Scientific approaches make for business value
The cost of employing people includes safeguarding them from predictable injury (for example associated with musculoskeletal disorders, the main source of sickness absence), illness and death. Higher than industry-average Levels of damage to propertry, theft, accidents and unnecssary stress do affect competitive advangage.
The most cost-effective way to control these costs is by applying relevant sciences, in particular psychology about human behaviour, what precedes it and the consequences that reinforce it. What is more, while directing attention and behaviour to controlling hazards in your work environment is essential to a profitable business, it isn't really sufficient if you want to achieve the best possible results: you also need to consider individual differences between employees with traits associated with safe and unsafe patterns of behaviour.
The downside of neglecting due care for safety and health of employees, customers and the public is not limited to court awards, lawyers fees and insurance premiums, hefty though these can be. It actually also includes degraded use of time of managers and of employees as well as 'downtime' for unplanned maintenance.
When you safeguard employees and customers well, you do so by managing specific kinds of risks. Some of these risks differ according to the gender and age of employees, as well as forms of physical or psychological disability, - so you need to be inclusive. Since all of these risks have to take account of measurable differences between people, it is necessary to design work equipment, machines (including computers), tools and documents so that people can handle, see, read and hear accurately and safety, under pressure. That's where ergonomic science comes in.
Measures for safe work environments
Increasingly over recent decades, evidence has accumulated of how people develop 'musculoskeletal injuries' to their upper limbs and shoulder areas as a consequence of the design of their work and work environments. Unless you start with reliable measurements of the individual and of the work he/he does, it's really a matter of random hit 'n' miss whether you get good-enough control over relevant aspects of their work settings and work processes.
Using videography, body maps, force gauges and other measures, we can gather the 'anthropomorphic' data you need to design work processes and use of equipment, machines, handtools and documents as safe ar reasonably practicable. And we also provide the associated management briefings and employee training necessary to support your investment in getting the match right beween people and their work environments.
Laws and regulations as boundary safeguards at work
The odds are that failing to comply with safety and fair discrimination legislation sooner or later results in litigation or other forms of loss and waste. In a civil claim, the Civil Proocedure Rules and your insurers are likely to press you to negotiate rather than spend a lot of time and money in a court appearance; to the extent that you have a robust defence, the lawyers acting for the claimant are obliged to advise him or her of the quality of their claim.
The practical points are that, on the one hand, good safety and diversity management greatly reduces the prospect of a valid claim against you. On the other hand, evidence of failing to comply with legal responsibilities is a sure way to lose money through expensive emergency treatment, compensation and to suffer incerased insurance premiums if not in court awards into the bargain.
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