How to Conduct an Ergonomics Audit

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Hi, everyone. This is Mark Middlesworth of ErgoPlus. So at this point, I’m going to assume that you’ve determined that there is a high value proposition and you’ve decided to get proactive in managing the MSD prevention opportunity in your facility. If so, you’re probably asking yourself, what now? Where do I begin? Where do I start? So, I would propose to you that the best place to start is to conduct an establishment ergonomics audit of your facility. By performing an audit of the current state of your ergonomics management system, you’ll not only find out where your facility stands in that regard, but more importantly, you’ll gain an understanding of all the components of a comprehensive, highly effective, best in class process.

Ergonomics audit overview
The establishment ergonomics audit will help all stakeholders gain clarity and alignment regarding key components, so that you can come together and create and implement a comprehensive ergonomics management system. The goal of the establishment audit isn’t necessarily to score high on it. You’re probably not gonna score very high. Instead, you should think of it really as a learning exercise intended to A, establish a baseline. And B, and more importantly, to uncover insights that will light the way from where you are today, light that path to where you ultimately want to be down the road tomorrow.

Ergonomics audit: Cost Benefit Analysis
I would encourage you to take the time to establish a cost benefit baseline as well and build a strong business case for your ergonomics and MSD prevention efforts. Quantifying the two true costs of MSDs and then relating those costs to your company’s profitability is a great way to gain support from your leadership team. So, what are MSDs costing your facility? Well, direct costs should be calculated. That includes medical costs, wages for injured workers. And this cost is relatively straight forward and should be easy for you to obtain.

But direct costs are just the tip of the iceberg because there are many indirect and hidden costs associated with worker fatigue, discomfort, pain, and injury. And these costs include such things as lost productivity of injured workers and others, response and investigation to determine root causes and issues related to the claim, the claim administration costs, supervisory time lost, worker replacement and training costs, quality problems, and also costs associated with absenteeism and low employee morale can be a factor as well.

All those hidden costs add up and most of the experts estimate that indirect costs are between 1.2 on the conservative side, all the way up to five times the direct costs. So for example, if you determine that your facility has $300,000 in annual direct costs, your indirect costs are likely somewhere between $360,000 and $1.5 million. Using the most conservative estimate of 1.2 times direct costs, the total cost of the MSD problem in your facility then is at least $630,000. And at a profit margin of 5%, your facility would need to generate $1.3 million in sales to cover the costs of these unnecessary injuries.

And you might have someone say, well, we could use that same trick with any of our expenses. And that’s true, but here’s the difference: musculoskeletal disorders are completely preventable.

So, there are four phases to an ergonomics audit that we outline in our Mastering Ergonomics training course. Audit preparation includes assigning roles and responsibilities and determining criteria of the audit, coordinate logistics for completion of the audit. Performance consists of many activities, including just getting that job done, a review of the objectives, conducting interviews, gathering information and documentation, and wrap up or a closing meeting, and then you’ll want to to report results. So in terms of reporting, the results of the audit should be documented and communicated in a final report.

This report should provide information and data that can be used as an effective management tool to establish your ergonomics management system, and then certainly follow up. The ultimate aim of the establishment audit is to provide you with the guidance that results in an ergonomics management system that’s tailored to your organization, your organization management systems, and your facility.

In addition to a report of the workplace ergonomics audit findings, actionable steps should be recommended to fill in the gaps discovered by the audit, and then create a plan or a path forward to form the basis of policies, standards, and guidance documents. The establishment audit will give you an idea of each strategic component of an effective process and you’ll want to ask what, why and how for each component of the audit ...

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