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Helping to form a work-related "safety conscience" inside companies. This ethical concept is one of the factors responsible for prompting Fiam's commitment to ergonomics: an increasingly important ingredient for any company-system. A fact confirmed by the success of the "training courses" organized by Fiam in prestigious Italian production sites like the Immergas facility, a company based in Brescello (in the Reggio Emilia region) and a leading name in the production of wall-hung gas boilers. The course, which has just ended, was an idea Immergas was very keen on (it was actually organized in association with the Quality and Safety Management and HR Management) to help train job holders performing occupational safety, training and risk control duties within the company (e.g. Safety Managers, Quality Managers, Time and Method Managers, Foremen) and other members of staff concerned with designing the product and planning the production process. This was an important decision and, in making it, Immergas has demonstrated its acknowledgement of ergonomics as a new, extremely important ingredient of its corporate mission. Apart from greatly appreciating Fiam's competence and professionalism, Immergas acclaimed "the helpfulness of the lecturers, who managed to convey the occupational hygiene policy on which the course was based to all those taking part". Four packed days enabled designers to "get a first-hand look" at the advantages of correct ergonomics, amongst other things, at the same time promoting awareness of the importance that complying with these principles has for anybody then faced with the task of industrial engineering and manufacturing. What Fiam offered was not merely an important, constructive theoretical lesson, but practical action directly on Immergas's assembly lines where all individual workstations were analysed based on their organization, on the tools employed and on how they are used by the operators. The measurements taken, station after station, by experts in ergonomics and Fiam course lecturers were particularly important. As part of the course, measurements were also taken on the Immergas workstations applying the renowned Ocra method: this method is used to evaluate the importance of each of the risk factors, then combining them in a single index to determine a multiple-factor risk and to predict the probability of contracting WMSDs (Work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limbs induced by repeated movements and strain) for each estimated level of exposure. Immergas and Fiam shared the main objective of the course, namely " to create an ergonomics culture, building a synergy between all forces involved in production to work together in this same direction". An objective that translates into " less risk of injury and damage to health, greater worker satisfaction and, consequently, maximum economic performance of all resources involved, present and future". It's worth remembering that these activities will give Immergas the instruments it needs for self-management intended to generate consistent and conscious decisions in the drawing up and implementation of a workplace improvement plan. This plan may also include the performance of a training undertaking intended to instruct workers on the correct use of portable tools, thus helping to transfer an improved safety culture.
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