Reducing ergonomics assessment costs

Revised 2019.11.01

Ergonomics assessments can result in significant savings for you or your business by identifying interventions that improve health and productivity. To save even more, the cost of an assessment can be reduced by doing the following:

1) Provide ergonomics training before assessments

Clients are more likely to act on a change suggested by the ergonomist if they understand why the change is being suggested. A client with a good understanding of ergonomics will reduce the amount of time the ergonomist will spend on explanations during the assessment. Ideally this training should be provided to at risk groups as a general practice and not just after symptoms appear. Preventing symptoms and injuries is much easier than addressing them after they appear.

2) Encourage early reporting of symptoms and respond quickly

The longer a client’s symptoms go unchecked, the greater the risk of a serious injury. As mentioned previously, it is much easier to help someone who is symptom free or with early stage symptoms than someone who has a serious injury.

3) Have the client complete a Pre-Assessment Survey prior to the day of the assessment

For clients with symptoms, this will save time during the actual assessment and enable them to put more thought into their answers.

4) Have an onsite ergo response team

Team members could be supervisors, JHSC members or other designated individuals. Possible roles for team members:
  • observe and/or assist with note taking during the assessment
  • assist the client with simple problems following the assessment, without bringing the ergonomist back on site
  • with training and experience, team members would be able to perform basic proactive assessments and provide first response to future cases before consideration is given to bringing an ergonomist back onsite

5) Pre-authorize possible purchases

There are many low cost ergonomics interventions that can make a big impact on a client’s health and productivity. Pre-authorizing certain interventions before an assessment will enable these to be discussed with the client during the assessment and reduce the need for follow up visits.