Are ergonomic interventions cost-effective?

The purpose of workplace ergonomic interventions is to ensure that work environments and processes are healthy and safe. Most intervention studies focus on the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions in reducing injuries and illnesses. Few examine the financial returns of ergonomic interventions. However, workplace parties and policy-makers also need to know which interventions are worthwhile from a financial perspective. This review summarizes evidence of the cost-effectiveness of ergonomic interventions.

This systematic review focused on 16 intervention studies across nine industrial sectors. The reviewers used a method known as “best evidence synthesis” to summarize evidence across studies.

There was a sufficient number of quality studies to make a statement about the level of evidence in four of nine industrial sectors:

• Administrative and support
• Health care
• Manufacturing and warehousing
• Transportation.

Studies in the manufacturing and warehousing sector provided strong evidence that ergonomic interventions were cost-effective. Studies in the administrative support and health-care sectors provided moderate evidence that interventions for preventing musculoskeletal injuries were cost-effective. In transportation there was limited evidence. Looking at the subset of studies that considered participatory ergonomics interventions, moderate evidence was found for their cost-effectiveness.

This is one of the first systematic reviews to look at the financial returns of ergonomic interventions. The review was restricted to studies reported in peer-reviewed publications.