Effects of a macroergonomics intervention: Examining the relationship of environmental control

A high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms has been linked to increased computer usage among office workers. Consequently, companies are redesigning physical workspaces and providing ergonomics training to address these adverse health and performance outcomes. A macroergonomics approach (Hendrick and Kleiner, 2002) involves enhancing workers’ knowledge and control over their work environment and can lead to improved physical health and performance. Ergonomics training, another macroergonomics element, integrates ergonomics into the organization by linking corporate goals to ergonomics practices and helps employees to optimize safety and effectiveness through control over their work environment. A longitudinal macroergonomics intervention consisting of two work systems elements, training and environmental workspace redesign, was conducted to examine the effects on the psychosocial work environment, workspace design satisfaction, and corporate culture in a computer office setting. We hypothesized that across time 1 (pre-intervention) and time 3 (post-intervention), the increase in perceived workspace design satisfaction, ergonomics climate, and corporate communicating culture will be associated with a decrease in musculoskeletal discomfort and symptoms and this relationship will be mediated by an increase in job and environmental control.