Consulting Services

UC Human Factors & Ergonomics consulting services apply current best practices, accepted professional methods, and available scientific evidence to workplace ergonomics and human factors concerns. Services support assessment, prioritization, prevention planning, training, and program improvement.

Consulting services do not constitute human subjects research, medical diagnosis, legal advice, regulatory certification, product endorsement, or the generation of new scientific information. 

1. Ergonomics program and systems assessment 

Services may include:

• Review existing ergonomics, safety, injury prevention, accommodation, return-to-work, procurement, and training programs.

• Assess program elements such as hazard identification, worker participation, risk assessment, controls, documentation, follow-up, and evaluation.

• Review written policies, procedures, forms, checklists, training materials, procurement criteria, and program metrics.

• Identify gaps and opportunities based on current physical and psychosocial ergonomics and human factors best practices and available evidence.

• Advise on integration of ergonomics into occupational health and safety management systems, procurement, design review, incident review, accommodation, return-to-work, and continuous improvement processes.

• Support ergonomics committees, safety teams, participatory ergonomics teams, and labor-management workgroups.

2. Surveillance, data review, and stakeholder input 

Services may include:

• Review available injury, illness, symptom, near-miss, workers’ compensation, OSHA log, absenteeism, turnover, productivity, quality, and operational data.

• Identify patterns by job, task, department, site, body region, shift, tenure, worker group, or other available variables.

• Summarize findings using tables, visualizations, dashboards, trend summaries, risk-prioritization systems, or prevention priority lists.

• Review or advise on ergonomics surveillance systems and leading/lagging indicators.

• Adapt or administer workplace surveys, interviews, focus groups, or listening sessions.

• Summarize worker, supervisor, safety, management, engineering, facilities, and labor-management input.

• Integrate stakeholder input with observational findings, physical and psychosocial exposure information, organizational data, and available evidence.

• Identify system-wide concerns, high-priority jobs, recurring barriers, and feasible opportunities for prevention.

3. Worksite, job, and task evaluation 

Services may include:

• Conduct worksite walkthroughs, job observations, and task analyses.

• Assess office, industrial, laboratory, healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, warehouse, service, mobile, and remote or hybrid work.

• Identify ergonomic and human factors concerns related to workflow, task design, equipment, tools, workstations, staffing, work pace, recovery time, job rotation, work organization, and environmental conditions.

• Prioritize jobs, tasks, departments, or work systems for further evaluation or prevention services.

• Apply established ergonomic and human factors assessment methods where appropriate

• Document findings using written summaries, photographs, annotated images, risk matrices, or technical reports.

4. Physical ergonomics assessment 

Services may include evaluation of:

• Lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing, pulling, holding, and manual materials handling.

• Hand-intensive work, including force, repetition, contact stress, tool use, grip, pinch, duty cycle, and hand-arm posture.

• Overhead work, reaching, stooping, bending, twisting, kneeling, squatting, climbing, crawling, seated work, standing work, and mobile work.

• Workstation layout, furniture, equipment fit, tool design, clearance, reach, visibility, and anthropometric adjustability.

• Office and hybrid work setups, including seating, monitors, input devices, lighting, laptop use, sit-stand work, shared workstations, and remote-work configurations.

• Physical workload, fatigue-related demands, pace, work-rest balance, staffing, and task rotation.

• Use of accepted ergonomic tools and methods, such as the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation, ACGIH Hand Activity Level, Revised Strain Index, ACGIH Above Shoulder TLV, ACGIH Upper Limb Localized Fatigue, RULA, REBA, Liberty Mutual manual material handling tables/equations, video analysis, time-motion analysis, and other established methods as appropriate.

5. Cognitive ergonomics, usability, and human-system evaluation 

Services may include:

• Review workflows, procedures, forms, checklists, software, dashboards, displays, controls, instructions, alarms, and user interfaces.

• Identify usability barriers, cognitive workload concerns, workflow mismatches, communication barriers, error traps, attention demands, decision-support needs, and alarm burden.

• Conduct structured usability evaluations, cognitive walkthroughs, heuristic evaluations, workflow simulations, or human-system reviews.

• Evaluate digital tools, worker-facing technologies, AI or automation systems, clinical systems, dashboards, monitoring systems, and safety-critical interfaces.

• Recommend improvements based on accepted human factors principles, current best practices, and available evidence.

