Greetings and happy new year everyone!
My name is Sarah and I am a licensed occupational therapist in the U.S.A.
My question relates to the recognition of ergonomics as a practice area in Ireland:
In the U.S, Ergonomics is generally considered preventative. It's a frontier area of practice, preventing the need for vocational rehabilitation but often overlapping (PEOP model at the workplace). Some OTs practice ergonomics as part of a being in an outpatient setting; others it's in a private practice. Because preventing workplace injury and employee mental health is generally not reimbursed by insurance but moreso a program businesses will purchase to prevent lost work days, many OTs apply their knowledge into non-traditional settings, such as part of a health and safety team at a large company in order to help workers.
An ergonomists skill set might include: building functional capacity, job demands analysis, job task assessments, assistive technology, environmental and accessible design, early intervention, accident and injury prevention and safety, job matching, workplace screenings, aging-in-place at work as well of as course program design, implementation, etc and more.
My question is: How common is it for an OT in Ireland to practice ergonomics, and if so, to what capacity, setting, traditional or non-traditional?
Any insight would be appreciated! Please feel free to email at sarah@airsarah.com
Thank you!
