A global information technology company required Health and Safety services for various office locations around the world. Antea Group was asked to provide a safety audit for an office in Quezon City, Philippines in order to ensure compliance with local regulations. This location in particular had been identified as potentially having ergonomic issues. Previously, the client had sent assessment forms to the employee without any feedback on their needs. However, photos of the work environment that were received by the EHS manager showed poor ergonomic practices. A different approach was needed to truly determine if employee ergonomic needs were being met. The other challenge was filling a skill set gap.
Solution
An innovative solution was needed to accommodate the cultural differences and lack of knowledge on ergonomics by the employees. We determined that a discomfort survey might be more useful in this situation. Instead of trying to convey the elements of ergonomics, we targeted where employees were experiencing pain. We received responses to the discomfort surveys and prioritized them based on levels of discomfort. On the day of the on-site audit, our Inogen Associate partner took pictures of the employees at their workstations. Our certified Accredited Office Ergonomics Evaluator then reviewed all of the data and photos and determined recommendations for workstation improvements.
Result
Using the discomfort survey we received an 84% response rate. Antea Group was able to provide individualized recommendations for each employee that reported discomfort and was present at the time of the on-site assessment along with basic guidelines for adjusting their workstation. We also provided some recommended equipment types and talked through broad solutions for their common problems. This unique approach provided a cost effective way to provide ergonomic support to the client’s employees in Quezon City.
