Corporate Social Review Magazine 1st Quarter 2013 | Page 21

If the Shoe Fits:
Implementing
Ergonomics in
South Africa

Business Buzz

Tyron Louw (MSc), Department of
Human Kinetics and Ergonomics,
Rhodes University, South Africa
Candice Christie (PhD), Department
of Human Kinetics and Ergonomics,
Rhodes University, South Africa
Ergonomics is all about fitting the
human operator to the task and
the profession was developed
inadvertently in response to increased
market competition. In particular, the profession thrived when
industry began to realise that productivity improved when worksystem design was human-centred as opposed to fitting the
human around the desired outcome of the work-system. In this
way, ergonomics evolved to be more effective as a proactive
intervention and not merely as a Band-Aid, reactive solution. The
advancement of industrial ergonomics in developed countries
spans a century and is now firmly embedded within many of
their organisational cultures.
The situation in South Africa is slightly different in that this
Band-Aid, reactive approach is still evident in many industries.
Conventional approaches to work-system design in South African
industries have typically been technology-centred in which
humans were considered as impersonal components. While it
would be short sighted to perceive this as only an Industrially
Developing Country (IDC) problem, it is more prominent in
these countries, where the workforce was previously perceived
as expendable; arguably, and in some instances, this may still
hold true. As the profession of ergonomics is still in its infancy
within the South African context, ergonomics has not previously
been considered on either the macro or micro level. As such,
industries have not benefited from a profession that is human/
worker-centred, with its main premise being to bring about
change to the bottom line of the company without exploiting the
work force. Ergonomics has, as its focus, the health and well
being of the worker and research has clearly demonstrated the
strong link between implementing sound ergonomics principles
and improvements in productivity. Whether companies buy
into this link is another issue and is something that needs to
be clearly demonstrated to ensure the sustainability of the
profession. The evolvement of the profession within the South
African context, largely due to stricter labour laws post-1994,
means that ergonomics is now gaining more recognition and
making an impact in some industries – mostly those driven by
international corporations who have a corporate responsibility
from international pressures. Having said that, we still have a far
way to go and a lot still needs to be done.
Due to this delayed development of the profession within this
country, and as a generalization, many South African industries

have work-systems that are not designed with ergonomics in
mind. Thus, any problems relating to work-system design are
not considered proactively but are rather approached in a
reactive manner. As the cost of a complete overhaul of the entire
work process is often not feasible, many industries bring in
ergonomists with the emphasis being on less costly interventions.
As a consequence, many of the interventions currently in place
in South African industries are ‘low cost/no cost’. These include,
but are not limited to, adjusting the worker’s task by altering the
workstation, work-rotation strategies and educating the work
force about working to the task. Alternatively, the focus may
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