The document discusses the principles of good work design, emphasizing the importance of co-design and collaboration among various stakeholders to enhance worker satisfaction and productivity. It highlights the need for a systems approach to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and identifies barriers to effective implementation of interventions. Additionally, it explores the impact of emerging technologies, such as collaborative robotics and digital workflows, on work design and overall workplace safety.

1. Good Work Design:
The way of the future
Heidi Turbill, SA Branch Chair, HFESA, Certified Professional Ergonomist
Dr Valerie O’Keeffe, HFESA Fellow, Certified Professional Ergonomist

3. What makes a good job?
• Skill use which matches physical,
cognitive & social skills sets
• Task variety
• Autonomy/control
• Role clarity
• Skill variety
• Feedback
• Social interaction / support
• Opportunity for growth /
development
• Safety & security – physical &
psychological
• Reward / recognition
Daniels et al., 2017

4. What is Good Work Design?
Utilises co-design principles by
consulting & collaborating with:
• Workers
• Maintenance teams
• Team Leaders, business
unit managers
• Suppliers
Project partners
• Human Factors Specialists /
Ergonomists
• Engineers
• Designers
• Regulators
HFESA, 2020

6. Prevention of WMSD
“Most interventions for WMSD
prevention are focused on changing
an individual’s behaviour or
reducing task-specific hazards,
with no consideration of the
broader contextual factors
which are associated with the
complex aetiology of WMSDs.”
Commissioned by Safework Australia - Oakman, Clune & Stuckey (2019)

7. Prevention of WMSD
Barriers to the effective implementation of interventions to
prevent WMSDs:
• a failure to adopt a ‘systems’ approach to risk
management
• an inadequate adherence to the hierarchy of risk
control
• a lack of management commitment, organisation
culture and climate
• a lack of understanding of the importance of worker
participation
• the role of legislation, codes of practice and related
documents
• the role of competencies in WMSD risk management.
Commissioned by Safework Australia - Oakman, Clune & Stuckey (2019)

8. WHS Act – Section 22
Duties of Designers:
“Designers must ensure that the plant, substance or structure
is designed to be without risk to health and safety”
• Architects
• Engineers
• Industrial Designers
• Furniture & equipment
manufacturers
• HR / Operations Managers
• Finance Managers
Are we checking the ‘usability’ of their designs?
Are their designs ‘human-centred’?

9. Designers - Work as done
Action
• Maximising utilisation of
space
Outcome
• Reduced available working space
for staff -> in awkward postures,
double handling
• Introduction of new IT / data
systems
• Purchasing equipment that fits
the work area
• Policies - production line
workers cannot sit on the job
• Rotating shift patterns
• Poor equipment performance for
work tasks / human movement –
left in the corner unused
• Data systems don’t talk to one
another – increases in work load
• Increase worker fatigue and
other health risks
• Increased worker fatigue
What are the costs of
these decisions? ROI?

10. Fleet Management
Selection criteria
• Cost
• Fit for purpose
• Warranty
• Ongoing maintenance
• User rating
– Seat comfort / adjustability
– Air suspension
– Ergonomics of cabin design
– Passenger seat

11. GWD - Promoting Human Performance
Integrate GWD practices into daily business decision
Use ‘Design & Systems thinking’ approaches
• Safety in Design
• User-centred design
Understand human capability & limitation
Your workforce has the answers
Certified Professionals - Human Factors & Ergonomics
are experts in this field

12. Work design & technology
• Consider psychosocial hazards and manual tasks as
ubiquitous problems for work health and safety
• How might these hazards be influenced by new
technologies?
– Digital work flow management
– Collaborative robotic (cobot) technology
• What are the likely
outcomes for:
– Work design?
– WHS?

13. Digital work flows
• Connected systems, sensors and data flows, accessible
at time and point of use – ease of use, time use,
communication
• Track & trace of parts ➔ efficiency, accuracy,
• Track & trace of people ➔ efficiency? safety?
• Track & trace of people ➔ privacy? trust? transparency?

14. Collaborative robotics
(cobotics)
• Remove dull, dangerous, repetitive work = safer, efficient
• Cobots can learn, programming is becoming easier
• Increases in cognitive and supervisory work
(programming), need/opportunity to learn new skills
• Fewer workers at task level but greater opportunity to grow
business and increase workforce

15. Skills in the digital age

16. Managing work design
• Discovery – evidence, data,
consultation, co-design, trials,
evaluation – remember
physical, cognitive and
organisational
aspects of work
• Design – a back and forth stage
of discovery and developing
solutions
• Integration – embed what works
into business processes,
policies, procedures, strategies,
continuous improvement
• Interactions between functions
• Characteristics of good work

17. Thank you!
Contact us:
Heidi Turbill: sachair@ergonomics.org.au
Valerie O’Keeffe: valerie.okeeffe@flinders.edu.au
HFESA Position paper on ‘Good Work Design’ is available from:
https://www.ergonomics.org.au/resources/position-statements

18. References
Badri, A., Boudreau-Trudel, B., & Souissi, A. S. (2018). Occupational health
and safety in the industry 4.0 era: A cause for major concern? Safety
Science, 109, 403-411.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2018.06.012
Daniels, K., Gedikli, C., Watson, D., Semkina, A., & Vaughn, O. (2017). Job
design, employment practices and well-being: A systematic review of
intervention studies. Ergonomics, 60(9), 1177-1196.
El Zaatari, S., Marei, M., Li, W., & Usman, Z. (2019). Cobot programming for
collaborative industrial tasks: An overview. Robotics and Autonomous
Systems, 116, 162-180.
Safework Australia (2019). Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in
Australia. https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/work-related-
musculoskeletal-disorders-australia
Van den Broeck, A., & Parker, S. K. (2017). Job and work design. Accessed
from https://lirias.kuleuven.be/1678614?limo=0
Waschull, S., Bokhorst, J. A., Molleman, E., & Wortmann, J. C. (2020). Work
design in future industrial production: Transforming towards cyber-physical
systems. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 139, 105679.