Jane Sleeth & the team at Optimal Performance respond in Linked In regarding “does the Ministry of Labour for Ontario have Ergonomic Standards in place? Quick Answer – for over 23 years they have.
…. great to read more about this question about Ergonomic Standards in Linked In. I must say the ergonomic team at Optimal shares a small laugh when employers who have not had a visit from the M of L regarding ergonomics think there are no Codes of Practice or Ergonomic Standards. We laugh only in the sense of the Ministry never sharing these standards with employers until they receive a visit or have a work refusal.
When employers do receive a visit from the M of L Ergonomic Inspector they are given as are we as the consultants, very specific, written ergonomic standards to use on two sides 1. standards for the actual assessment of the job demands and ergonomic hazards and risks (they go so far as to tell us what software program we need to use to analyze the jobs) and 2. the standards to be used to design, redesign the job such that it meets the standard for 75% of the working population. In our 23 years of best practice at Optimal we have always heard the M of L deny they have ergonomic standards in place. With over 300 work refusals under ergonomic grounds under our belts I can guarantee the M of L OH&S and Ergonomic divisions have Ergonomic Standards in place. Hope this helps the employers who still wonder what standards to use in the Ergonomic Programs. JE Sleeth Managing Director & Sr Consultant and the Ergonomic Team at
loading punch press stock (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Optimal Performance Consultants Inc.
Related articles
- Ernst and Young’s 20th Anniversary of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award; Jane Sleeth nominated (optimalperformanceblog.com)
- Jane Sleeth of Optimal Performance contributed to the committees which updated BIFMA’s ergonomic guidelines (optimalperformanceblog.com)
- Jane Sleeth speaking about FORM and Function in an accessible world at IIDEX September 27th 2013 (optimalperformanceblog.com)