Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the science of examining how jobs, equipment, and workplaces can be designed to better fit workers. Federal Occupational Health (FOH) ergonomic consultants help your offices find the most effective ways of preventing musculoskeletal disorders while enhancing employee well-being and productivity.

Improving Your Worksite

FOH works with your agency to ensure that key ergonomic principles and practices are incorporated into the design of work environments. Our recommendations consider job categories, physical space requirements, employee needs, demographics, and agency budgets.

Ergonomic Services

Among the services FOH provides are:

Proactive Ergonomic Assessments

These ergonomic assessments are performed when an agency is being proactive and employees are not yet suffering from ergonomic related stressors. This service includes a professional ergonomist onsite to complete a comfort survey, detailed interview, observation of client work practices, specific measurements of work station, optional photography of work postures and work station, discussion of activities of daily living.

Deliverables include: 

• Standard Proactive Ergonomics Report 
• Reference handouts for chair and workstation adjustments and keyboard shortcuts

Reactive Comprehensive Ergonomic Assessment

Ergonomic assessments are performed when an agency has an ailing employee and reasonable accommodation is required to help the employee function at work. This service includes a professional ergonomist onsite to complete a comfort survey, detailed interview, observation of client work practices, specific measurements of work station, photography of work postures and work station, discussion of activities of daily living, workstation adjustments, and client education and handouts.

Deliverables include: 

• Standard RA Ergonomics Report
• Reference handouts for chair and workstation adjustments and keyboard shortcuts

Virtual Ergonomic Assessment

Virtual assessments are often performed by a professional ergonomist over the phone with the client. This service includes the professional ergonomist review of the comfort survey completed by client, telephone interview, observation of work station images provided by client, and discussion of activities of daily living.

Deliverables include: 

• Standard Virtual Brief Assessment Ergonomics Report 
• Reference handouts for chair and workstation adjustments and keyboard shortcuts

Ergonomics Training Combined with Student Coaching Sessions

A professional ergonomist provides a training class for up to 20 federal employees to help students learn to perform their own proper workstation setup. Following class, students take their handouts back to their desks and apply what they learned. The professional ergonomist then stops by each workstation to critique the new workstation changes and to administer a comfort survey.

Deliverables include: 

• Ergonomics Training
• Individual Student Coaching Report that includes a copy of the class sign-up sheet and a summary of the students critiqued and associated recommendations

Onsite Ergonomics Professional Consulting

We can provide an onsite professional ergonomist at specified intervals (monthly, quarterly, etc.) to provide Proactive Ergonomic Assessments, Reactive Comprehensive Ergonomic Assessments, Virtual Ergonomic Assessments, Ergonomics Training Combined with Individual Student Coaching Sessions, and other ergonomics related activities necessary to support your agency's ergonomics program.

Download the FOH Ergonomic Services Fact Sheet for more information

Contact Us

CDR William Bird
William.Bird@foh.hhs.gov
(214) 551-5964