Ergonomics consultants help design workspaces that promote employee health and productivity, and train employees to protect their bodies while working. They evaluate workplaces and tasks to make recommendations for creating a healthy work environment. Qualifications vary, but many have graduate credentials in psychology, occupational therapy, or engineering.
Ergonomics is the science of matching work environments to workers’ needs and capabilities. Ergonomics consultants are experts at understanding how the human body interacts with technology, furniture and workplace design. The ergonomics consultant helps employers design a space that promotes employee health and productivity, as well as trains employees to protect their bodies while working. Some ergonomics consultants are also licensed occupational therapists, while others are certified through professional associations.
The physical strain of work, especially for those performing repetitive tasks, can damage an employee’s body, contribute to poor health, and ultimately have a negative effect on an employee’s job performance. An ergonomics consultant evaluates the workplace, workspace, and tasks an employee must perform as part of an ergonomics assessment. The ergonomics consultant will also work with individual employees, observing their posture and movements as they perform their jobs. After making these observations, the consultant can make recommendations to help the company’s management and employees not only create a healthy work environment, but use it as effectively as possible.
An ergonomics consultant may have one or more areas of expertise, in most cases specifically connected to their formal training. For this reason, ergonomics consultants are sometimes teamed up through a consulting firm, which may match a business client with an ergonomics consultant or consultants who best meet the company’s needs. For example, a company concerned about repetitive stress injuries in its office workers might want to hire an ergonomics consultant who specializes in kinesiology or human body movement, as well as a technology specialist. The kinesiologist can work with employees to encourage proper posture and alignment, as well as recommend purchasing desks and chairs that will minimize the risk of injury to employees. The tech savvy, on the other hand, can develop macros and keyboard shortcuts for employees that also protect an employee’s wrists and hands from strain.
Qualifications to become an ergonomics consultant vary and ergonomics consultants are generally not licensed, although professional certification exists through independent professional bodies. Many ergonomics consultants hold graduate credentials in psychology, occupational therapy, or engineering. Occupational therapy is a licensed profession in the United States and elsewhere, and ergonomics consultants who are also occupational therapists may be licensed and professionally certified in addition to their professional training.
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