HUMAN FACTORS & ERGONOMICS


SMALL CHANGES, BIG DIFFERENCES


Tomorrow’s Health & Safety caught up with David


Hughes, Development Director at SafeStar t International to discuss the prevelance of ergonomics in health and


safety dialogue and how specific techniques can make a dif ference to employees’ daily lives.


Q: TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT SAFE START? SafeStart is a reaction to the fact that people were being harmed in the workplace due to human factors which weren’t being addressed through traditional safety management approaches. We specifically focus on the areas organisations have been the least successful in dealing with – human error, complacency and habitual at-risk behaviours. Started 20 years ago, we’ve now trained over 3 million people worldwide.


Q: WHAT UNDERLINES YOUR SUCCESS OVER


THE LAST 20+ YEARS? Some of the biggest companies in the world use us as their secret weapon to address human error. What they found was that, where they had previously tried to solve human factors-based injury with awareness- based solutions or emotionally affective approaches, these didn’t have the required tools or practical steps behind them to deliver sustained behaviour change (or any behaviour change in some instances).


The fact that many of our clients still use SafeStart on a daily basis five, 10, 15 years after introducing the programme proves that it’s not a here today, gone tomorrow flavour of the month.


Q: HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY PREVALENT IN HEALTH AND SAFETY DIALOGUE. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE SO IMPORTANT IN


TERMS OF THE WORKPLACE? Human factors have always been critical, it’s just that it’s been possible in the past to make significant safety gains in easier ways. What I mean by that is the industry has been able to reduce workplace injury dramatically by applying the basic concepts of the hierarchy of controls.


But you eventually get to a point where more engineering, or more training doesn’t deliver the same gains as it once did; and certainly doesn’t eradicate things like slips trips and falls, cuts, back injuries, repetitive strain and harm from situations where you just can’t eliminate the hazards or keep them away from people (like on the road… or anywhere there is gravity).


Often, companies find themselves at a point where making more effort in the same area just isn’t getting


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them much in return, and certainly not reducing the stubborn rump of injuries that they are still seeing. Companies talk to us about reaching a plateau, where their predominant injuries are ones where, when they do the investigation, they would have been almost impossible to predict or prevent. Where knowledge of the hazard, risk or correct procedure wasn’t a factor and the injured person themselves says, “I don’t know what I was thinking” or “I just wasn’t thinking”. That’s when they realise that they can’t ignore the elephant in the room, that they need to get to the heart of the human factors behind the behaviours they see.


“Often, companies


find themselves at a point where making more effort in the


same area just isn’t getting them much in return.”


Q: HOW HAVE ERGONOMIC CONCERNS CHANGED WITH THE ADVANCES IN


TECHNOLOGY OVER THE LAST DECADE? Technology over many decades has resulted in equipment and workplace improvements that have reduced harm, and Industry 4.0 can certainly accelerate those advances. Further computerisation and automation can only bring additional gains from both an acute and repetitive injury perspective. However, new tech will bring new challenges like it did with display screen equipment (DSE), and just look how ever-increasing mobile phone use has led to unforeseen ergonomic issues and stored up future problems for our children’s generation.


In our experience, employers tend to focus too much on the technology and other external factors to keep their people safe. Helping people to develop personal awareness of the risks, strong habits and recognising the impact of change is equally as important.


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