Ergonomics in Pharmaceuticals

In the pharmaceuticals industries much effort has expended in controlling the risks from the obvious chemical and biological hazards which are present in the workplace. As a result problems due to exposure to hazardous substances is relatively rare. However the 'ergonomic' hazards in the workplace have been less well recognised and as a result musculoskeletal injury is one of the largest sources of lost time in the industry.

 Ergonomic hazards include manual handling, poor working posture and repetitive manual work causing upper limb injury. Such problems are often an unwanted consequence of working with other safety systems, such as biosafety cabinets or awkward PPE. However these ergonomic risks can be identified with structured assessments and avoided by good facility and task design.

Hu-Tech is the industry leader in managing ergonomic risks in pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D. We have devised and implemented ergonomics strategies and programmes for some of the industry's leading organizations. This has included assessment programmes, training and awareness, facility design and the provision of corporate ergonomics standards. We have also worked with research bodies and universities and were commissioned by the UK HSE to produce an 'Ergonomics Resource Pack for the Pharmaceutical industry'.

Hu-Tech has also worked on process improvement in the pharmaceutical industry. We have devised methods to identify and eliminate common process deviations due to human errors, which have been successfully implemented in manufacturing, QA and laboratory facilities.

Fact-sheets:

Process Improvements - PDF

Case studies:

Control room ergonomics - PDF