Symptom surveys are ideally administered to a group of employees with the goal of gaining additional insight regarding the problems or challenges employees experience with a job or job task and their level of comfort when performing a task.

Along with reviewing other data, including but not limited to reports of injury, the results of a symptom survey will help narrow down where focus and intervention are needed. Following the completion of the survey of jobs reported as problematic, difficult or physically demanding by employees, an ergonomics risk assessment (ERA) will be conducted. This will provide a point from which a department can start making changes to reduce the identified risk and make the job safer, easier and better for all.  Assuming a department makes changes to the job (as recommended by the ergonomics team), the same symptom survey should be completed again. Along with a ‘post changes’ ERA, the symptom survey will help determine the effectiveness of implemented solutions.

It is recommended that the CSU ergonomics office be contacted when there is a desire to administer the symptom survey.