40th Nordic Ergonomic Society conference

Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson heilbrigðisráðherra
Setningarræða á Norrænni ráðstefnu um vinnuvistfræði
11. ágúst 2008

Dear guests

Welcome to Iceland - welcome to Reykjavik to this Nordic conference of Ergonomics, arranged by Vinnís the Icelandic Ergonomics association.

The main theme of the conference is Ergonomics is a lifestyle. Ergonomics is a very important theme we always have to discuss and consider carefully.

In this conference matters of employee’s wellbeing and safety in workplaces will be discussed, risk assessment from ergonomically point of view, the impact of information technology on the employee’s wellbeing, human resource management and researches in ergonomics.

The conference will be a platform for many interesting lectures of ergonomics, like:

• Autonomy among academic employees. Freedom or chain?
• Occupation and Cancer in the Nordic Countries
• Health promotion and occupational health in day care centers

What is ergonomics: The classical definition of ergonomics is as following:

The Discipline of Ergonomics

Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

Ergonomics contribute to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people. Domains of specialization within the discipline of ergonomics are broadly the following;

• Physical ergonomics is concerned with physical activity.
• Cognitive ergonomics is concerned with mental processes.
• Organizational ergonomics is concerned with the optimization of sociotechnical systems.

After saying the following I want to as Iceland's minister for health affairs, say that I have emphasized placing preventive action at the forefront in every field.

It is my conviction that we should approach discussions of the health services not merely with emphasis on illnesses, but also - and perhaps even preferably - with emphasis on health. Our goal must be to increase the healthiness of each nation and to minimize the probabilities of poor health.

To get that goal, we must increase co-operation between non-governmental organizations, experts and policy makers or politicians. I believe that this co-operation is the main strategy for success for better health.

Populations are becoming heavier, lack of exercise is a growing problem, and the West is constantly more plagued by so-called lifestyle or prosperity illnesses.

In this respect Iceland is no exception, so governmental authorities have, for instance, responded by analyzing the problems connected to unhealthy living patterns, obesity, eating disorders and lack of exercise, and have presented proposals on coordinated actions to address related issues. These responses followed a parliamentary resolution in which Parliament was reacting to repeated warnings from the WHO stating that today's physiques were the most underrated health challenge of our time. According to the WHO, over 70% of such problems may be traced to individual lifestyles

We live today in a time of tremendous changes - a time when constant change is one of the few things we can definitely count on. Our mode of life has been deeply affected by the opening of borders between cultures and nations. This ongoing change has had a huge impact on our daily lives as Europeans, and has affected us faster than before, as differing streams of culture have flowed together in a common channel. Nowadays, free movement of people and capital is the rule, not the exception. Here in Iceland, this has certainly attracted our attention.

Public health is important for every nation. Determination and risk factors of public health are connected to health, social and economical status of each society and it is in close connection to environmental, design, communication and society issues. A forceful society bases its grounds on good state of health of its inhabitants. Therefore it is important to have clear policy of public health and this conference contributes valuable knowledge to the society we all want to live in, society of good public health.

Thank you,

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