A PARTICIPATORY ERGONOMICS APPROACH TO REDUCE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL WORKLOAD

A step-by-step approach to better work, aimed at reducing mental and p hysical workload in office work, is evaluated. This approach is based on a strong commitment of the management in the enterprise, and on as much direct worker participation as possible. After every step the wor kers proposed how to continue and a steering group led by the manageme nt decided on this proposal. The workers identified the problems, deve loped ideas for improvement, tested improvements and chose them. As a result, most workplaces were adjusted and more than half of the subjec ts took organizational measures. The approach was considered worthwhil e, despite the fact that it is time consuming because it took about on e year to arrive at better working conditions. Relevance to industry R eduction of physical and mental workload is often pursued in industry. In this paper an approach is described which has been successful in i mplementing improvements aimed at reduction of mental and physical wor kload.