Becoming a certified professional ergonomist is no easy feat.   The Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics breaks down the path to becoming a certified professional ergonomist (CPE) into four simple steps—education, experimentation, experience, and an exam. In truth, it takes years of studying, practicing, experimenting, and building a career in ergonomics to reach the point of becoming an associate ergonomics professional (AEP). After earning that distinction, one can take the exam to become a certified professional ergonomist, a rigorous exam that only ~60% of candidates pass ..read more

These days, laptops are more convenient than desktop computers—wielding as much processing power as they do mobility. Laptops hold several benefits, but as a complete home- or in-office solution…. Laptops are intrinscially flawed from an ergonomics perspective—especially the keyboards. Though their sleek design provides easy on-the-go productivity, the compactness of laptop keyboards and touchpads promotes awkward hand and wrist postures. Forceful exertions and awkward postures such as wrist flexion, extension, ulnar deviation (when joints in the wrist and hand shift, bending fingers toward th ..read more

For many of us, it’s time to go back into the office and brush the dust off our desks. As we make this transition from working from home, we need to abandon our sedentary routines and maintain a good working setup in our offices. Take standing breaks. While working from home, many of us developed sedentary routines. With no more commutes to work and a lot more virtual meetings, we’ve been spending the time we would have spent walking around and talking to colleagues, just sitting. Now that we’re back in the office, we need to reincorporate those standing breaks into our days to avoid sitting f ..read more

Most organizations trying to implement an ergonomics program can build a strong ergonomics team, but often leave other groups in the organization in the dark until they’re called to contribute. Utilizing an improvement process is universal to most disciplines—quality, equipment, innovation, design all follow the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle. The job improvement process for ergonomics is no different. If groups in an organization don’t cohesively participate in this process, it can lead to the misuse of resources and misalignment between groups. Ultimately, it’ll make reducing risk more di ..read more

It’s easy to start the year off strong after making New Year’s resolutions, but it’s easier to slip back into the same work routine rut after enduring the colder, darker months of the year—for those of us in Northern Hemisphere at least. For many people, the winter season can have a major impact on mood and productivity, and those effects can be exaggerated under the current work-from-home conditions. With spring finally springing, here some tips that will help you boost your productivity and make the most of your home office. Bring in some greenery. Depending on the time of year or your offi ..read more

As we head into spring 2021, many of us may be working from home (WFH) longer than expected, and in some cases, permanently. Even though we’ve been doing this WFH thing for a while, it’s important to review our setups now to re-evaluate how we’ve been working and how well it’s been working for us. Working with an optimal setup has been known to increase productivity, comfort and well-being, while lowering our likelihood of burning out or developing an injury. How can we increase productivity and efficiency without burning out or raising our stress levels? By making a routine and sticking to i ..read more

It’s been a year with most of the world working from home. Have you set up a comfortable place to focus, or are you still operating from whichever space in your home is quietest? How are you feeling physically after working from home for a year? Working in strange places and awkward positions for long periods of time does more than just create kinks in your back, it can result in a full-blown musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). MSDs are painful disorders of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, or spinal discs, and they progress over time. It’s important to know how to preve ..read more

It’s spring, and Opening Day of baseball is near. Teams have made changes this past off-season to fill gaps in their roster and tweak their strategies; these come as the result of a thorough review of their key performance metrics from last season – figuring out where and how they can improve. Companies rarely have an off-season to pause and evaluate their EHS or ergonomics approach; evaluations/improvements are done in real-time. If you assessed your own key performance metrics (e.g. injury statistics), what weaknesses would be revealed? More importantly, what would your adjustments look like ..read more

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