Forensic Ergonomic Evaluations in California

---

A forensic ergonomic evaluation is an objective, measurement-based analysis of a job's physical demands, performed for contested workers' compensation, FEHA, and Cal/OSHA matters. ErgonomicWorks documents measured job demands against ANSI/HFES 100 and Cal/OSHA §5110, delivering a defensible written report in 3 to 5 business days.

A forensic ergonomic evaluation is commissioned when a workstation question has become a case question — when the answer will be read by an adjuster, a TPA, defense counsel, or the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, and has to hold up under that reading.

It is a job demands analysis, not a comfort survey. The evaluator measures the physical demands of the job as it is actually performed — postures, forces, repetition, reach, and clearances — and documents those measurements against objective standards. The evaluation comes before any recommendation: in a contested case, a recommendation that is not preceded by measured findings is an opinion, and opinions are what the other side challenges.

Typical triggers:
• A contested or denied workers' compensation claim turning on job demands or causation
• A repetitive-motion injury pattern that may trigger Cal/OSHA Title 8 §5110
• A FEHA/ADA interactive process that has stalled over what the job actually requires
• A return-to-work dispute where the documented restrictions and the documented job demands do not match

The buyers on this page are the people who carry the file:
• Workers' Compensation claim adjusters and TPA case managers who need objective job demands documentation
• Defense counsel building or testing a record for the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board
• Risk managers deciding whether a contested exposure is real, overstated, or already controlled
• HR and EHS leaders whose routine evaluation has escalated into a contested matter

Forensic engagements begin with an inquiry, not a booking. The intake asks for the job title and tasks, the current claim or case posture, and the documented work restrictions — describe work restrictions and job requirements rather than medical diagnoses. ErgonomicWorks scopes the engagement from that material and confirms fit, scope, and price before anything is scheduled. Cases that do not need forensic weight are routed back to the standard evaluation that fits them (§8).

Every forensic evaluation is measured against the six ANSI/HFES 100 workstation benchmarks — objective values, recorded in the report:

Around those benchmarks, the analysis documents the job's measured physical demands: the postures the work requires, the forces and repetition it involves, how long each demand lasts across the shift, and the gap between the documented job demands and any documented work restrictions. The methodology is ANSI/HFES 100, Cal/OSHA Title 8 §5110, and objective anthropometric measurement — the same methodology behind every ErgonomicWorks evaluation, applied here at forensic documentation depth.

Defensibility is a property of the record, not of the prose. Four things build it:
• Measured values, before and after. Findings are recorded as objective measurements — joint angles, reach, and clearances — not impressions. A number can be re-measured and verified; an impression cannot.
• A named methodology. Every finding is tied to ANSI/HFES 100 benchmarks and Cal/OSHA Title 8 §5110, so the reader can check the work against the standard it cites.
• A complete chain of documentation. Intake material, session measurements, photographs where applicable, and the written report form one continuous record, delivered in 3 to 5 business days.
• Independence. The evaluator sells nothing and is paid the same whatever the findings show (§7). A report that cannot be characterized as a sales document or an advocacy document survives scrutiny that the other two do not.

Three statutory tracks generate most forensic engagements:
• Cal/OSHA Title 8 §5110: when repetitive-motion injuries trigger the standard, the employer must run a worksite evaluation by a qualified evaluator. In a contested matter, that evaluation doubles as evidence — ErgonomicWorks documents it so it serves both purposes.
• FEHA / ADA Title I interactive process: workstation accommodations evaluated and documented as part of the employer's interactive-process obligations, including the duty framed by California Government Code Section 12940(n). Where the parties disagree about what the job requires, the job demands analysis supplies the measured record the process has been missing. Pregnancy ergonomic needs are addressed as part of the evaluation process.
• Workers' Compensation litigation: job demands documentation prepared for the claim file and the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, in the same measured form whether it supports or complicates the commissioning party's position.
Cal/OSHA Title 8 §5110 ergonomic audits · ADA & FEHA accommodations

1. Inquiry. Submit the evaluation request with the job, the case posture, and the documented restrictions. Inquiries are answered within 24 business hours.
2. Scope confirmation. ErgonomicWorks reviews the material, confirms the engagement fits the forensic scope, and confirms the $665 price and what it covers — before any booking. Full payment is required upon booking, once scoped.
3. Evaluation session (60 to 90 minutes). The job demands analysis is conducted on-site or virtually, depending on what the case requires, with objective measurements taken as the work is performed.
4. Written report (3 to 5 business days). Measured findings, the standards applied, and the documentation chain, in a report built to be read by adjusters, counsel, and the Board.
5. Litigation support, if the case continues. Deposition, testimony, and expert-witness engagements arising from a forensic evaluation are scoped separately and confirmed at inquiry.

ErgonomicWorks sells no furniture, no equipment, and accepts no vendor commissions — 100% vendor-neutral. In a routine evaluation that independence is a virtue. In a contested case it is the whole ballgame: the first attack on any evaluation is that the evaluator had a reason to reach the conclusion reached. A vendor-neutral evaluator's only product is the measurement itself, and the report's recommendations — adjust first, purchase last — cannot be discounted as a sales document by either side.

• Complex Cases & Forensic Audits: $665 — inquiry-only; scoped before booking; full payment upon booking once scoped. The session runs 60 to 90 minutes and the written report is delivered in 3 to 5 business days.
• Not every case needs forensic weight. Routine matters route to the standard evaluations: Virtual Ergonomic Evaluation, $350, and In-Person Office Ergonomic Evaluation, $450 — the forensic tier is for contested, litigated, or §5110-triggered matters.
• Expert-witness engagements (deposition, testimony, standalone retention): confirmed at inquiry.
See full pricing · Virtual Ergonomic Evaluations · On-site ergonomic evaluations

Every ErgonomicWorks forensic evaluation is led by its founder: Azi Imandel, MS, CEA, SPHR, CLMS, CPDM — President and Principal Ergonomic Consultant, with 25+ years of experience in ergonomics and California statutory compliance. Across public agencies and private corporate enterprises, ErgonomicWorks has conducted thousands of on-site and virtual evaluations. ErgonomicWorks is headquartered in Los Angeles and serves employers across Northern and Southern California.

• California Certified Small Business — SB-Micro ID: 2049116
• Small Business for Public Works — SB-PW ID: 2031140
• Woman-Owned Business (WOSB)
Hours: Monday–Friday, 8am–7pm · (323) 510-5450 · Headquarters: 1410 S Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90021.