Last Revised: February 18, 2022
Last updated 5/19/20
EHRS is providing a new tool to educate our Penn employees on how to make adjustments to their workstations to reduce the impact of poor office ergonomics. The Humantech Office Ergonomics online tool includes training and a self-assessment that take approximately 30 minutes to complete. The program is available in 13 languages. When you complete your assessment you will develop an Action Plan to improve your workstation ergonomics. Once you enroll you will be able to access your Action Plan, make changes to your assessment, review the training, or do a new assessment at any time.
To begin the Humantech Office Ergonomics experience, go to https://ep.humantech.com/upenn and create a new user account. Please select the location level you identify with most and use your email address as the user name.
For the best experience, we recommend using the latest version of any major browser, including Chrome, Microsoft EDGE, or Safari. A pdf of these instructions is linked below.
Once logged in, you’ll have access to the Learn segment of Humantech Office Ergonomics, which includes the e-learning designed to help you understand the Four Points of Contact®. The training portion should take 15-25 minutes to complete, depending on how much optional content you review.
When the training is complete, you will return to the main page and can begin the self-assessment in the Do segment. The self-assessment should take less than 10 minutes.
Following the Do segment, you’ll move seamlessly into Manage, which is an opportunity to improve your comfort and reduce your concern score by building an Action Plan. When you finish the self-assessment, you will see your concern score in the summary and some suggestions for improving your score. The goal is to have a score in the green. Review the suggestions and choose recommendations that you can implement (there may be choices, such as an adjustable chair vs. keyboard tray or standing workstation). Choose the options you feel work best. Non-purchase suggestions should always be chosen to improve your ergonomics immediately. After selecting suggested improvements and reviewing your Action Plan, please follow the instruction on the page to submit the Action Plan. To send a copy to your supervisor directly, use CC.
If there are suggested purchases, you must send the Action Plan to your supervisor or purchasing department to review. EHRS does not purchase equipment. Adjustments to the Action Plan may be needed based on budgets (i.e. use of a keyboard tray instead of an adjustable desk). There is a Chair Guidance Document in the Humantech Office Ergonomics resources tab with information about chair purchasing. This document is also shared below on this page.
When you have completed an action or purchase, you can update your Action Plan. Your concern score will lower as actions are complete. The goal is to be in the green zone, you do not need to reduce your concern level to zero.