Jenny Fuller attended a 1-day seminar on 1 August in Brisbane run by the HFESA (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Australia, Qld Branch) ‘Knowledge through sharing’.  The day comprised various presentations on trending topics in ergonomics and human factors, presented by ergonomists and academic experts from related fields.  Some of the topics covered included:

• Case studies in participative ergonomics
• Current experience and future directions in office ergonomics
• Applying cognitive ergonomics to improving work design and preventing injury
• The Green Building Code of Australia and application to contemporary office fit out
• Use of the WEAR software (World Engineering Anthropometric Resource)

Some of the take-away messages included the following:

• The many benefits of good work design / well designed work for health, wellbeing and productivity (in particular, with focus on how the work is organised – the tasks; activities; relationships; responsibilities, as well as the physical design of the work environment and equipment used)
• Utilising participative approaches for improved risk control of ergonomic hazards:  genuine engagement and consultation with workers who do the job; their managers; utilising the expertise of suppliers / manufacturers / engineers to develop risk control solutions.

 Richard Robilliard attended a course on Empowering Conversations, run by Anjelo Ratnachandra in Sydney at the end of July. There was discussion around how we build trust and rapport with clients, finding their purpose and passion to help build resilience.

Anjelo lead some great discussions around understanding the sorts of coping strategies that clients will use; showing us how to identify these and appropriate ways of addressing them to ensure positive outcomes and stronger professional relationships with these clients. We enjoyed some great practical sessions building our confidence in ways of structuring conversations with our clients to validate their experiences and build stronger trust.

This lead on to how we assist clients through the process of change and the biases we bring to these discussions. The concept of adversarial growth was again addressed and how pointing this out to clients can help them move to a better place. A great day with very good food and we finished early too!