Ergonomic checkpoints

1 Ergonomic checkpointsErgonomiccheckpointsPracti calandeasy-to-implement solutionsforimprovingsafet y, he althandwo rkingco nditionsPre par ed by th e In tern at ional Lab ou r Officein co ll abo rati on wi th the Int ern at io nal Ergonomics Associa tionInt er national Labo ur Off ice Gen evaCopy righ t In te rn at ion al Labo ur Organization 2010 First publishe d 1996 Secon d edi ti on 20 10 Publ ic at ion s of the In te rn ati on al Labour Officeenjoycopy righ t underProtocol 2 of th e Univ ersalCop yri gh t Co nven ,shortexcerpts fromthemmaybe reproducedwithoutautho rizati on , on co ndi tio n th at the sourceis indi ca ted . For ri ghtsof reproduction or translation,appl icati on sh oul d be madeto ILO Publica tions(Rightsand Permi ssions),InternationalLa bourOffice,CH-1 21 1 Gene va 22, Sw itz erlan d, or by email:pubdroit@i g. TheInternationa l La bourOffic ewelc ome s suc h appl ica ti on ries, in sti tu tio ns and oth er user s registeredwith re pr odu ct ion rightsorganizations may makecop ie s in acco rda nce wit h the licencesissuedto themfor this it fi nd therepro du ct io n righ ts or ga niz ati on in designat io ns empl oy ed in ILO publications,whi ch ar e in conformity wit h Uni ted Nationsprac tice,and the pre sen tati on of ma te rial thereindo not impl y the expr ess ion of any opinionwhatsoev er on thepar t of the In te rn at io nal Labo ur Offi ce concerningthe leg al sta tus of any cou ntry , area or ter ritoryor ofits au tho ri tie s, or co nce rnin g th e delimitat ion of its fron tie rs.

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3 Rg/ pu blnsTypeset by Mag heross Grap hics , Fra nc e & her oss. comPri nte d in Swit ze rla ndInter nat ional Labo ur Of fic e, in coll aboration with the In tern ationalErgonomicsAssociationErgonomic ch eckpoints : Pr act ical and easy -t o-i mpl ement so lution s for improvingsaf et y, healt h and work in g ter nat ional Labo ur Of fic e, Gen eva, 2010guide / ergo nomi cs / occupationalsafety/ occupati onal he alth / workenv iron men t / sm all en terprise13. 04. 11 BN 978- 92- 2-12 2666 -6 ILO Ca ta log ui ng in Pu bl ication Da taThe re is gro wi ng awareness of the needto applyprac tical acti on in the wo rkplaceto reducewo rk- relatedaccidents and diseases. An increasing focu s is placedon th e appl ica ti on of Ergonomic principlesin view ofthei r grea t potentialto improveworkingconditions andprodu ctivi ty. Experience is bei ng gainedin applyingerg on omi cs to wor kplaces in differe nt secto rs andind ustrialsitua tions in both develo pe d and deve lopingcou ntr ies, with ta ngi ble resu lts in the re ducti on ofoccu pationalaccidents,work- re lateddiseases andmajo r in dustr ial ac cidents,as well as improvementsinunsatisfactoryworking co nd omicch eckpointshas beende vel ope d with the objectiveofoff erin g pra ctical,low-cost so luti ons to ergonomicprob lems,particularlyfor smalland me dium -s iz eden manualis basedon nu mer ous examples ofprac tical erg onomic improvementsachieved at low re ar e many such example s wo rldwide,includingerg on omi call y desi gnedtoo ls, carts , materials-handlingtech niques,workstation arrangem ents, worken viro nments.

4 Worksite welf are facil ities and grou pworkme knowledg e gai ne d from theseloc ally achi evedimpr ove mentsis a very usefuladd itionto the er gonomic app licationsdevelo ped by qu al ifiedsp ecialists and trai ne d practitio is increasinglyap pare nt tha t loc al improvementsachievedat the sh opfloor le vel shouldbe madeknow n to othe r workplaceswher e si mila r improvementscould be made .We hop ethat usin gEr gonomiccheckpointswill stimulate thisvaluable sh ar in g of expe rien ces an d he lp peo plepr om ot e a mo re sy stema tic applicatio n of er go nomicpr inci s manual pr ese nt s 132 erg onomic int er ventionsai me d at cr eatin g po sitiv e eff ects without re lying oncos tl y or high ly sop hist ic ate d so lut ion s. The emp has is ison reali st ic so lut ion s th at can be applied in a flexibleman ne r and co nt rib ute to impr ovin g wo rkin g conditionsan d pr oduct iv ity.

