Ergonomics Society of Australia Annual Conference Next Week

By R. Michael

The theme for the Ergonomics Society of Australia's 37th annual conference - "Better Integration: Bring Research & Practice Together" - has been chosen to highlight the necessity of practical application of research in the general community and workplace. The focus will be how ergonomics knowledge can dramatically enhance the way that systems, spaces and designs work for people.

The conference will be held from November 27-30th at Sydney's Millennium Hotel. Speakers and topics include Professor Bruce Abernethy who will start the proceedings with a keynote presentation on the study of expertise and its implications for training programs. Kathleen Rockefeller will speak about the Washington state four-year study involving thirty-four long term care facilities and the implementation of so-called "zero-lift" programs. Dr. Maurice Oxenburgh will speak on 'Ergonomics, Economics and Ethics'.

Workshops will be conducted every day of the conference. Workshop topics include improving manual work, assessing work demands and work design, and external forces acting upon the body during manual handling tasks.

Also part of the conference is a special session titled 'Coming to Grips 3'. This session deals specifically with patient lifting. Participants in this session will learn about:

• The latest on the design of health and aged care facilities in Victoria
• Techniques for assessing patients in the home environment
• Methods of handling dementia patients
• Particular risks for handling patients in operating theatres
• Safer patient handling practices
• The experiences of the implementation of "no lift" policies in hospitals.

For more information see http://www.iceaustralia.com/esa/.