FPE Awards 2025 Impact Grants to Ghana and India

The Foundation for Professional Ergonomics (FPE) is pleased to announce the recipients of the FPE Impact Grants for 2025-2026. FPE Impact Grants are intended as seed funding for small (pilot) projects that could potentially lead to more extensive funding opportunities from other sources in the future. The aim is to support professional ergonomics projects around the world that demonstrate the impact that ergonomics can have on productivity, safety, and well-being.  A total of ten proposals were received from Ghana, India, Thailand, US, and Vietnam. The selection committee decided to provide funding to two excellent proposals deemed to have the highest potential impact on the practice of ergonomics worldwide.

The first FPE Impact Grant went to a project entitled: “Development of an Ergonomic Risk Assessment Tool for Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Orthopedic Surgeons in India” proposed by Dr Deepak Sharan, Consultant in Orthopedic Surgery, Rehabilitation, Ergonomics, and Occupational Health, RECOUP Health, Bengaluru, India. 

Orthopedic surgery in India (Photo credit:  Dr. Sharan| Copyright: © Dr. Deepak Sharan, 2025)

Orthopedic surgeons often face ergonomically demanding conditions involving prolonged static, awkward postures, repetitive tasks, skilled and precise movements with complex devices, high physical exertion and workload levels, psychosocial stress and burnout. They perform dynamic, complex, and variable tasks in multiple work locations. These risk factors contribute significantly to developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs).   Existing risk assessment tools fail to appropriately evaluate the nature of the task, the variable postures involved and the duration of exposure that can predict the risk of an orthopedic surgeon developing WRMSD.  The objectives of this study are: 

• To validate a new ergonomic assessment tool called the Time-based Assessment Computerized Strategy (TACOS) in orthopedic surgeons in India.
• To identify the risk factors for the development of WRMSD, including personal (e.g., anthropometric characteristics, physical health, workstyle, medical comorbidities, lifestyle), ergonomic, psychosocial, and environmental risk factors.
• To describe the clinical features, distribution, and severity of the WRMSD.
• To investigate the associations among orthopedic surgeons’ subspeciality areas, tasks, risk factors, and WRMSDS.

The second FPE Impact Grant was awarded to Matthew Kwaw of Prime Occupational Health and Safety for the proposal entitled “Vigilance on the Frontline: Ergonomics Training for Healthcare Workers in Ghana, Africa.”

Healthcare workers in Ghana are vital yet vulnerable.  At Bemuah Royal Hospital in Accra, ergonomic-related illnesses affect 69% to 94% of staff, with lower back pain prevalent due to physical demands, inadequate training, and resource scarcity.  The magnitude of the problem mirrors a global crisis in developing countries, where limited funds hinder ergonomic interventions