Employer Responsibilities - Identify Problems

Employers have a responsibility to ensure that working conditions are safe and that every effort is made to prevent injuries to workers. Addressing ergonomic issues in the workplace is no different from any other safety concerns. Employers must identify hazards and implement controls. It is important to note that good ergonomics involves a long-term process that relies on continuous training and improvement.

Identify Problems

The first step to make your workplace ergonomically safe is to perform job hazard analysis to identify problems and the risk factors associated with them. A job analysis breaks a job into its various elements or actions, describes them, measures the risks involved, and identifies conditions that contribute to the risk factors. In addition, employers should review OSHA logs and other existing records, conduct symptom surveys, and interview employees.

There are many assessment tools available to help employers identify problems. An Ergonomics Awareness Checklist can provide a simple guide for company evaluation and can be easily customized. Other assessment tools can help you calculate or determine the level of risk involved. The following assessment tools are available on the OSHA website:

• NIOSH Manual Material Handling (MMH) Checklist
• Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) Worksheet
• NIOSH Lifting Equation
• Manual Materials Handling Tables
• Push/Pull/Carry Calculator
• Hand-Arm Vibration Calculator
• Whole-Body Vibration Calculator

To learn more about Labor & Industry Ergonomics visit our Labor & Industry Ergonomics Online Training web page.