Ergonomics Consultant

Pujitha (Puji) Silva is a qualified mechanical and medical engineer with extensive experience in, human biomechanics and ergonomics, biomaterials and biomedical device innovation and development. He is an experienced incident investigator specialising in risk identification and injury prevention. Puji is also a certified organizational coach and educator, with wide experience in coaching and mentoring within the academic, business and community development sectors.

As a mechanical consulting engineer, Puji has wide experience in the bulk materials handling industry in design and risk management of port and rail infrastructure. As an Engineering Consultant he has also investigated many workplace incidents involving injuries, especially in manual handing, slips, trips and falls.

He has been involved in biomechanical research and material testing and characterization of hard and soft tissues including computational modelling as well as commercial development of materials for human application. He is also experienced in clinical research and intervention studies for applications in trauma, rehabilitation, sports, and workplace ergonomics with academic publications, presentations at many conferences and fora and successful commercial ventures.

Puji is also an experienced administrator and project manager in development of biomedical devices, having successfully founded and led a research centre towards device commercialization involving a wide range of stakeholders with medical, engineering and business expertise.

Puji holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Medical Engineering from Queensland University of Technology. He is a graduate of International Coaching Academy (USA), and has been a certified Professional Coach (PCC) with International Coach Federation from (2016-2022)

Some examples of Puji’s work include:

• Mechanical design and audit of port and rail Infrastructure of several coal terminals in Queensland (DBCT, Hay Point).
• A comfort study on the workplace ergonomics of female apparel workers, towards identifying work practices leading to foot disorders and mitigating strategies towards prevention
• Development of a non-invasive technique for measuring mechanical stress in the intervertebral discs using MRI and computational modelling
• Development of a commercial wearable sensor-based gait analysis system for rehabilitation applications.
• Development of a hydrogel based off-loading device for patients with diabetic ulcers.

Awards and Achievements:

• 2017 – 2021: Founding Director, Centre for Biomedical Innovation (CEBI), Uni of Moratuwa (CEBI)
• 2018: Co-author “RockStars: Growing Stellar Performers in Organizations”
• 2016: Technopreneur Innovation Award. Inter-university Technopreneur Challenge, SLASSCOM, Sri-Lanka
• 2001-2004: PhD Scholarship, University of Qld

Memberships, Societies and Associations:

• Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA)