OZARA STORITVE

 

Project title: ERGO WORK (Joining academia and business for new opportunities in creating ERGOnomic WORKplaces)

Programme: LLP Centralised projects, ERASMUS MP, Knowledge Alliances

Co-financer of the project: EACEA

Content of the project:

Purpose of the ERGO WORK project is:

  • HEI-B cooperation (“Knowledge Triangle”),
  • Improvement of learning and teaching methods and contents within Ergonomics for providing more competent and skilled students within the field (“New Skills for New Jobs”),
  • Equal employment opportunities, universally designed and quality working environments for all employees, including PWD (“Social Cohesion”).

Target groups of the project:

  • Students,
  • Persons with disabilities (PWD),
  • Businesses/Companies/Employers.

The reasons for undertaking this project:

  • Lack of HEI-B cooperation in Ergonomics in general and specifically for PWD;
  • Lack of specific contents, modules and approaches when addressing equal opportunities workplace design for PWD within most Curricula Ergonomics, and lack of experts with specific knowledge of Ergonomics for PWD;
  • Lack of equal opportunities for PWD due to a) insufficient ergonomic workplaces responding to PWD special needs, b) lack of awareness amongst employers about the potential work efficiencies of PWD regarding adapted ergonomic workplaces.

In order to respond to the existing needs at the EU-level, the partnership ERGO WORK has been implementing the following:

  • Analyses of existing Curricula within the field of Ergonomics and Universal Design in partnership countries;
  • Analyses of the companies’ attitudes, interests and needs concerning employing and organising workplaces for PWD;
  • Updating and improving the existing Curricula regarding Ergonomics in Slovenia and Poland using 5 specific Supplementary Modules (4 on specific PWD needs, 1 on the Management of Universal design);
  • Recommendations for Multidisciplinary Curriculum Ergonomics;
  • Establishment of 4 Multidisciplinary groups consisted of students, professors and company staff working together on concrete product, work programme design and workplace design for PWD;
  • Implementation of 2 Pilot projects in Slovenia for the development of new products and new work programmes resulting in new work places for PWD (within 2 partner and 1 associated partner companies);
  • Implementation of 2 Pilot projects in Poland for the re-organising of existing workplaces into human friendly, ergonomic ways, adapted also to PWD (within 2 partner and 2 non-partner companies;

The long-term objective of the ERGO WORK project aligned with Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of PWD:

  • To lay the foundation for systematically sustainable cooperation between Academia and Business and all other relevant stakeholders in Ergonomics for PWD in order to foster Reasonable Accommodation at work.

Website of the project: www.ergo-work.eu

Project partners:

Duration of the project: 2013 – 2015