What is Ergonomics? - How to get Assistance

There are numerous agencies and organisations that provide assistance in the field of ergonomics. Consequently, the following presentation is just a rough overview of the resources available to help you in a specific situation.

Depending on the complexity of the problem under consideration, you may find a lot of useful information just by searching the World Wide Web. Public as well as commercial organisations maintain websites that provide tips and suggestions for common problem areas. To get an overview of these information sources, very helpful is the collection of good practices by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

However, in some cases the topic under consideration is of a complexity that requires to get into direct touch with an ergonomists. Although the web is also useful to find corresponding consultants, you would be confronted with the problem of information overflow. Just enter a term like ‘ergonomics consultancy’ in an internet search engine, and you will get easily more than 1.000 results. Moreover, like most professions, ergonomists have their chosen areas of specialisation. While one ergonomist may be specialised in analysing the setup of a workplace, another ergonomist might be an expert in ergonomic product design.

As a solution to this problem, several national ergonomics societies provide expert inventories, authoritative listings of individuals and organisations. Examples are the Consultancy Register of the Ergonomics Society in Great Britain and the Competence Network of the Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft in Germany.

As an alternative, you could search for ‘certified’ ergonomists. This title is awarded, e.g., in Europe by the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE) and in the U.S. by the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics (BCPE). According to CREE, ‘successful applicants have demonstrated experience in taking full responsibility for the use and application of ergonomics knowledge and methods in practical situations’. Consult the CREE Directory or the BCPE Directory to find people matching these standards.

Assistance is also provided by governmental organisations in each country, including universities and research institutes. To find out about potential contacts in your region, you could consult the following resources:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) provides a database of Collaborating Centres.
• Check the National and Collaborating Centres of the International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS), an international network run by the member countries of the International Labour Office (ILO).

In addition, for Europe the following three organisations provide many references to services provided in your area:

• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work: the agency's principal safety and health information network is made up of 'focal points' in the EU Member States, which are nominated by each government as the competent national authority for safety and health at work.
• European Network for Workplace Health Promotion: an informal network of national occupational health and safety institutes, public health, health promotion, and statutory social insurance institutions.
• European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions: carries out its role in contributing to the planning and establishment of better living and working conditions in partnership with governments, employers, trade unions, and the European Commission.