Portugal, Italy and Greece were excused for this meeting.
Belgium
After the elections, a new board of BAREE has been installed. Francis Cornillie is the new president. Dirk Delaruelle, Willy Bohets and Philippe Mairiaux are the other members of the board. However, there is a proposal to bring over the activities from BAREE to the Belgian Ergonomics Society (BES). In the BES a national assessment board would be created. The president of this NAB would become the representative for CREE. The final decision should be taken on a meeting of the general assembly later on this year.
In Belgium there are some new laws with special interest for ergonomics.
There is one about standing work and the risks for static load. More attention
is to be spent on the lay-out of the workplace. The other one is about night
work and the consequences for the worker but also actions which have to
be undertaken to improve the ergonomic conditions of the work (decision
taking, communication, reducing physical and mental load, lighting).
Finland
The council voted to accept accreditation of the new Finnish National Assessment Board. The members of CREE extend a welcome to them.
France
To be completed.
Germany
The most important event in the Ergonomics Society of the German language speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) was the annual Spring Conference. Its theme was "Personnel (Competency and) Management, and Work Design - A Prerequisite for Innovation, Health and Output" (Personalmanagement und Arbeitsgestaltung - Träger von Innovation, Gesundheit und Leistung). Probably also due to the famous and romantic place (Heidelberg) where the Conference was held and organized by Prof. Dr. K.-H. Sonntag, it attracted more than 350 participants. The event started with Pre-Conference Workshops on special topics on March 22, 2005. The Three-day Conference included 6 keynotes and about 140 papers and posters were presented on March 23 and 24. All presentations are available in 4-page papers in the Proceedings (731 pages) published by GfA Press, 2005. For ordering the printed version or a CD please visit www.gfa-online.de.
During the Conference a general assembly with elections of a new board
was also held.
Prof. Dr. Holger Luczak (who has been serving as Vice President during the
last two years) was elected as President. Fpr details about the society
and the board (11 members from Germany, Austria and Switzerland) see the
above-mentioned website.
Ireland
23 new membership applications were received during 2004/5. In total the
IES has 66 current members
- Members - 38
- Fellows - 8
- Associates - 9
- Students - 11
The IES Working Group on Ergonomics in Schools has had a paper accepted
for publication in Ergonomics (the journal) - School Children's Use of Computers
and Teachers Education in Computer Ergonomics
The IES website is fully operational, with electronic details of the newsletter,
membership, external links, job vacancies etc., posted.
The IES needs to reform a national assessment board. Once an Irish NAB is
in place all pending applications will be processed.
The Heath and Safety Authority (HSA) has completed a review of Manual Handling
Training and has drafted a report (not yet publicised). In September 2004,
the IES made submissions to the HSA on two issues, namely training and competency.
The 2005 HSA programme has identified MMH as a key focus area, with emphasis
on:
- Carry out 100 inspections follow up to accidents
- Support launch on guidance on MMH with a national communications campaign
- Implement a revised system for MMH training and assessment and certification
- Develop guidance strategy to address ergo in construction and design
- Publish practical guidance on ergonomics/manual handling on the web
HSA recognise the importance of Occupational Health inspections focussing
on psychosocial issues and ergonomics - active inspection and enforcement.
They have a plan to launch a guidance document on risk assessment of work
related stress
Safety Health and Welfare at Work Bill was passed by the Dail in May 2005.
Key pointers of relevance to ergonomics include the provision of health
surveillance, requirement by employers to prescribe a medical fitness to
work assessment; and setting out a time period for review of safety statements
and/or risk assessments.
HSA have invited the IEs to participate in a Steering group on Occupational
Health. The strategy will inform the government decision making on the prevention
for occupational illness and diseases and workplace promotion. Consultation
with stakeholders is due to commence in July 2005.
The IES participated in RISK 2005 Conference with speakers sourced by the
IES. The event was held in conjunction with four conference partners (including
two industry names and a professional conference organiser).
The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) is a new statutory body set
up to provide independent assessment of personal injury compensation for
victims of Workplace, Motor and Public Liability accidents. From 22 July
2004, all personal injury claims (excluding medical) must be submitted to
PIAB before starting legal proceedings. This assessment will be provided
without the need for most of the current litigation costs, such as Solicitors
fees, Barristers fees and Experts fees, associated with such claims. These
significant costs contribute to the high cost of insurance in Ireland for
both consumers and the business community. PIAB is funded by way of fees
payable by respondents (those who pay the compensation).
Netherlands
The Dutch government redesigned the regulations in the laws on Working
Conditions. The organisation of Working Conditions should be an agreement
between the employer and employee organisation within the company. So there
is no longer a law that says that every organisation should hire a health
and safety service. (Research makes clear that despite the law 60 % of small
business didn’t have a contract with a health and safety service).
The only thing that is now necessary is that an organisation should have
their own prevention officer at a level fitted to the risk of the organisation.
The issues on health and safety for the year 2005 is on physical load, especially
RSI and work stress.
The important task at the moment for the Dutch Society is the IEA conference
in 2006.
The members of the society are getting more involved with tasks in organising
parts of the congress.