5 Th e var io us expe rie nc es repo rt edfrom pr act itio ne rs in appl yin g the firs t editio n ofErgo no mic che ckpo int s ar e refle ct ed in re vi sed tex t andillu str ati ons and in the ad ditio nal ch ec kpoints .Th e closecoll ab orat ion be twe en the In ternat ion al Erg ono micsAs soci ati on and the Inte rnat ion al Labo ur Office haspr ov ed fru itful in mak ing this se co nd editio n up to dat e,an d mee tin g th e mo st urg en t nee ds of managin gerg on omics-re lat ed wor kplaceris ks .We hope thatErg onomiccheck point swill co nt inueto ins pi re man age rs , supe rv iso rs , wor ker s, train ers anded ucat ors, as we ll as ergono mics an d occupatio nalsaf ety and healt h spe cialists, and wil l hel p the m shar epr acti cal in for ma tio n and expe rien ce s by disse minatin gerg on omicallyso und workplaceimpr ove men tsSe iji Machid aDi rec torPr og ram me on Saf et y and He althat th e Wor kpl ace an d th e Envir on me nt (Safe Work )Int er nation al Lab ou r Offic eForewordvvi iThi s book is a revi sed , expanded versio n ofErgonomicch eckpointsand was compil ed joi nt ly by theInt ernation al Er gon omi cs Asso ciati on (IEA)and theInt ernation al LabourOf fice (ILO)

6 To pre se nt practicalwor kpla ce im provements from an ergo nom ic po intof vi firs t edit ion ofErgonom ic che ck points,pu bli shedin 199 6, was we ll recei ve d acr oss thewor ld and ha s be en tr ansl ate d in to morethan adoze n lan gua ges , incl udi ng Arabic, BahasaIndonesian , Ba ha sa Malaysi an, Chi nese, Estonian,Fa rs i, Fren ch, Ja panese,Korean, Pol ish, Portuguese,Rus sia n, Span is h, Thai ,Turki sh an dVie tnamese. Itha s be en use d in train ing prog rammesin a numberof indus tria lly de vel op in g coun tri es in Asia, Africaand La ti n Ame rica , an d a range of small-scalewor kpla ces in de vel op ing coun tr ies haverepo rtedimprovemen ts fro m ap pl yi ng the low-costideasinth e ma nua l. Prac titi on ers of wo rk pl ace ergo nomi csin indus tria liz ed count ri es ha ve also fo und thech eckpoints to be usef ul tool s for improvingwor ki ng co ndit io ns, parti cul arl y wo rk practicesinsmalland me dium-sized en terp ri ses.

7 Train ingact ivi tie s hav e show n tha t the checkpoints can beusedeffec tiv el y to train lo cal peop le to find realisticsolu tio ns to erg onomi c probl ems in variouswor kpla ce sit ua tio ns. The broadcove rage of thech eckpoints is parti cularly sui te d to identifyingpr ac tic al so lut ion s to erg ono mic pr oble ms inspecific loc al si tuati on s, wherepr io ri ty issuescanvary grea tl 20 04, in vi ew of the dev elo pmen t iner go nomics in the last decad e an d fee db ack fromapplicati on s an d us e by OSH an d ergonomicspr ac titi one rs , the IL O, wi th the In ter nationalDe velo pme nt Committe e of the IEA, beganan in-dept h revie w of the 1996 edi ti on .A work ing gr oupof ex pe rt s le d by Kaz utakaKog i was establishedbyth e IEA to pr epar e the basi s for a jo int rev iew by theIEA and IL O, whi ch was co nd uctedat a wo rk shopinBal i, Indones ia , in 200 wo rkshopwas facilitatedby Da vid Ca ple , IEA Chai r of the In ter nationalDe velo pme nt Committe e, an d Shen gli Niu, ILOre pres enta ti ve.

