Ergonomics effort

Inherent Safety Review Initiates Project Human Factors/Ergonomics Effort... 

Ergonomics Efforts Work Some Employers Seeing Big Payoffs Author(s) Fletcher M... 

This area of human factors is probably the most developed, primarily because it tends to address physical dimensions and hardware. The ergonomics effort is directed at ensuring that control panels are designed in such a way that instruments and gauges are of the appropriate size, type, and arrangement to be easily read and correctly interpreted that physical dimensions of furniture, equipment, and tools properly match the relevant physical dimensions of users and operators and that the movement ranges, directions, and locations of control levers, valves, switches, and other apparatus match the natural anatomical functioning of the operators. 

Colin G. Drury is professor of industrial engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo and executive director of the Center for Industrial Effectiveness, where he has worked extensively in the integration of ergonomics/hu-man factors into company operations. His efforts have resulted in increased competitiveness and job growth for regional industry and in his receipt of two National Association... 

Method validation is often based on the combined use of validation procedures. The validation used can be direct or comparative. The selection of the validation procedures should also be justified on a cost-benefit basis as long as the fitness-for-purpose is maintained. Focusing the effort on the most critical factors affecting the test method will lead to a different solution for the validation of exact physical and chemical test methods as compared to that for product or subjective testing. For example, in the validation of ergonomics and sensory test methods not all possibilities are applicable. 

An important component of musculoskeletal disorders management efforts is development of a well-structured and comprehensive ergonomic program. According to Alexander and Orr (1992), the basic components of such a program should include ... 

The high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, has motivated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to focus on standardization efforts. Recently, OSHA announced the initiation of rulemaking under Section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. 655, to amend Part 1910 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations and requested information relevant to preventing, eliminating, and reducing occupational exposure to ergonomic hazards. 

Jagg, S. J., and Myles, W. S. (1985), Metabolic and Cardiovascular Cost, and Perceived Effort over an 8 Hour Day When Lifting Loads Selected by the Psychophysical Method, Ergonomics, Vol. 28, pp. 337-343. 

This chapter reviews the foundation of contemporary human modeling technology for physical ergonomics and presents examples of how digital humans are currently used in industry. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the current development efforts in the area of human modeling. 

Figure 7 Pareto Distribution. Many populations have a Pareto distribution, in which a small portion of population has a large proportion of the criterion. Inventories, for example, can be classified by the ABC system. A items may comprise 10% of the part numbers but 70% of the inventory cost. B items may comprise 25% of the part numbers and 25% of the cost the total of A + B items then comprise 35% of the part numbers and 95% of the cost. C items thus comprise the remtiining 65% of the part numbers but only 5% of the cost. Concentrate your efforts on the A items. Don t use gold cannons to kill fleas (From Work Design Industrial Ergonomics, 5th Ed., by S. Konz and S. Johnson. Copyright 2000 by Holcomb Hathaway, Pub., Scottsdale, AZ. Reprinted with permission)...

Z An understanding of some of the tools that are now available to assist the human factors tmd ergonomics specialist in conducting model-based tmtilyses 3. An appreciation of the level of expertise tmd effort that will be required to use these technologies... 

Hunt et al. (1993) also find that neither efforts to enhanee wellness in workers nor ergonomie solutions prove to be effective in improving disability outcomes. In fact, ergonomic solutions to prevent injury and subsequent disability actually result in slightly higher disability rates. Although the result is odd, it is not statistieally signifieant. 

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