Ergonomics in Manufacturing: Reducing Injury Risk at the Workstation

What is ergonomics in manufacturing?

Workplace ergonomics is the practice of designing tasks, tools and workstations to fit the physical capabilities of the people using them, rather than requiring workers to adapt to a fixed layout. In manufacturing, it means matching bench height, reach distances, tool design and work pace to the human body to reduce strain, fatigue and musculoskeletal injury risk.

Comcare, the Commonwealth WHS regulator, defines ergonomic hazards as "physical factors in the environment that may cause musculoskeletal injuries" (Comcare, Ergonomic hazards). That framing matters: ergonomics is a hazard category in its own right, the same as noise or machine guarding, with identifiable risk factors and controls — not a wellness add-on.

Body stressing, the workers' compensation category covering awkward and sustained postures, repetitive movement and force (not just lifting), accounted for 50,600 serious claims in 2023–24 — 34.5% of all serious claims nationally, more than any other injury mechanism (Safe Work Australia, Key WHS Statistics 2025). Lifting is one driver of that figure; poor workstation design is another, and it's usually the one examined least.

This article covers the wider ergonomics picture — posture, reach, repetition and workstation layout. For lifting and carrying technique specifically, see manual handling risk in manufacturing; for tool vibration, see hand-arm vibration syndrome.

What are the main ergonomic risk factors on a factory floor?

Safe Work Australia's Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice and Comcare's ergonomic hazards guidance identify a consistent set of risk factors. They rarely act alone — a given workstation is usually a combination of two or three at once.

Risk factor	What it looks like at a workstation	Typical example
Awkward or sustained posture	Back, neck, shoulders or wrists held outside a relaxed, neutral range for extended periods	Reaching overhead to a high shelf; bending over a bench set too low; twisting to hand off a part
Repetitive movement	The same motion performed many times a shift, even at low force	Trimming, packing or assembling the same component hundreds of times a day
High or sudden force	Force greater than the task needs, or applied abruptly	Wrenching a stuck fastener; catching a falling part
Duration and frequency	How long a posture, motion or force is sustained, and how often it recurs	Standing rigidly in one spot for a full shift with no variation
Vibration exposure	Vibration through the hand and arm from tools, or through the body from plant	Grinders, impact wrenches, powered sanders — see hand-arm vibration syndrome
Static loading	Holding a fixed posture or muscle contraction with little movement	Holding a part steady overhead while it's worked on; standing motionless at a fixed-height bench

Safe Work Australia's guidance on sitting and standing adds a point worth noting: standing isn't automatically "safer" than sitting. Sitting for longer than 30 minutes without a break carries its own musculoskeletal risk, while standing suits tasks with heavy loads, forceful movements, frequent reaching or limited knee room (Safe Work Australia, Sitting and standing). The aim at most workstations isn't picking one posture — it's letting workers vary posture through the shift.

How do you assess a workstation for ergonomic risk?

A proprietary scoring tool isn't necessary for a useful first assessment. A basic, structured walk-through covers most of what matters:

1. Watch the real task, not a demonstration. Observe a full work cycle more than once — fatigue and workarounds tend to show up later in a shift, not in the first five minutes.
2. Check for each risk factor in turn. Use the table above as a checklist — posture, repetition, force, duration/frequency, vibration, static loading — rather than a general impression of "looks fine."
3. Measure the layout against the worker, not a standard. Bench height relative to elbow height, reach distance to parts and controls, and the weight and grip of tools all drive whether a posture is awkward or neutral for that specific person.
4. Record duration and frequency, not just intensity. A light load handled hundreds of times a shift can carry as much risk as a heavy one handled rarely — an assessment factor Safe Work Australia specifically calls out.
5. Ask the worker doing the job. They usually know exactly which task leaves their back, wrists or shoulders sore by shift's end, and consulting them is a duty under the OHS Act, not a courtesy.
6. Work through the hierarchy of controls. Redesign the task or workstation first — more reliable than training or PPE layered on top of a bad layout.
7. Recheck after making a change. A fix at one workstation can shift strain to the next person (a taller bench that helps one worker may not suit a shorter one) — build in adjustability, not a single fixed setting.

