The 30-Inch View

Jordan Barab on Ergonomics

Just a quick note to follow up on our blog post from this year's ASSE Safety 2009 conference in San Antonio....

Speaking at the conference, Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab outlined some of the key challenges facing OSHA, including ergonomics.

Quoting from an online article at EHS Today, in his speech, Barab described ergonomics injuries as a huge safety and health problem recognized by strong science, but also one that stirs political debate. “We’re looking for a team that wants to move beyond destructive politics,” Barab said. “People are getting hurt by repetitive motion injuries … We can fix this, and we’d like you all to join us.”

On a related note, in a recent interview with Crain's, Randel Johnson, Senior Vice-President of Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits, stated that "business owners should look for new regulations on ergonomics and more aggressive enforcement of the OSHA general duty clause that requires employers to provide a safe workplace".

When you listen to these two powerful folks, does it sound like big changes are coming?
We are curious as to your thoughts. Feel free to contribute.

Ergonomics for Coffee Farmers

I am in Washington state this week, and saw this story about ergonomically sound baskets for Nicaraguan coffee farmers. 

Of course, if it has to do with coffee, it would be in the Seattle Times, right? 

Jump to the article by clicking here.  

Good Ergonomics is Good Economics

Jamie Mallon had a column featured in this month's issue of EHS Today, "Good Ergonomics is Good Economics".  Jamie highlights the challenges that EHS professionals face as the economy rebounds.  There is also an action plan for the next few months to ensure that your ergonomics process is ready for takeoff once the economy begins to recover.

 

Here is a direct link to the column on EHS Today’s web site http://ehstoday.com/health/ergonomics/good-ergonomics-good-economics

Update from Safety 2009 in San Antonio

Winnie Ip and Walt Rostykus from Humantech both presented at Safety 2009 in San Antonio this week. Safety 2009 is ASSE’s weeklong event, which includes the Professional Development Conference (PDC) and Exposition and advance, pre and post conference seminars

Winnie sent us this quick update from the conference:

§         Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis addressed conference attendees: “Make no mistake about it, the Department of Labor is back in the enforcement business”.  Watch a short video clip on ASSE’s main page: http://www.asse.org/ or read the press release: http://www.asse.org/newsroom/releaseIframe.php?iFrameReleaseLink=releases/temp010.htm

§         It’s no surprise that the popular topics this year include ergonomics for the aging and obese populations and anything dealing with return on investment or cost justification.

§         Walt finished his talk Monday afternoon on “Applied Ergonomics: Tools and Methods for Improving Fit of the Workplace” and Winnie presented Wednesday morning on “ROI of Ergonomic Improvements: Demonstrating Value to the Business”. Both sessions were well attended.

§         There seems to be great attendance at the conference this year (unconfirmed ~3,000 people).

Thanks for the update guys!