Watch the video and learn the importance of building a successful ergonomics team.

Video Transcript

Successful ergonomics processes are typically run by a team. This is called a participatory approach. So why is it important to form a team? Who should we have on it? And, what should they focus on?

Several research studies have concluded that involving employee teams in ergonomics adds significant value by reducing MSD symptoms, injuries and claims, reducing lost workdays and absences, improving employee engagement, improving acceptance of change, and speeding up improvements.

When it comes to who should be on an ergonomics team, it’s key to have cross-functional representation. Typical teams might include participants such as line employees, supervisors and managers, engineers and maintenance personnel, medical personnel and senior level sponsors. The size of the ergonomics team varies by company. According to our benchmarking study, team sizes range from 1 to 28 people, with the average size being 12 participants.

Finally, let’s talk about what the team should be responsible for. The team should be focused on activities that are going to be driving your process to success. Common activities include conducting MSD risk assessments, leading the job improvement process, conducting follow-ups (that’s key), tracking key measurements, communicating information about ergonomics, and also acting as liaisons between employees and management. Of course, ergonomics teams are just one brick in a solid foundation of your ergonomics process.

Check out our eBook on building a foundation for more on that, and a few final points on effective ergonomics teams. They work best with defined roles and responsibilities, the right system to follow, commitment from leadership, strong skills, training, and an easy way to track progress. Learn more about Industrial Ergonomics and how VelocityEHS can help you at our website, ehs.com.

VelocityEHS recently hosted a LinkedIn live event with leading professional services consulting firm WSP on how the two companies are working together to provide customers with best-in-class software implementation support, ESG consulting services and digital solutions. Watch a recording of the event to hear from WSP’s Daniel Sakrisson and Velocity’s Melissa McCaffrey about this partnership.

Watch a recording of the event to hear from WSP’s Daniel Sakrisson and Velocity’s Melissa McCaffrey about this partnership.

Video Transcript

Launching a large scale ergonomics process can seem daunting, but often times a real challenge comes when you’re sustaining the process over time. Identifying simple activity metrics to strive for annually is going to help you maintain momentum for the long haul. Here’s an example of a five year plan. You can pick and choose elements that you like and move through it as quickly or as slowly as you’d like based on where you are.

Year one: Prepare, identify gaps and where you want to start. Create reasonable and appropriate policies and guidance documents. Some examples of year one metrics might include things like percentage of stakeholders signed off on the policy number of people trained, and the number of sites with ergonomics teams identified.

In year two, we focus on Deployment.  Set achievable goals, hold consistent meetings, and try to hold people accountable.  Some examples of year two metrics include things like number of jobs assessed, number of direct causes identified, and number of improvements implemented.

Year three: Expand. Focus on what works, what doesn’t work, and what adjustments you want to make. Some metrics in year three might include percent reduction in high risk jobs, number of jobs with follow up assessments and cost to implement solutions.

Year four: Sustain. You should be integrating ergonomics into your continuous improvement process and using design guidelines in your new product introduction and builds. Metrics in year four might be number of locations audited, number of high risk tasks introduced, and percentage of high risk body areas.

Year five: Enhance. Your process doesn’t have to end after five years, but here are some more opportunities to enhance your process. Number of new team Members trained. Number of red body areas eliminated and what your 3 to 5 year return on investment looks like.

Keep in mind there’s no perfect timeline or path to success. This is definitely a marathon not a sprint. Learn more about Industrial Ergonomics and how VelocityEHS can help you at EHS.com.

Video Transcript

I’m Jonathan Ellis. I’m the Health and Safety Director here at Alton Towers Resort.

One of the challenges, and it’s an exciting challenge, is just the size and extent of the theme park on a major resort. We have 550 acres here.

People know us for the large rides, but we also have a number of other things that are not always as well-known. We have a number of hotels. We have a very large waterpark. But on top of that, we have our own combined heat and power plant. We generate are own electricity. We’re on our own water supply here. And all of this need’s maintenance, repair, improvements, upgrades, and that then brings in a large army of contractors.

It’s very evident that this is actually the busiest time for contractors, and it really hits home the need for
the team here at Alton Towers to have the right tools to manage contractor safety.

The Control of Work system from VelocityEHS has provided a facility where, from my perspective, I can now see across the entire park who is bringing in contractors when and where, and what work they’re doing, which enables us to coordinate it so at a very simple level, we don’t end up with two people trying to be in the same space at the same time.

The old system was just a paper permit system. It was in one office, but now it’s more visible, and security actually requests the contractor to have a permit upon arrival. So there’s no excuse. They can’t gain access until their permit is raised.

I think the easiest and most transparent thing for Control of Work is the site map. I mean, that shows us that there’s work activity taking place from various different contractors. And if we’re planning work and we want to be in a location that’s already occupied by another contractor, we can take that into account when we’re planning our work.

A real benefit of the Control of Work system is the speed as it makes it a lot quicker and easier for us to get contractors on site. No longer do we have to wait at security to do induction and sign in, and we can do all that beforehand so people can arrive on site, check in, and get to work straight away.

Implementing the new Control of Work system went really well for us. It was quite a straightforward process.

Probably the biggest benefit of working with VelocityEHS with this system was the support we were given right the way through. And to be fair, we’re still getting that support now as we’re learning the system.

Video Transcript

Operational Risk: Risk Culture

Josiah Allen, Senior Solution Consultant, VelocityEHS

Risk culture is a collective attitudes and behaviors of a company’s employees when it comes to risk.

The aim of a positive risk culture is not to eliminate risk altogether, but to Foster an environment of active effective and responsive risk management.

