SWERGO—Swedish ergonomics export programme for solutions and products

Abstract

The well-being of a society or company depends mainly on how the resources of human beings and materials/machines are utilized. Well designed workplaces interlinked in an organization that permits decision-making on a local level are good grounds for job satisfaction and that in itself increases the resources. Bad ergonomic conditions are often the reason for ill-health and costs in the business community and are a drawback for the individual, the company and the society. A programme for the export of Swedish solutions and products, designed to be used in the development of economically well-designed work stations, has commenced. The idea is to define a number of typical workplaces in a manual. For example, in a menu structure it is possible to enter ‘sitting work’ and select ‘sitting; highly repetitive assembly work’ and find an example of a workplace built up with selected products. In the manual texts written at a basic and a more advanced level giving thumb rules of an ergonomic nature are presented.