Horseman, Samantha J (2012) ErgoWELL - An integrative strategy. In: Paper presented at the SPE Middle East Health, Safety, Security, and Environment Conference and Exhibition. pp. 327-343. From: SPE Middle East Health, Safety, Security, and Environment Conference and Exhibition, 02-04 April 2012, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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Abstract

The global workforce are faced with challenges of the digitalized age; the nature of work has changed. Employees are becoming knowledge workers that are more sedentary using static loaded postures and positions throughout the day. Both technology and the nature of work has changed over the last decade, however the human anatomy has remained the same. Due to this mismatch there is an increasing incidence of low back pain, neck pain, shoulder syndromes, and carpal tunnel, etc. Therefore ergonomics is an essential science that must be considered in the reduction of these injuries in the workplace. Adopting a systematic approach assesses the dynamic relationships between the end user, the work task, equipment, workspace, environment and the organization at large. A participatory wellness approach ensures that all stakeholders gain ownership and are accountable for effective change in the development, implementation and evaluation stages of injury and disease prevention. Using both of these methodologies ensures that there is a significant impact at operational, tactical and strategic levels of the organization. Ultimately this will assist in using the current organization infrastructure to support and cascade ergonomic principles throughout the company. At a corporate level an emerging trend is to integrate ergonomics with corporate wellness programs. Therefore this paper demonstrates the successful integration between wellness and ergonomics. This success is showcased through a study sample of 160 employees over a year long cohort. The results indicate a significant reduction in work related musculoskeletal injuries, reduction in absenteeism for work related musculoskeletal injuries and successful behavior change in adopting practices in injury prevention. This partnership in science is referred by the author as ErgoWELL - the integration between ergonomics and wellness. Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers.

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