Management in Ergonomics. A Tool to Enhance Results in Engineering Projects. Industry Case: Petrochemical in Colombia

Abstract

Develop and manage a project seeking an optimum control of resources to achieve a series of objectives is a multidisciplinary task. Engineering seeks to align said management to a global trend to ensure that the specific capacities, limitations, demands and requirements of human beings have been taken into account from the initial concepts of design through ergonomics. This discipline, used as a managing tool and commonly known as Human Factors Engineering (HFE), allows an early approach that systematically outlines the problem to solve, focusing all efforts to the control of the source and not on future corrective solutions. Several industrial sectors have estimated the costs associated to ergonomic shortcomings in social terms (health of employees, occupational diseases) economic terms (low productivity, corporate restructuring, design and construction of facilities), and in the worst case scenario loss of life, permanent disability, days of healthy life lost and significant material damage in facilities. The following article presents the case of how successful the application of a system of ergonomics management was for the Colombian oil company, Ecopetrol SA, emphasizing on the development of this system in early project management. Presented below are the most important findings related to revision of projects of different nature and type of business, including transportation, production and refining for industrial and nonindustrial facilities. The results have been presented as opportunities for improvement that allow corroboration and may even be subject to impact measurement as the projects progress. The steps presented in the following paper may be applied in engineering project in general.