8 The wo rk in g gro up fo r the se condedi ti oncon siste d of the following peo ple: Sar a Ar pho rn , Mah idol Un iv ersity , Ban gk ok,Thai lan d; Jose Mar ia Bat ino, Depart me nt of Labo r andEmplo yme nt , Man ila, Phil ippines; Dav id C. Caple , Dav id Cap le & Ass ociat es, Ea stIvan ho e,Au str alia; Pierre Fal zon , Int ern atio nal Erg onom ics Ass ociation,Par is, Fr an ce ; Mart in He lander, Nany an g Te ch no lo gie s Un ivers ity,Si ngapo re ; To ru It an i, Nag oy a Cit y Un iv er sity , Nagoya, Jap an; Ak iyo shi Ito , Unive rsity of Occupation al Healt h an dEnvi ronm ent , Kit ak yush u, Japan; Tsuyo shi Kaw ak am i, ILO Regional Off ice fo r As iaand the Pacific,Ban gk ok, Thailand; To n Tha t Khai, Ce nt re fo r Occupatio nal He alth andEnvi ronm ent , Can tho, Vie t Nam; Hali mah tun M. Khalid , DamaiScie nce s, KualaLumpur , Malaysia; Kaz ut ak a Kogi,Inst it ute for Scie nce of Lab our,Kawas ak i, Japan; Sud th ida Krung kraiw ong, Inst itu te for theImpr ov emen t ofWor king Con ditio ns an dEnvi ronm ent , Bang ko k, Thailand; She ng li Niu , ILO, Gen eva, Sw it zerland ; The re si a Pawit ra , Su rab ay a Uni ve rs ity, Surabaya,Indo ne sia; Bu di San tos o Goutam a, Sur abay a Un ive rs ity,Sur ab ay a, In do nesia; Bar bar a Silv erst ein ,Was hing to n St ate Depar tmen t ofLab or an d Indu str ie s, Unite d St ate s; Sut jana, Uni ve rsit y of Uday an a, Denpasar, Indon es ia ; Errn a Tresn anin gsih, Div ision of Occupation alHe alth , Jak arta, Ind one a result of this co nsu ltat io n, 132 re vise d chec kpoint swereput to ge the r for this se co nd edit io n.

9 Of the 128items in the fir st editio n, 10 4 we re ret aine d and eig htnew on es wer e cr ea te d by mer ging tw o pr evio us it emseac h. Le ar nin g fr om the expe rie nce s in app lying thefirst edi ti on, th e gr oup de velo pe d 20 add itio nal newitems. The ne wly dev elo pe d ite ms re lat e to computerPrefaceto these co ndeditionvi iwor ks tati ons, forklif t drivingand drivingcabi ns, wor k atheigh t, cold wor k environments, ai r-conditio ningsystems,off ice workareas,labelling of co nt ai ner s ofhazardouschemicals, wa ste recycling, conf ine d space s,fire ex tin gui shers,evacuation plans , phys ical ex ercis e,ful l pa rti cipa ti on of wo men and me n wor ke rs, migrantwor ke rs, youngworkers,cu ltur al issues and riskmana gem ent fu rth er ne w fe atureof thi s secondeditionis th ateac h ch eckpointmentions ri sk s/s ymptoms ad dres sedby th e sug ge sted ergo nomi c soluti ons.

10 Dep endingonthe local si tua tion, usersca n th us se lect pr acti calimp rove mentsappli cableto thei r own wo rkpl ace, anddevisethei r own chec e vari ous waysto use thech ec kpoi nts and the ergo nom ic ch eck lis t ar e de scribedin S ug gestionsfor usingthe manual on pp. xi ii co mpi ling the checkpo int s, em pha sis has beenplacedon a vi sua l pr esentatio n tha t help s user s solv econ creteproblems. The ana ly ti cal part, therefore, ismin imiz ed in fav our of pract ica l so lutions. This iscon cordant wi th the approach usedin the ILOprog ramme,whi ch has pro ve d to be effective in bothin du strial ly developedand dev elo ping coun tr ie manualis a resultof the join t effor ts of man ype opl e who workedtoge ther with the gro up ofex pert s. It inc lu des all ne w gra phi cs,red rawnin col ourby Ng ui yen Thi Sam in colla boration with Ton Tha tKhai,both of the Cen tre for Occu pat ion al Hea lth an dEnvi ron mentof the Can tho Heal th De partment in VietNam.