Barriers to and facilitators for implementing an office ergonomics programme in a South African research organisation

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Authors

Koma, B.S. (Bauba)
Bergh, Anne-Marie
Costa-Black, K.M. (Katia)

Journal Title

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Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

Abstract

The focus of this study was on the possibility of implementing an office ergonomics programme as part of a broader workplace health initiative at a South African research organisation. We explored the perspectives of actors in the workplace regarding organisational barriers and facilitators to implementing ergonomic interventions. This qualitative study presents the perspectives of three workplace actor groups: operational managers (n=4); health and safety representatives (n=9); and office employees (n=4) who were involved in a previous ergonomic assessments that proposed several corrective and preventive actions. Eight factors emerged as either barriers or as simultaneous barriers and facilitators to the implementation of proposed ergonomic interventions. These are: organisational culture; information and specialist support; funding; support from operational managers; attitude towards changes; general organisational awareness; individual knowledge of ergonomics; and support from colleagues. This study is one of the first in South Africa to investigate the perspectives of workplace actors in an office setting with regard to factors that influence implementation of ergonomics initiatives to reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

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Keywords

Musculoskeletal disorders, Office ergonomics, Barriers and facilitators, Ergonomic intervention, Diseases, Human resource management (HRM), Managers, Organisational culture, Preventive action, Work-related musculoskeletal disorders, Attitude to change, South Africa (SA)

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Citation

Koma, B.S., Bergh, A.-M. & Costa-Black, K.M. 2019, 'Barriers to and facilitators for implementing an office ergonomics programme in a South African research organisation', Applied Ergonomics, vol. 75, pp. 83-90.