What are low-cost fixes for ergonomic risk in a small manufacturing plant?

Ergonomic improvement doesn't require a capital works program. Most of what reduces risk at a workstation is layout, equipment and rostering — not a rebuild:

• Height-adjustable benches or trestles. Even simple crank- or pin-adjustable stands let different workers set a bench to their own elbow height, cutting stooping and overreaching without replacing the line.
• Anti-fatigue matting and footrests for standing tasks. Safe Work Australia's standing-work guidance recommends cushioning on hard floors and a footrest large enough for the whole foot — both reduce static loading through the legs and lower back cheaply.
• Tool redesign or substitution. Swapping a heavy, poorly balanced or vibrating hand tool for a lighter or powered alternative cuts force and vibration exposure together — see the hand-arm vibration guide for tool-specific detail.
• Job or task rotation. Rotating workers between tasks that load different muscle groups spreads repetitive and static load across a shift instead of concentrating it in one body part for eight hours straight.
• Repositioning stock, parts and tools within easy reach. Moving frequently used items to between shoulder and mid-thigh height removes repeated overhead reaching or floor-level bending at close to zero cost.
• A stool or perch at otherwise-standing benches. Letting a worker alternate sitting and standing follows Safe Work Australia's own advice to design for postural variation.
• Simple jigs and fixtures. A jig that holds a part in place removes the need to grip and support it manually, cutting static muscle loading in welding, assembly or finishing tasks.

None of these require re-engineering the line. They require walking the floor, asking the people doing the work, and fixing what's found — which is also exactly what a WorkSafe inspector will expect evidence of if a musculoskeletal injury is ever investigated.

How is this different from manual handling risk?

Manual handling — lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling — is one specific, high-frequency source of body stressing injury. Ergonomics is the broader discipline: it covers manual handling, but also the posture, reach, repetition and tool design of tasks that never involve lifting a heavy object — a packing line, a bench assembly job, an inspection station. A workstation can pass every manual handling check and still carry real ergonomic risk if the bench is the wrong height or the same wrist motion repeats a thousand times a shift.

FAQ

What is the difference between ergonomics and manual handling? Manual handling covers lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling loads. Ergonomics is the wider discipline covering how tasks, tools and workstations are designed to fit the worker — including posture, reach, repetition, tool design and vibration — whether or not a load is being lifted at all.

What are the most common ergonomic risk factors in a manufacturing workplace? Awkward or sustained posture, repetitive movement, high or sudden force, duration and frequency of exposure, vibration from tools, and static loading from holding a fixed posture — consistent with Safe Work Australia's Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice and Comcare's ergonomic hazards guidance.

Do I need expensive equipment to fix ergonomic risk at a workstation? No. Height-adjustable benches, anti-fatigue matting, footrests, job rotation, repositioning stock within easy reach, and simple jigs are all low-cost changes that address the same risk factors as capital equipment, and are often the practical first step for a small manufacturer.

How often should a workstation be assessed for ergonomic risk? There's no fixed legal interval, but a review makes sense whenever a task, tool or layout changes, after any relevant injury or near miss, and periodically as part of routine hazard identification — the same cycle used for other physical hazards on the floor.

Is managing ergonomic risk a legal requirement in Victoria? Yes. The general duty under the OHS Act 2004 requires employers to provide and maintain, so far as reasonably practicable, a working environment safe and without risks to health — which extends to plant, systems of work and task design, not just obvious hazards like machine guarding or chemicals.

If you're not sure where your workstations sit on posture, repetition or static loading, that's exactly the kind of gap a site assessment is built to find — book a site assessment with Ardmor and we'll help you identify the highest-risk workstations on your floor and what's reasonably practicable to fix first.

This article is general information for manufacturers, not professional advice. Last updated: 20 September 2026.