Affiliations: [a] Health & Safety Department, Ontario Hydro Nuclear, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X6. | [b] Institute for Occupational Ergonomics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: M. Aileen Sullivan, Health & Safety Department, Ontario Hydro Nuclear, 700 University Avenue, H17A23, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X6. E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: The pressure from recent and imminent Health and Safety legislation, both in Western Europe and Canada, has increased the awareness of the important contributions of ergonomics. At the same time it has become clear that ergonomists will never be plentiful enough to attack all workplace problems. In today's world economy, often, many companies lack the resources to employ an ergonomist. This creates a need for the transfer of ergonomics to non-ergonomists so that they can address their own workplace problems themselves. To transfer this skill in an effective and safe way requires a methodology which will incorporate a knowledge base, techniques for identifying mismatches between the people and their work, and ways to assist the users to interpret the results of the analyses and implement the necessary changes. Some useful ergonomics techniques are presented to assist people in assessing their own workplaces. They include techniques which measure work demands and their causes, equipment and environment analysis procedures and techniques that assess the potential for musculo-skeletal injuries.