The Dutch Ergonomic Society is very active in organizing meetings on several
‘new’ subjects: Touch design, 3D anthropometry, usage observation
and interdisciplinary problem solving. Further they founded a committee
to organise an award for the “best ergonomic practise”.
SRe started with formalizing the CPD in the Dutch application forms. The
assessment board evaluated the first aspirant Eur.Erg’s.
The ReN started mentoring aspirant Eur Ergs. The first thing they did ,was
to organise a workshop for the future Eur.Erg’s to help them filling
in the application form and evaluate their prospects.
Nordic Countries
During spring 2005, the former Chair Prof. Roland Örtengren was appointed
President of CREE. A new Nordic Assessment Board (NAB) was formed with Ph.D.
Anders Sundin as Chair and CREE representative. Anders became Eur.Erg in
1995. Beside the Chair, the new group consists of Roland and two representatives
from Swedish industry. Ulla Munck-Ulfsfält is working for Alviva AB
as manager. Alviva is a health care company working mainly for Volvo and
Ericsson. Ann-Cathrine Edlund Persson is working at AstraZeneca as engineer/ergonomist,
both being Eur.Erg. NES NAB is also in the phase inviting members from the
other Nordic countries to join and support NAB.
The work in the Swedish Ergonomics Society, ESS, has flourished in the past
year. With a committed Chair and members, central activities have been updating
member service and the website, arranging a conference and several seminars
and meetings in different parts of Sweden and carrying out remittance and
committee work. Ongoing work is e.g. planning of the annual Nordic Ergonomics
Conference NES 2007 conference to be held in Sweden and a translation of
a new Swedish definition of ergonomics, based on the IEA definition. In
2004 the NES conference was held in August in Kolding in Denmark on the
theme ethics in working life (www.nes2004.dk). The conference this year
2005 will be held in Oslo Norway in October 10-12 under the theme Ergonomics
as a tool in future development and value creation (http://www.nes2005.org/en_welcome.htm).
The Finnish application to form its own Assessment Board was discussed at
the 26th CREE Council meeting in Brentford. The application and accompanying
material has been revised according to the views put forward in Brentford
and taken up at the 27th meeting in Zurich, (ED: The application was approved).
The academic education system in Sweden is preparing to conform to the Bologna
agreement and adopt the 3+2+3 system. There is also a change over to adopt
the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) principles concerning course
extent, 1 Swedish credit point being equal to 1.5 ECTS points. When attempting
to compare grades it becomes more difficult since the ECTS scale is a relative
scale while the Swedish scale is goal directed with defined levels. Sweden
is not likely to adopt the ECTS system for course grades but issue ECTS
grades for foreign students who require them.
Switzerland
The leading Institute for research and education in ergonomics, the Institute
for Work Physiology and Hygiene has been incorporated along with the Institute
for Applied Psychology into a new unit at the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (Swiss Polytechnic). It is now called the Center for Organization
and Occupational Sciences and will continue to organise the Master of Advanced
Studies course in Ergonomics along with the University of Lausanne. There
is still some discussion about an assistant professor in ergonomics and
one for workplace health promotion but no decisions have been made.
SwissErgo held its annual general meeting in April. It was attached to a
day seminar on “Product Ergonomics and Usability”. In Switzerland
almost all ergonomists are employed in the area of occupational health and
this very important area of ergonomics is little know. The idea was to encourage
dialogue and an exchange of experiences amongst the people engaged in this
area.
At a Government level it has been observed that more and more people are
employed in shift and night work as working hours become more flexible.
The regulation of shift work is therefore under discussion. The problem
is exacerbated by the aging of the work force. National studies have shown
that older people are more likely to be adversely affected by poor shift
work regimes. Several teams of ergonomists have been consulted on these
issues.
A training program for labour inspectors is being developed to assist them
to better identify ergonomic risks and better equip them to deal with complaints.
The laws provide for them to request an assessment by an appropriate specialist
if they feel that a substantial risk to health is posed in a workplace.
They are being taught that to ensure the quality of these assessments in
the area of ergonomics, only Eur.Ergs should be accepted.
United Kingdom
Since the meeting in November 2004, we have held six scientific meetings:
- Ergonomic Patient Safety Solutions (18 Nov 2004)
- Student Conference (24 Nov 2004)
- Integrating Ergonomics with Engineering (3 Dec 2004)
- Ship Bridge Ergonomics (25 Feb 2005)
- Commercial Benefits of Ergonomics – joint meeting with FEES (4 Apr
2005)
- Annual Conference (5-7 Apr 2005).
Details of future events can be found at www.ergonomics.org.uk/events/conferences.htm
We have held two major publicity events:
- Opening of the Stephen Pheasant Memorial Library (British School of Osteopathy)
by the Princess Royal (Dec)
- Opening of new Society Offices by local Loughborough MP (Jan).
One special edition of our monthly newsletter (The Ergonomist) featuring
HCI was published in December.
The Annual General Meeting was held on 4 April. The only change in the Society
Officers was that Anne Ferguson replaces Roger Haslam as Chair of Council.
The others remain unchanged (President – Meg Galley, Treasurer –
David Whitfield, Secretary – Dave O’Neill).