Effect of Management Attention on Ergonomics Culture Maturity: System Dynamics Modeling Approach

Abstract

Poor ergonomics culture is one of the major causes of accidents and injuries in the manufacturing industry. Improving the ergonomics culture assists organizations in reducing the incident rates, leading to better work performance, lower compensation costs, and higher productivity. Top management commitment is crucial in enhancing ergonomics culture in the company. Without management attention on ergonomics culture implementation, the ergonomics culture maturity may never be achieved. This paper, therefore, develops a dynamics model of ergonomics culture maturity, utilizing the system dynamics approach, to capture the interactions among key enablers and results, namely Leadership, Policy and Strategy, People, Resources, Processes, Customer, and Key Performance over time. The ergonomics culture maturity levels, developed through the dynamics model, are used to assess an organization's current level of ergonomics culture maturity, and plan for long term improvement. The management commitment to, and attention withdrawal from, ergonomics culture implementation are also examined through model simulations to examine the ergonomics culture maturity in the long-term.