Road Map: Managing Ergonomic Enquiries
(Road Map for Managing Ergonomic Enquiries - Quick Reference)
Ergonomic issues can originate for a number of different reasons, such as, workplace design, incorrect equipment, improper setup, injury, or simply an employee’s physiological characteristics. For that reason, it is critical that the employee and their supervisor take the time to discuss the issue to ensure that they both fully understand the problem.
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What is the difference between Accessibility, Ergonomics, and Duty to Accommodate?
When managing ergonomic enquiries, the terms “accessibility”, “ergonomics”, and “duty to accommodate” are often used interchangeably to refer to the obligation to ensure employees can fully and safely participate in the workplace. While all three play an important role and may overlap in any single intervention, these three pieces form a continuum from proactive planning of workspaces to reactive responses to individual barriers, functional limitations, or injury.
- Accessibility
- Creates an inclusive, barrier-free work environment through proactive identification, removal, and prevention of barriers for people with disabilities, which would contribute to eliminating the need for accommodation.
- Ergonomics
- Seeks to fit the workplace to the worker, through proactive design, arrangement and adjustment of equipment, to prevent injury and promote a healthy, productive and safe workplace.
- Duty to Accommodate
- Where barriers to accessibility and inclusivity exist and cannot be removed, adaptation or redesign of the work environment may be necessary to meet the individual needs of an employee. The Duty to Accommodate is associated with the thirteen (13) prohibited grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
How do I know if my issue is related to Accessibility, Ergonomics, or Duty to Accommodate?
Generally, aches and discomfort involving muscles, nerves, tendons, or joints will be the result of the improper application of ergonomic principles. However, an issue may include elements of all three areas. Depending on the specific details of a situation, it may be necessary to review workplace design, use of proper equipment, correct workstation adjustment, and appropriate work organization, along with any functional limitations or special circumstances an employee may have to reach an effective solution.
For example, the design of a workplace may not allow an employee using a wheelchair to effectively apply ergonomic principles causing discomfort.
What do I do when an employee indicates they are experiencing aches or discomfort that could be attributed their workstation?
If an employee has indicated they are experiencing aches or discomfort and the aches or discomfort could possibly be attributed to the setup of their workstation or equipment, the employee should be initially directed to the available self-help tools .
The self-help tools have been designed to aid employees identify sources of physical discomfort and to make minor adjustments to their own workstation that can help prevent or eliminate ergonomic-related discomfort.
Once the employee has reviewed the information and made any necessary adjustments to their workstation, follow up with the employee within a reasonable amount of time to ascertain if the aches or discomfort has subsided.