Designing the Age Friendly Workplace 1 MODULE 4: THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

1Designing the Age Friendly Workplace

MODULE 4: THE WORK ENVIRONMENT


The MAP Table

Action Area Examples

The Work Environment

UP NEXT

The Individual

Work/Life Balance - Work Arrangements

- Community Support


• Ergonomics is fitting the “work” to the “worker”

• Goals include:

– increasing efficiency and productivity

– eliminating errors

– providing a safe work situation

• Good design will “fit” everyone

Ergonomics


Universal Design (UD)

An approach to the design of products, services and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.

- Wikipedia


Principles of Universal Design

• Fairness in use

• Flexibility in use

• Simple and intuitive

• Noticeable information

• Tolerance for error

• Low physical effort

• Size and space for approach and use


Fairness in Use


Flexibility in Use


Simple and Intuitive


Noticeable Information


Tolerance for Error


Low Physical Effort


Size and Space for Approach and Use


Given That Physical Job Demands Mean Different Things for Different Workers…


Let’s Find Some Universal Solutions For Changes In…

• Endurance

• Strength

• Flexibility

• Joint range of motion (e.g. reach)

• Balance

• Reaction time

• Manual dexterity

• Chronic conditions (e.g. arthritis)

• Vision

• Light sensitivity

• Hearing

• Temperature sensitivity

• Learning and memory

• Sleep disorders

• Healing time


Reduce Physical Demands to Match Capacity

• Think about a “zero lift” policy• Use mechanical assists• Position work/loads optimally• Reduce reaches – even with light

loads!• Organize work with good

work/rest cycles


Mechanical Lifts


Mobile Lifts


To Help With Endurance


Mobile Work Platforms


To Help with Reduced Flexibility


Height/Tilt-Adjustable Tables


Rotating Cabin Forklift


Balance and Reaction Time

• Practice good housekeeping• Use slip resistant materials on

floors• Provide good lighting on stairs,

etc.• Provide handrails


Balance and Reaction Time

• Avoid uneven surfaces…repair and maintain floors

• Provide color contrast for uneven surfaces

• Install shallow-angle stairways instead of ladders


Manual Dexterity

Hand tremors make setting screws difficult

Fixture with cone-shaped guides


Vision

• Provide lighting levels appropriate to the task – e.g. precision work vs viewing a monitor

• Provide more individual control over lighting

• Eliminate glare• Add color contrast


Contrast Example…

Dark letters on a light background

Dark letters on a dark background


Vision

• Use clear, large signage and written print• Position gauges and displays well


Vision

• Eliminate the need to adapt to bright light from dark and vice versa

• Reduce visual “clutter” – keep visual targets clean and clear


Hearing

• Keep signals in a

mid-frequency range• Reduce background

noise• Reduce echoing with

good acoustics


Hearing

• Provide hands-free telephone headsets


Learning and Memory

• Make procedures short and clearly written

• Provide job support aids (“cheat sheets”)

• Allow more time to learn new tasks

• Minimize distractions


Learning and Memory

• Design similar equipment to operate in similar ways

• Provide both visual and audio cues

• Allow longer response time

• Allow longer decision making time


Learning and Memory

• Reduce tasks requiring short term memory

• Slow the rate of information presented

• Reduce multi-tasking work


Ralph & Joyce


Questions

• Who else might benefit from the ergonomist’s suggestions?

• What are some potential reasons NPI spent money on new tools and workbenches?

• How would this situation be handled in your organization?


The Breakthrough Strategy


Keys to Success

• Work on the core, not the peripheral...or, people won’t care- One of 2 to 3 most important challenges to the organization- Something several people must contribute to- Is “ripe”… really makes sense NOW

• Focus directly on performance results...or, you will get lost in endless gearing up

• Deliberately create high impact early wins; steadily broaden the circle...or, you will not generate momentum

• Create a compelling story to invite involvement

Copyright © 2007 Starting Point

39Designing the Age Friendly WorkplaceCopyright © 2007 Starting Point

Case Study: State mental hospital

A large residential institution for long-term care


Situation Analysis

• Numerous incidents of violence every day

• No goal for incident reduction

• No accountability for incident reduction

• Nurses, orderlies, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers not working together

• Many ideas about how to reduce violence -- but no plan



Initial Approach

• Formed a team

• Assigned nursing supervisor to be team leader

• Explained to team members the severity of the problem

• Asked team to set an improvement goal

• Began tracking each incident for analysis



Narrowing Down to a Short-Term Achievable Result

From: Poor morale, many injuries, lack of control




To: Improve safety for nurses



To: Reduce levels of violence in 6 wards




To: Reduce incidents of violence in Wards A and B by 10% within 2 months (from 42 to 38)




October Goal

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Numberofincidents

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31

Date

Month to date42

38

Septemberactual

Octobergoal


Incident Tracking Sheet

Date PatientTime of Day Location

Staff on

DutyUse of

Medication

Use of

Quiet

Room

Lead to

More?



Early Findings

Two patients causing 45% of incidentsAction: Use quiet room

Incidents tended to happen at mealtimesAction: Change staffing patterns

Medication and quiet room not being usedAction: Use - particularly with two key patients. Train people to administer medication safely

Less “snowballing” due to united staff presence



Results: Incidents in October

Numberofincidents

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31

October date

42

38

September

Octobergoal

Octoberresults

19

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0


Keys to Success

• Work on the core, not the peripheral...or, people won’t care- One of 2 to 3 most important challenges to the organization- Something several people must contribute to- Is “ripe”… really makes sense NOW

• Focus directly on performance results...or, you will get lost in endless gearing up

• Deliberately create high impact early wins; steadily broaden the circle...or, you will not generate momentum

• Create a compelling story to invite involvement



Other Examples of Specific Action Items

“Create 100 new jobs in our poor, rural community”Versus “Conduct an economic development

study of our county” “Within 15 months, cut in half the time to build a

house and increase the percentage of people we offer housing solutions to by 30%”Versus “Re-engineer our processes to be more

efficient and effective”

SPECIFIC

SPECIFIC

VAGUE

VAGUE


OTHERWISE, THIS WILL

BE JUST ANOTHER

LEADERSHIP COURSE ! !



Funneling to an Early Win

From: A safer workplace for older employees

To: Fewer injuries among older employees

To: Reduced number of slips, trips and falls

To: Early win: Repair walkway outside building 4


Your Turn: The MAP Table

ExamplesAction Area

The Work

Environment


Your Turn: Funneling

From:

To:

To:

To: Early win:

From:

To:

To:

To:


Fitting Action Items into Action Plans

Action Area What Who When How Challenges Next Steps

The Work Environment

Action Item: __________________________________

Who’s the leader? ___________________________________

When will it be done? ___________________________________

How will it get accomplished? ____________________________

What are some initial challenges for this Action Item?:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Documents

Designing the Age Friendly Workplace 1 MODULE 4: THE WORK ENVIRONMENT