Central Safety Group Amsterdam

What’s new in ergonomics – here and overseas

The softly-spoken, widely-experienced David Caple is like the Obi Wan Kenobi of ergonomics, on whose every word we hang as he imparts his wisdom and guidance. This month's presentation covered a range of topics that highlighted his wealth of knowledge and experience and, indeed, why his expertise is sought after all over the world. 

Just back from the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) Congress in Korea, David gave a snapshot of the main topics of interest. He also recommended the IEA's series of Ergonomic Checkpoints publications, available freely on their website. Delegates gave great feedback on them, appreciating the simple case studies.

There you will also find a new publication Giving your business the human factors edge… Making it Happen! David is a co-author alongside Karen Lange-Morales (Colombia) and Andrew S. Imada (USA). This is aimed at line managers and supervisors.

David shared some case studies of his own, one to do with MSD issues related to large paint cans; the other concerned design of safe frontline staff environments. There is such a balancing act required when designing counters, for instance, and he showed us some of the pitfalls in this area. Screens are another contentious issue. In all cases, he recommends using prototypes before launching into changing design as this allows the people using the equipment to test it and provide feedback.

David briefly mentioned some innovation at the Department of Justice, which piqued our interest, and we are already looking at making that a topic for one of our events next year.

Financial members can access all of David Caple's previous presentations in our CSG archives. Once logged in, click on the Speakers tab on the banner at the top of the page, then type in "David Caple" in the Search box.

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What Covid-19 means for workplace safety

Normally on the 2nd Tuesday of December we would be gathering together at Parliament House for our annual Christmas lunch. While it was disappointing not to be able to do that this year, we were thrilled to have Professor David Caple present to us instead. Having such an engaging and high-calibre speaker was a ray of sunshine at the end of a gloomy year.

Amongst some research results David shared with us, it was interesting to learn that in some states, which have been opened up for a while, there is still a relatively low percentage of people returning to the office. It is clear that many people have relished the opportunity to work from home; however, the presentation and subsequent discussion highlighted the physical and psychological risks associated with this. David provided a number of links to useful resources for dealing with this delicate balance between working from home and returning to the office.

Thank you, David, for ensuring we ended the year on a high!

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When workplace changes outpace OHS Standards

The group is lucky to have an annual presentation from renowned ergonomist Professor David Caple, who is always such an engaging speaker as he shares the latest developments in his field of study.

This month he focussed on 2 Australian Standards that deal with workstations and chairs, both of which bear little relevance to today's ways of working in offices. One is 22 years old, so it is easy to see how workplace changes have moved so far ahead of its recommendations. The other, however, was revised in 2018 and yet it contains recommendations that do not relate to any data that David is aware of. It is also silent on the issue of dual and multiple screens, which has become very common. In fact, David asked for a show of hands in the room to see how many people work with dual monitors and the majority of attendants put up their hands.

David also mentioned an initiative of La Trobe University’s Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors, the APHIRM toolkit (A Participative Hazard Identification and Risk Management toolkit). There will be a workshop on it for Health & Safety Professionals at the university’s city campus on November 14th. For details & bookings, visit www.aphirm.org.au

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