6. Advanced measurement, modeling, and technical evaluation

Services may include:

• Conduct quantitative assessment of posture, movement, repetition, force, duty cycle, workload, and fatigue-related demands using advanced technologies where appropriate

• Use video analysis, time-motion analysis, force measurement, surface EMG, wearable sensors, inertial measurement units, motion capture, computer vision, or other advanced technologies where appropriate

• Measure muscle activity, physical workload, heart rate, physiological strain, or related indicators using advanced wearable devices or other accepted methods.

• Use biomechanical models, digital human modeling, or simulation tools to assess posture, reach, clearance, strength demands, manual materials handling, workstation layout, or population fit.

• Compare alternative task designs, workstation configurations, tools, equipment, furniture, or technologies.

• Evaluate tools, furniture, equipment, wearable technologies, lift assists, exoskeletons, monitoring systems, software, or other workplace technologies.

• Review available evidence, implementation considerations, and potential unintended consequences for existing or proposed equipment and technologies.

7. Evidence, standards, and best-practice review 

Services may include:

• Prepare targeted reviews of peer-reviewed literature, professional guidance, consensus standards, regulatory materials, and technical resources.

• Summarize current evidence for specific ergonomic concerns, technologies, tools, controls, equipment, or program approaches.

• Apply evidence summaries to support assessment, prevention planning, procurement, training, or program improvement.

• Review current guidance from relevant sources such as NIOSH, ACGIH, OSHA, Cal/OSHA, ANSI/HFES, ISO, and other professional or consensus bodies, as appropriate

8. Solutions, controls, and prevention planning 

Services may include:

• Identify and prioritize engineering, administrative, work practice, training, and procurement controls.

• Review proposed controls, tools, furniture, layouts, workflows, equipment, or technologies for ergonomic fit, usability, feasibility, and potential unintended consequences.

• Compare alternative solutions using ergonomic, biomechanical, usability, human factors, operational, and implementation criteria.

• Advise on implementation planning, sequencing, stakeholder engagement, pilot evaluation, and follow-up review.

• Review facility layouts, renovation plans, workstation concepts, equipment specifications, procurement criteria, mockups, pilot installations, and post-occupancy conditions.

• Support prevention planning based on current best practices, available evidence, worker input, organizational data, and observed work conditions.

9. Training and capacity building

Services may include:

• Provide ergonomics and human factors training for workers, supervisors, managers, safety staff, engineers, facilities staff, procurement teams, ergonomics committees, and labor-management groups.

• Adapt training materials, checklists, job aids, self-assessment tools, and practical guidance based on current best practices and client context.

• Provide training on risk factor identification, job and task assessment, office ergonomics, manual materials handling, hand-intensive work, laboratory ergonomics, healthcare ergonomics, industrial ergonomics, participatory ergonomics, tool selection, work design, and ergonomics program management.

• Provide train-the-trainer support, ergonomics team coaching, and applied case review where appropriate

10. Reporting, communication, and implementation support 

Services may include:

• Prepare reports, technical memoranda, executive summaries, slide decks, annotated photographs, risk matrices, training materials, dashboards, and action plans.

• Document methods, assumptions, observations, measurements, findings, limitations, and recommendations.

• Present findings to leadership, workers, supervisors, safety committees, ergonomics teams, labor-management groups, or other stakeholders.

• Provide prioritized recommendations with feasible next steps, responsible parties, suggested timelines, and follow-up metrics, where appropriate

• Provide follow-up consultation to support interpretation, communication, implementation planning, and evaluation of recommended actions.

Potential Deliverables Deliverables may include one or more of the following, depending on project scope: 

• Project workplan or scope summary.

• Worksite assessment summary.

• Job/task analysis report.

• Ergonomic risk assessment report.

• Program review or gap assessment.

• Best-practice or evidence summary.

• Training materials or workshop slides.

• Data summary, dashboard, or analytic memo.

• Product, tool, equipment, or technology evaluation.

• Human factors/usability review.

• Physical demand assessment.

• Prioritized recommendations and action plan.

• Presentation of findings.

• Follow-up consultation or implementation support.

Exclusions and Limitations

Consulting services do not include: 

• Medical diagnosis, treatment, fitness-for-duty determination, or individual medical opinion.

• Legal advice or regulatory compliance certification.

• Engineering certification, architectural approval, or stamped design drawings.

• Human subjects research or generation of generalizable scientific knowledge.

• Product endorsement or certification.

• Long-term monitoring beyond the specified service period.

• Guarantee of injury reduction, regulatory outcome, productivity change, or financial return.