A company can do this by empowering employees to apply risk management principles in their day-to-day roles.

Here are three key elements that contribute to the development of a positive risk culture.

• Leadership must take the management of risk, seriously and enforce risk management policies processes and procedures.
• Employees need training on the principles and benefits of risk management and recognition for demonstrating positive risk behaviors.
• Integrate risk management with other organizational processes and systems so that the task of managing risk doesn’t seem like an additional responsibility or burden.

Implementing these practical measures will help your organization develop a healthy risk management culture.

Learn more about operational risks and how velocity EHS can help your company at www.EHS.com

Video Transcript

EHS is no longer just about compliance. EHS programs, and the EHS professionals who run them, are fundamental to Operational Excellence. But operational excellence requires innovation — a human endeavour that binds together cutting-edge technology with deep domain expertise.

Introducing the VelocityEHS Accelerate^® Platform, delivering software that adapts quickly as regulations and your needs change to drive exceptional outcomes in ESG, Health, Safety, Environmental Compliance, and Operational Risk.

The VelocityEHS Accelerate^® Platform drives a continuous improvement cycle of Prediction, Intervention, and Outcomes, which we call ActiveEHS^®. With ActiveEHS^®, you have flow and balance. You know what you need to know, and your resources are focused on your biggest risks.

The VelocityEHS Accelerate^® Platform: Your seat at the table of Operational Excellence. Visit www.EHS.com/accelerate to learn more.

Video Transcript

ESG is not new, but its time has arrived, and it cannot be ignored.

Whether you’ve been in the ESG trenches for years or just getting started, your success will be measured by your achievement against ESG-based objectives and outcomes.

The world is watching. Your investors, your employees, your children, and even the SEC and other Regulatory Agencies.

The focus on ESG confirms what health safety and sustainability leaders have known all along: the three P’s (People, Planet, and Profit) are inseparable.

Now is the time to be bold, lean in, and act.

The path to ESG prominence starts with EHS.

80% of ESG reporting tracks back to EHS programs, and EHS reporting includes the biggest, most difficult, and time-consuming data to collect and interpret.

Enter VelocityEHS, your partner in collecting and tracking air, water, and waste data, and Scope one, two, and three GHGs.

This includes automating the collection and aggregation of your utility data worldwide and then reporting on it using the most stringent and respected frameworks like SASB, GRI, and CDP.

With ESG litigation on the rise, organizations must avoid over-promising and under-delivering and ensure that every report is verified and supported with evidence.

When it comes to Environmental Compliance, GHG energy, and materiality reporting, results matter.

That’s why one-third of the global Fortune 1000 and thousands more turn to VelocityEHS.

The VelocityEHS Accelerate platform delivers Global strength ESG support and drives a continual Improvement cycle of prediction, intervention, and outcomes called ActiveEHS. It’s an AI and machine learning-backed platform crafted by the indisputable experts on EHS and ESG.

ESG is here to stay. The time is now to gain visibility, align stakeholders, claw back bandwidth, hit reduction targets, and own ESG.

With VelocityEHS, you will.

Video Transcript

Controls are any policies, procedures, systems, resources, or activities put in place to reduce the consequence or likelihood of a risk.

Note: the higher the inherent risk level, the more effective your controls will need to be.

We often talk about three main categories of controls: preventative, mitigative, and detective.

Preventative controls reduce the likelihood of a risk occurring. A security fence, a pressure relief valve, a policy we require employees to follow, or a training program are all example of preventative controls.

Mitigative controls act to reduce the consequences should the risk event occur. They include actions such as response and recovery. For example, a company’s emergency response and business continuity plans.

Detective controls tell you that an accident or unsafe activity has happened or monitor how well other controls are working. For example, security cameras, chemical monitors and alarms, or audit and review.

Some controls can have multiple functions. For example, the deterrent effects of security cameras can also make them preventative.

To be effective, controls must be robust, specific, and regularly monitored.

Clearly define and record the ownership and implementation responsibilities in your risk profiles.

Learn more about operational risk and how VelocityEHS can help your company at ehs.com.

Video Transcript

A risk profile is a set of risks commonly maintained in a risk register.

Most companies define risk profiles at three different levels: Enterprise, Operational, and Specialist.

Enterprise-level risks arise from the strategic decisions a company makes. Risks at this level are primarily owned by the board, with input from a risk management advisory group. Enterprise risk profiles are reviewed at least once a year as part of the company’s corporate and internal audit planning process.

Operational risks derive from the day-to-day activities that may have enterprise-level effects. Leadership team members are responsible for owning the individually assigned operational risks. Team members should regularly discuss operational risk profiles in management and planning meetings and update them at least quarterly.

Finally, specialist risk profiles, such as health and safety, business continuity, and fraud and security, have external regulations and standards, compliance and reporting obligations, and mandated processes. Risk stewards of specialist risk profiles ensure that these risks are being managed and are visible to the board and leadership as necessary.

The risk management advisory group regularly reviews and approves specialist risk profiles to ensure that they are suitably aligned and visible.

Here are some general guidelines on when to create a risk profile.

• When a company policy or procedure requires a risk profile to be created.
• When an external obligation exists, for example, in legislation.
• When a new process or system is introduced.
• When substantial changes to an existing process or system are introduced.
• In situations that are unique from a business-as-usual operation.
• When entering into significant Partnerships contracts or legal agreements when undertaking activities that may be hazardous to people or property.

Your company’s risk management policy should outline your risk profiles. A policy provides the overarching framework for the consistent identification assessment and management of the full range of exposed risks.

Learn more about operational risk and how VelocityEHS can help your company at ehs.com.