Ergonomic Risk Assessment (ERA) in Johor Bahru
Initial and Advanced ERA following DOSH's 2017 guidelines — finding the lifting, reaching, twisting and repetition that cause musculoskeletal injury, and fixing it at the workstation.
The injuries that build up slowly
Back pain, shoulder strain and wrist injuries rarely come from one event. They build up over months of lifting from the floor, reaching above shoulder height, holding a static posture through a shift, or repeating the same motion thousands of times a day. By the time they are reported, the employee has often been working through pain for a long time.
Since the 2022 amendment to OSHA 1994, section 18B requires every employer to assess the risks its work creates — and ergonomic hazards are among them. DOSH's Guidelines on Ergonomics Risk Assessment at Workplace 2017 set out the method: an Initial ERA to screen tasks, then an Advanced ERA where the screening shows significant risk.
Our Advanced ERAs are conducted by an Ergonomics Trained Person. ProSafe runs the screening with your team, manages the advanced assessment, and works the controls through on the floor for factories across Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang, Tebrau, Senai, Kulai and Iskandar Puteri.
Initial ERA
Task-by-task screening using the DOSH checklists to find where the significant risk sits.
Advanced ERA
Detailed assessment of high-risk tasks by an Ergonomics Trained Person using recognised methods.
Workstation & Task Redesign
Practical changes to heights, reaches, loads, tools and job rotation — ranked by effect and cost.
Manual Handling Training
Short, task-specific training for the people doing the lifting.
Risk factors we assess
Awkward posture
Bending, twisting, reaching overhead or below knee height, and wrists held away from neutral.
Static & sustained posture
Standing or sitting in one position for long periods without the chance to change or rest.
Forceful exertion
Lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling and carrying — weights, frequency and the conditions they are handled in.
Repetitive motion
The same movement repeated through the shift, particularly at the hand, wrist and shoulder.
Vibration
Hand-arm vibration from power tools and whole-body vibration from vehicles and platforms.
Environmental factors
Lighting, temperature, ventilation and noise that make the physical demands of the task harder.
Is this you?
- Back, shoulder or wrist complaintskeep coming from the same line, station or job.
- Your work involves manual handling— loading, packing, palletising, feeding machines — through most of the shift.
- Your HIRARC lists ergonomic hazardsbut nobody has measured how serious they are.
- A customer audit asked for ERAas part of supplier social or safety compliance.
- You are designing a new lineand want the workstations right before they are built.
Fixes at the workstation, not posters on the wall
The most common outcome of an ergonomics programme is a lifting poster and a training session. Neither changes the height of the conveyor or the weight of the carton.
We start with the Initial ERA, run with the people who do the work, so screening covers every task rather than the ones someone remembered. Where it shows significant risk, the Advanced ERA is conducted by an Ergonomics Trained Person and gives you a measured score rather than an opinion.
Then ProSafe works the controls through with your engineering and production teams — workstation heights, reach distances, lifting aids, load sizes, tool changes, rotation — and reassesses afterwards so you can show the risk actually came down. Ergonomic findings also feed straight into your HIRARC.
How an ERA runs
Task Inventory
We list the tasks across your lines and agree with you which areas and job groups are in scope.
Initial ERA
Screening against the DOSH checklists, with your team, to identify where the significant risk sits.
Advanced ERA
Detailed assessment of the high-risk tasks by an Ergonomics Trained Person, with a scored result for each.
Controls & Reassessment
Practical changes implemented on the floor, then the task reassessed to confirm the risk has dropped.
Ergonomic risk assessment — common questions
Is an Ergonomic Risk Assessment a legal requirement?
OSHA 1994 requires every employer to ensure, so far as is practicable, the safety and health of employees, and since the 2022 amendment section 18B requires employers to assess the risks their work creates. Ergonomic hazards are part of that. DOSH's Guidelines on Ergonomics Risk Assessment at Workplace 2017 set out how the assessment is expected to be done.
What is the difference between Initial and Advanced ERA?
The Initial ERA is a screening using the checklists in the DOSH guidelines, covering risk factors such as awkward posture, static or sustained posture, forceful exertion, repetitive motion, vibration and environmental factors. Where it shows significant risk, an Advanced ERA uses specific methods such as RULA or REBA to measure the risk in detail and decide on controls.
Who can conduct an Advanced ERA?
The DOSH guidelines expect an Advanced ERA to be conducted by an Ergonomics Trained Person — someone who has completed DOSH-recognised ergonomics training. Our Advanced ERA engagements are conducted by an Ergonomics Trained Person, with ProSafe managing scope and the implementation of controls.
Can our own staff do the Initial ERA?
Yes. The Initial ERA is designed to be carried out by people who know the work, using the guideline checklists. We can train your team to run it, review their results, and identify which tasks need an Advanced ERA.
What kind of controls come out of an ERA?
Usually practical ones: workstation height and reach adjusted, lifting aids or trolleys introduced, loads split or repackaged, tools changed to reduce grip force or vibration, job rotation to break up repetitive tasks, and training on manual handling. The best controls are often cheap; the expensive part is musculoskeletal injury.
Where we work
We carry out ERA for factories and warehouses across Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang, Tebrau, Plentong, Masai, Skudai, Senai, Kulai, Iskandar Puteri and Gelang Patah. Assessment is done on the floor during normal work — posture and force have to be observed, not described.
Where are your strain injuries coming from?
Tell us the tasks and lines that concern you. We will tell you whether screening or an advanced assessment is the right place to start.