Implementation Evaluation of a Participatory Ergonomics Program

This paper presents the results of an implementation evaluation for a participatory ergonomics project, in two plants run by a company involved in primary aluminium processing. The logbooks kept by the ergonomists, together with observations of project meetings and post-intervention interviews with Ergo group members, were the basic materials used in analyzing the implementation. The analysis includes a comparison between the projected and actual outcomes of the project, examines the contextual factors that explain the gaps observed, and questions the principles underlying the intervention. The results point to the need for ergonomists to have a dynamic vision of implementation evaluations, which will allow them to adjust and refine their intervention theory.