Corporate ergonomics programme at Scottish & Newcastle

Partly as a result of impending EU Legislation in 1992 (six pac) an Ergonomics Adviser was employed by the Occupational Health & Safety Services within Scottish & Newcastle to assist with the ergonomic considerations inherent within these Regulations. Although employed initially to address the manual handling issues within the beer delivery operations, the role of the Ergonomist has evolved to provide support and advice in many of the corporate programs aimed at improving employee health and safety. This paper describes three such programs; namely those of manual handling, display screen equipment and occupational stress. Detailed cost-benefit analysis information, highlighting a 1.3 Million pounds sterling (stg) reduction in associated costs, is described in relation to the first of these programs. The latter two programs have not yet been in situ for a suitable duration to enable such cost-benefit analyses.