with peers worldwide. We look forward to seeing you there!

The gap between a “human” and a “person”

Pedro Ferreira

By Pedro Ferreira

The continuous and accelerating rate of change seems to be the new normal for every profession and work context. This much can also be said about our own lives. It seems increasingly difficult to make sense of the boundaries between family, personal life, and work. We struggle to make sense of the organisation around us and the roles we are meant to be fulfilling seem increasingly blurry or hybrid.

Ergonomics has evolved across many boundaries, both scientific and professional practice. In my mind, this has always been one of the key challenges when conveying to stakeholders the relevance and added value of ergonomics. Exchanges with different colleagues worldwide have further reinforced this belief. The blurriness and dynamics at the boundaries of ergonomics seem an unsurmountable problem.

Recently, I have come to question these assumptions: How is this a problem? How does it really manifest itself? As you explore such questions, a much better understanding of the situation and its context emerges. Rather than looking outwards for causes and solutions, I started to focus on my own perceptions and perspectives. What has always appeared like an impossible challenge feels increasingly like an open array of opportunities.

It’s not about the tools and methods but rather the methodology itself. While I’ve always advocated my methodology as one that focuses on the person and its context at work, my self-questioning led me to realise how much I had allowed myself to be drawn into this inescapable tendency to look at the person as yet another part of a system. Much is said today about “technical, organisational and human factors” or even “organisational and human factors”. But ask yourself how much these common expressions do not push you towards levelling out the existing and fundamental differences despite placing these factors in “different boxes”?

The ultimate question is, what differences do I see between a “human” and a “person”? If we aim to explain performance and behaviour, and look at these as the result of a combination of body and brain activity, then little opportunity is there to understand the person. The richness of ergonomics, particularly its multi and inter-disciplinarity, lies in the ability to see the person as more than a mechanistic set of physiology and cognition. Communicating the value of ergonomics must not come from an (implicitly or explicitly) oversimplification of the person but rather by challenging the beliefs of stakeholders in regard to what a person is. In the end, what ergonomics practitioners share with their stakeholders is the desire to make better use of the unique human abilities to cope with the high complexity and uncertainty of our world. This can only be pursued by understanding the persons far beyond the generic human standards.

How to avoid being burnt in a hotel bathroom?

Bernard Michez Leave a comment

This event happened during the last seminar of FEES. Meeting at breakfast time, two executive board members told the others that they had been burnt by the shower (in fact, alternatively burnt and frozen). For the two members, the design of the water mixer tap was counter-intuitive, although for the others, it was regular. The exchanges showed that the two members had never been confronted with the water mixer tap without signs on it (red or blue). They told the story: “I went in the shower area and saw the taps, one at each extremity of the ramp. I was under the main shower head, immediately over my head. As there was no indication on the taps, I began with the right one. I turned it upside down and was surprised and frozen by the very cold water from the main shower. I immediately turned it the opposite, and then the flow came to the small shower head, heading to the wall. It was still cold water. Then I tried the left tap. As nothing was indicated on the tap, I turned it upside, then downside, and settled it to the desired temperature. Then, I changed the orientation of the flow to the main shower head on the ceiling. It worked…. Until someone in the rooms around mine used its shower. The flow instantly changed from warm to iceberg.

Surprised, I put my hand on the left tap and tried to raise the heat…. But too strongly. Ouch!”

Ergonomics, Human Factors and Machinery

The European Machinery Directive – webinar

Gyula Szabo Leave a comment

The European Machinery Directive, Webinar on the 21st of November 13h UTC.

The Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES), an IEA regional network, and the IEA Safety and Health Technical Committee organised the series on tools fostering the development of ergonomics and human factors.

Register for this webinar.

