Manual handling

13 Apr, 15

Backpack REDUCES spinal loads?

I reviewed an article published in Ergonomics (2014, volume 57, No 2: 262-270) by Rohlmann et al., entitled “How does the way a weight is carried affect spinal loads?” In it, the authors compare carrying a weight four different ways: 1. In one hand 2. In front of the body 3. With loads split between […]
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Design for extremes

Our last blog talked about “designing for average”, but designing for average doesn’t just mean thinking about height; we also need to consider age and weight. Josie recently tuned in to Humantech’s Webinar on Designing the Workplace for the Aging and Obese Population… kind of a touchy subject. But the presentation definitely reminded us of […]
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22 Sep, 14

Fall ergo conference

Carrie and Karen will be heading to Montreal in October to present five papers. (“Conference” does not equal “break” for us!) Here’s what we’ll be talking about at the annual ACE conference. (Check out the conference at http://www.ace-ergocanada.ca/index.php?contentid=1054.) The impact of design for average: Despite our understanding that we must design for the “limiting user” […]
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07 Aug, 14

Introducing the PDP – faster, better, shorter!

We have been doing physical demands descriptions (PDD, also known as PDAs) for over 20 years, and our reports invariably get great feedback. They are thorough, objective, concise, and communicate effectively with photos. We MEASURE forces and distances, heights, and reaches. We quantify exposure to awkward postures or static efforts. Our clients use our PDDs […]
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21 Jan, 13

Shovel safely!

Winter brings out the ergonomist in us – Karen was recently watching with interest as her husband shovelled the driveway. In fact, she was so intrigued with the process, that she spontaneously launched a full scale ergonomics assessment! (Is it any coincidence that the analysis process required approximately the same time as it took for […]
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