DOE JGI vying for 2010 Ergo Cup

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) has two entries vying for the Ergo Cup at the 13th Annual Applied Ergonomics Conference held March 22-25, 2010 in San Antonio, Texas.

In the Ergonomic Program Improvement Initiatives category, the DOE JGI's entry is "Empowering Employees in Ergonomics," which focuses on employee-driven elements of the DOE JGI program that help promote awareness of ergonomics and safety while encouraging employee involvement in both safety and ergonomics.

In the Workplace Solutions category, the DOE JGI's entry "Flip Your Lid" focuses on employee-driven solutions to deal with a repetitive and risky task in new sequencing technologies: capping and decapping the lids of hundreds of two-milliliter tubes each day. Using an employee-designed lightweight tool, the solution developed in "Flip Your Lid" reduced the task's Strain Index from a hazardous 7.3 to a safe score of 0.2.

In 2007, the DOE JGI won the Ergo Cup for its team-driven workplace solutions category entry. The Shake 'N Plate instrument was designed to ease upper body fatigue for employees working on the Sanger sequencing production line that were manually processing 22 cm x 22 cm plates of bacterial cultures

Ergonomics is the science of designing optimal equipment and practices to reduce musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace. Since 2005, the DOE Joint Genome Institute has focused on the application of genomics to bioenergy and environmental issues, and as DOE JGI employees routinely perform highly repetitive tasks both in the laboratory and in the office, the DOE JGI has an on-site ergonomist who works with staffers to develop ergonomic solutions suited to each worker and the surrounding work environment.

Presented by the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the Ergo Cup highlights ergonomic innovations from institutions and multinational corporations. For further information, visit http://www.iienet2.org/Ergo/Conference/details.aspx?id=8956.

For more information, contact David Gilbert, DOE Joint Genome Institute Public Affairs Manager at degilbert@lbl.gov.

WHO: Ergonomists, safety professionals, HR professionals, industrial hygiene professionals, occupational and physical therapists

WHAT: 13th Annual Applied Ergonomics Conference 2010

WHERE: JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa (23808 Resort Parkway, San Antonio, Texas 78261)

WHEN: Monday, March 22, 2010 to Thursday, March 25, 2010

Provided by DOE/Joint Genome Institute