KANBrief 1/10
Located in Düsseldorf, the Institute for Applied Occupational Ergonomics and Industrial Engineering (IfaA) is an institution active in the disciplines of occupational science and corporate organization, and connects research with application in the field. The IfaA’s work is geared to increasing productivity and thus to enhancing the competitiveness of German industry and the retention of jobs in Germany.
The IfaA’s mission has barely changed since the institute’s foundation in 1962 and remains topical, despite the considerable changes in labour and corporate organization that enterprises have experienced in the intervening years and will continue to witness in the future. New trends in occupational science and industrial engineering and the effects of globalization upon national economies force a breathtaking pace of structural change upon enterprises if they are to maintain and enhance the competitiveness of their corporate processes. Not least owing to the current economic crisis, many enterprises are also facing the following issues:
Expertise for the reinforcement of enterprises’ competitiveness is not to be found by extensive study of the literature, but by evaluation of corporate good practice. The IfaA’s staff do not therefore conduct their research in the ivory tower. Instead, processes are analysed within enterprises, cause-and-effect relationships are fathomed out, developments in labour and plant organization identified, and products and services developed which are geared to enterprises. This activity is conducted in conjunction with the employers’ associations for the German metals and electrical industry – on whose behalf the IfaA carries out its work – and in close contact with day-to-day business activity.
Occupational safety and health: a core competence of the IfaA
Against a backdrop of increasing numbers of laws, regulations and directives, the work of the IfaA is geared towards compiling or producing risk-assessment methods which enable enterprises to concentrate on essential requirements and new developments in occupational safety and health. Practical results, adapted for use on the ground, are delivered to the enterprises. SMEs, in particular, value the OSH dossier issued by the IfaA as a practical aid to implementation of the occupational safety and health rules.
The IfaA supports the DIN/ISO Ergonomics Standards Committee (NAErg) by active participation in national and international bodies. The aim here is to influence new and existing standardization projects in the interests of German companies and the German OSH legislation. The work is conducted in conjunction with experts from industry, employers’ associations and trade unions, the German government, the academic community, and the German statutory accident insurance institutions.
Co-operation with KAN
KAN and IfaA co-operate and pool expertise on the subjects of occupational safety and health and ergonomics. This co-operation is close and extends beyond the sphere of standardization. The successive directors of the IfaA have been represented in KAN since its foundation, and have been involved in numerous working groups for the support of projects. Close and fruitful co-operation has also taken place for many years between the Employers’ Liaison Office at KAN and the staff of the IfaA. Evidence of this is that the head of KAN’s Employers’ Liaison Office is integrated into the IfaA’s information policy by participation in the “Occupational safety and health” working group.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Sascha Stowasser
info@ifaa-mail.de