Building an Effective Ergonomics Program in a Covid Climate

Date: November 4, 2020

Duration: 1 hour

Presenter: Rachell Mitchell, MSc Human Factors, RKin, CCPE

About the Webinar

Ergonomics and the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries remain a focus of the Ministry of Labour’s (MOL) initiatives, however, can easily be overlooked by employers given the current focus on Health and Safety measures required to prevent and control for Covid-19.

This presentation will outline how to ensure, given the current climate, that ergonomics and injury prevention remains a priority in your facility.  We will look at how ergonomics programs should change and adapt to comply with the changes that are occurring in work practices.

Using the “Basic Guidelines” from the Ontario MSD Prevention Guidelines as the framework of our discussion, which were designed for medium to large companies with a JHSC and an existing Health and Safety program, this presentation will review the 10 Steps to developing an Ergonomics Program that ensures strong leadership, promotes worker participation, and successfully identifies and controls workplace ergonomic hazards to prevent the occurrence of Musculoskeletal injuries.

For each of the 10 steps, participants will be provided with practical ergonomic tips on how to implement the key components, such as how to create a MSD Prevention Policy, how to select appropriate ergonomic assessment tools, and what types ergonomic training should be provided to employees, and how the current climate may impact how we implement these components.

About the Speaker

Rachel Mitchell is the Manager of Ergonomic Services with ERGO Inc. – a national ergonomics consulting and training organization. Rachel is a Canadian Certified Professional Ergonomist and a Registered Kinesiologist with over 16 years of experience. She holds a Masters of Science in Human Factors Engineering from Nottingham University and has over 15 years of ergonomics consulting experience in a range of industries ranging from manufacturing, corporate services to health care. She is also the President of the Canadian College for the Certification of Professional Ergonomists.

Rachel builds relationships with employers, workers, and unions to ensure successful ergonomic and injury management outcomes; whether it be injury risk reduction, workstation, and workflow design, ergonomics program development, or return to work planning.