Presenters:

  • Pascal Etienne, Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES), executive board member, pascal.etienne0@orange.fr
  • Aleksandar Zunjic, FEES General Secretary, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
  • Pedro Ferreira, FEES Treasurer, CENTEC, IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal
  • Bernard Michez, FEES president, CEO Ergotec company, France
  • Gyula Szabó, FEES executive board member, Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary
  • Jochen Eckhart, International Organisation for Standardization (ISO/CEN)
  • Peter Nickel International Social Security Association (ISSA), International Prevention Section on Machine and System Safety

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Duration: 90 mins

The goal of this online webinar is to present and discuss the EU Machinery directive

  • Its application
  • The specific rules such as « forecast the forecastable misuse… »
  • Its utility for designing working situations

Webinar Chair: Bernard Michez, president of FEES

Zoom link for registration. Registration is free to all interested people. The webinar will be recorded and published on YouTube. Registration permits live interaction with the presenters via Q&A. Register for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Register for this webinar.

Musculoskeletal health promotion starts at school

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According to EU-OSHA, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in children and young people and young workers are worryingly high. Involving schools in occupational safety and health issues can help prevent this. Integrating safety and health in education is essential in developing a culture of prevention for students.

A new report offers approaches to ‘health-promoting schools’ and examples of good practices in Europe to get people moving and prevent MSDs. The report presents success factors and obstacles and examines how schools can contribute to long-term prevention early on.

Read the report Better Schools by Promoting Musculoskeletal Health

Learn more: 

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

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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.

WORK IN SCHOOLS DURING THE PANDEMIC AND A METHOD FOR CHILDREN TESTING ON COVID-19 VIRUS

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Organization of work in schools during the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus directly depends on the number of students and teachers infected. Among health workers and especially in public, there has been a general belief that children below 18 years of age are not an endangered part of the population to Coronavirus. However, although it may be true, it is premature to make such a conclusion, because appropriate tests have
not supported it. 

The main reason is that a complete enigma is the population of children in schools who have not shown any symptoms, but are infected and can transmit the virus. Prof. Aleksandar Zunjic has published the paper
below in the IETI Transactions on Ergonomics and Safety journal and studies this
problem in detail and provides insight into many aspects of the effects of the
Coronavirus that are not obvious.

In conclusion, the paper proposes a new, fast and economically viable method for
testing students on the CVOVID-19 virus.

METHOD FOR CHILDREN TESTING ON COVID-1

IETI Transactions on Ergonomics and Safety special issue addresses COVID-19

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Following the consistent striving of the FEES, IEA, and our ergonomics community on the prevention of the pandemic, we wish to inform you that recently has been published a special issue of the Following the consistent striving of the FEES, IEA, and our ergonomics community on prevention of the pandemic, we wish to inform you that recently has been published a special issue of the IETI Transactions on Ergonomics and Safety journal.

IETI Transactions on Ergonomics and Safety serves ergonomics in the limitation of virus spreading and alleviation of pandemic effects. 

This IETI Transactions on Ergonomics and Safety special issue addresses COVID-19 virus first in any international journal from the domain of ergonomics. Together with other exciting matters here, you can find why the role of ergonomics is essential when it comes to the prevention of spreading the COVID-19 virus at workplaces.

Webinar on telework

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We are in an extraordinary situation, and it will probably last a long time. We all have to think about the sustainability of our activities, the ones of our customers, of our colleagues,…

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We are in an extraordinary situation, and it will probably last a long time. We all have to think about the sustainability of our activities, the ones of our customers, of our colleagues,…

For any profession, Teleworking is a chance for continuity. But the rules, the requirements for such a situation are not so distinct. We have to consider the knowledge accumulated on this solution for several decades.

FEES is pleased to offer you a free webinar about practical aspects of teleworking :

  • What are the different aspects of managing?
  • What change in the relationships within teams?
  • What requirements for the equipment?
  • What available resources? (guidelines, advice,…)

This conference will be delivered in French firstly, and then we will reproduce it in English. The idea is to share the content with all countries, and give to each member the option to deliver it in his own language.

Associated with this webinar, we will deliver a set of documents about the topic. Besides, we will use your feedback to improve this summary and add them to the resources.

This first event begins on May 6th, 16h. It will last 40 minutes, including 20 minutes presentation and 20 minutes questions.

Just follow this link : https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71853888778?pwd=TFJySTBKMG1mR3owN0xRdU9QeEFrdz09

ID meeting : 718 5388
8778 

password : 027987