4. Validation of the Ergonomics Climate Assessment
To validate the newly developed Ergonomics Climate Assessment,
we first assessed the concurrent validity of the Ergonomics
Climate Assessment as a predictor of employee self-reported
work-related pain. Many studies have supported the relationship
between safety climate and employee safety outcomes (e.g.,
Christian et al., 2009; Nahrgang et al., 2011), and we believe that
both PE and WE facets of ergonomics climate should function
similarly to safety climate in this way. Work-related pain was
chosen as the focal outcome for this study because other safety
indicators, such as accidents or incidents, are low-base-rate behaviors
and can be problematic in self-report surveys because
individuals may hesitate to report such occurrences (Probst et al.,
2008). Work-related pain can be viewed as a leading, rather than
lagging, indicator of employee well-being, and ergonomics interventions
often specifically aim to prevent pain. There is an
intuitive negative relationship between the WE facet of ergonomics
climate and pain; if an organization values designing and
modifying work to improve well-being, and if their efforts in this
direction are at all successful, employees should experience less
work-related pain.
The relationship between the PE facet of ergonomics climate
and pain may be less obvious. Although it would not be unusual to
increase work pace in the hopes of productivity gains, product
quality as well as safety can be compromised. In an environment
that values a systems approach to occupational ergonomics, productivity
gains are designed concurrently with worker well-being
goals. For example, manually attaching hydraulic hoses to a
Table 1
Sources of the four components of ergonomics climate.
Source Management commitment Employee involvement Job hazard analysis Training and knowledge
Focus Group Themes Management commitment
Value of ergonomics
Communication
Employee Involvement
Value for ergonomics
Reporting system
Assessments
Monitoring the effectiveness
of the ergonomics program
Reporting system
Employee knowledge
and training
National and State
Resources
Federal OSHA Ergonomics
Standard
NIOSH Elements
of an Ergonomics Program
OSHA VPP
Federal OSHA
Ergonomics Standard
NIOSH Elements
of an Ergonomics Program
OSHA VPP
OSHA Job Hazard
Analysis Guidelines
Federal OSHA
Ergonomics Standard
WA Ergonomics Standard
CA Ergonomics Standard
NIOSH Elements
of an Ergonomics Program
OSHA VPP
Federal OSHA
Ergonomics Standard
WA Ergonomics Standard
CA Ergonomics Standard
NIOSH Elements
of an Ergonomics Program
OSHA VPP
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162 K. Hoffmeister et al. / Applied Ergonomics 50 (2015) 160e169
subassembly with a hand wrench can be performed faster by
increasing the expected yield of the worker, which would likely
lead to greater hand fatigue, work stress and poorer quality. Using a
systems approach to ergonomics, a redesign may include the use of
a power driven wrench that results in greater output, less physically
demanding hand motions, and less worker stress. Poor work design
however, has been associated with greater injuries to employees
(Genaidy et al., 2008).