Control ergonomics

Joseph, B. S. (1986), A Participative Ergonomic Control Program in a U.S. Automotive Plant Evaluation and Implications, Ph.D. dissertation. University of Michigan. 

The domino theory of injuries listed five steps that lead to injury. In was first the environmental and social climate and ancestry that allowed the second step of human error to develop. This error in turn led to unsafe acts or mechanical and physical hazards. These acts or hazards then allowed an accident to occur, and then some accidents produced injury. Undesirable human traits such as nervousness were either inherited or created and exacerbated by their environment. These traits created human faults that then allowed unsafe acts such as not wearing protective gloves, or even engineered oversight of the need for machine guarding (Heinrich et al., 1980). Dr. Haddon was removing the fifth step of injury occurrence. Today s efforts of ergonomic control also attempt to remove the possibility of an error as well. 

The results show both, the origin and the destination, should require ergonomic controls to be implemented to reduce the stress on the worker. Lowering the frequen cy of the lift and reducing the horizontal distance of the destination would aid in making this lift safer for the employee. 

The results indicate the task is in need of ergonomic controls such as team lifts and/or manual lifting assists. Reducing the risks with this given job task, and breaking the task down completely, will enable safety and health professionals to further realize the importance of worker health. 

From this point on some more specific information and some of the key elements will be discussed as stand-alone items such as risk factors, exposure limits, ergonomic controls, program evaluation, and training. 

Consider ergonomics in the design of displays and control panels. 

LVHV nozzles can create problems that may be sufficiently severe as to prevent their use, usually in the form of ergonomic encumbrances and excessive noise. These problems can be dealt with, to limited extents, and LVHV applications can be effective. It must also be understood that dust control by 1..VHV systems is ultimately limited. No ventilation control measure can ensure sufficient worker protection down to extraordinatily low acceptable dust levels. Worker protection must always be confirmed by industrial hygiene monitoring and evaluation, and administrative control measures such as respiratory protection may be necessary. 

Inadequate ergonomic design in areas such as control panels and the labeling and placement of valves on the plant can also be regarded as a latent failure because it will increase the probability of active errors. For example, a worker may misread process information from a poorly designed display. Poorly labeled and situated valves can cause the wrong valve to be selected, with possibly disastrous consequences. 

Human Factors Engineering/Ergonomics approach (control of error by design, audit, and feedback of operational experience) Occupational/process safety Manual/control operations Routine operation Task analysis Job design Workplace design Interface design Physical environment evaluation Workload analysis Infrequent... 

The content and organization of the displayed information are of critical importance in inferring the state of the process and subsequently evaluating the effects of alternative courses of action. The following factors will determine the demands of the control panel on the attentional and memory resources of the workers. For detailed data on the design of the control panel, the reader is referred to standard ergonomics textbooks (e.g., Salvendy, 1987). 

This is a list of ergonomic considerations that should be taken into account in the interface design of computer controlled processes. The principles refer essentially to monitoring and control tasks, and they have been derived from a literature review supplemented by the analysis of a number of incidents. Advantages... 

The main factors found to be affecting the decision to blowdown manually were the blowdown philosophy, procedures, and training. Factors affecting the efficiency of the decision making process and the execution of blowdown were the ergonomics of the information presentation in the control room communications, and various aspects of the hardware. 

Ergonomics Audit An ergonomics audit of main and auxiliary control rooms was carried out on both platforms. 

On both platforms the ergonomics of layout and instrumentation would hinder rapid and effective response to a significant fire or gas release. The overall ergonomics in both control rooms betrayed the lack of a coherent human-machine interface design philosophy being implemented within the design process. 

One of the most noticeable ergonomic deficiencies in both control rooms was the number of panels that had to be scanned and monitored during the scenarios, and the number of rapid actions required at opposite ends of the control room. The need for virtually simultaneous actions and movements would have been discovered and resolved in the design stage had a task analysis and human error analysis been carried out on an emergency operation. 

Astley, J., Shepherd, A., Whitfield, D. (1990). A Review of UK and International I owledge and Practice in the Selection of Process Control Operators. In E. J. Lovesey (Ed.), Ergonomics Setting Standards for the 90 s. Contemporary Ergonomics, 1990. London Taylor and Francis. 

Beishon, R. J. (1967). Problems of Task Description in Process Control. Ergonomics 10, 177-186. 

Shepherd, A., Marshall, E. C., Turner, A., Duncan, K. D. (1977). Diagnosis of Plant Failures from a Control Panel. Ergonomics 20, 347-361. 

The activation point should be mounted at a height which is convenient to personnel. The ergonomics of personnel access to emergency controls should be accommodated. 

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