Stress ergonomics

Incorporating human reliability is a function of education, training, ergonomics, stress, and physical condition. Incorporating this accurately into PSA is difficult. References for doing this are Gertmann (1994) and Dougherty (1988) as well as the many technical reports. 

ACGIH TLV All Various (acoustical energy, temperature, nonionizing radiation, or ergonomic stresses) Workers... 

Not until automatic tilt tables were provided, along with other steps to redesign the work, were the ergonomic stresses — and the workers compensation cases — reduced. 

If machines, tools, and the workflow are poorly designed, they can place undue stress on tendons, muscles, and nerves. In addition, temperature extremes may aggravate or increase ergonomic stress. Your ability to recognize ergonomic problems on the construction site is the essential first step in correcting these problems and improving construction worker safety and health. 

Not until automatic tilt tables were provided, along with other steps to redesign the work, were the ergonomic stresses—and the workers compensation cases—reduced. Training and personal protective equipment were not proper solutions for this situation, and the temporary fixes cost far more than would have been expended if the issues were addressed in the original design processes. 

The actual hazard posed by a material depends upon several factors, including exposure, toxicity of the material, process controls and individual factors and susceptibilities. After the industrial hygienist or health and safety professional has identified potential chemical, biological, physical, or ergonomic stresses, monitoring must be conducted to determine the extent of exposure to those stresses. The following discussions will serve as an introduction to the chemical hazards, to which this handbook focuses on. 

On the surface, the HHA appears to be very similar in nature to the O SHA, and the question often arises as to whether they both accomplish the same objectives. The O SHA evaluates operator tasks and activities for the identification of hazards, whereas the HHA focuses strictly on human health issues. There may occasionally be some overlap, but they each serve different interests. The objectives of the HHA are to provide a design safety focus from the human health viewpoint and to identify hazards directly affecting the human operator from a health standpoint. The intent of the HHA is to identify human health hazards and propose design changes and/or protective measures to reduce the associated risk to an acceptable level. Human health hazards can be the result of exposure to ergonomic stress, chemicals, physical stress, biological agents, HAZMATs, and the like. 

CISDOC provides international coverage of all topics related to occupational health and safety, and the working environment. The record.s contain English abstracts on various specific subjects occupational medicine, industries and occupations, chemical safety, fires, explosions and major hazards, mechanical hazards, ergonomics, stress and psychosocial factors, and others. 

From the ergonomics perspective, some level of automation was desirable. This was because the worker was in a high stress situation and had to make a relatively difficult decision. A semiautomatic system in which blowdown would occur automatically after a fixed time period following coincident red alarms (given no worker veto) would appear to have the advantages... 

Hazards may also result from the interaction between company employees and the work environment these are called "ergonomic" hazards. If the physical, psychological, or environmental demands on workers exceed their capabilities, an ergonomic hazard exists. These hazards, in themselves may lead to fiirther major incidents when the individual cannot perform properly under stress during critical periods of plant... 

Johansson, G., Aronsson, G., and Lindstrom, B. O. (1978), Social Psychological and Neuroendocrine Stress Reactions in Highly Mechanized Work, Ergonomics, Vol. 21, pp. 583-599. 

Participatory ergonomics sees end users contributions as indispensable elements of its scientific methodology. It stresses the validity of simple tools and workers experience in problem solution and denies that these characteristics result in nonscientific outcomes. Employees or end users are in most situations in the best position to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the work situations. Their involvement in the analysis and redesign of their workplace can lead to better designs as well as increase their and the company s knowledge on the process. 

Participatory ergonomics emphasizes self-control and self-determination and provides workers more control over their working conditions. This approach also offers potential for reduced job strain through increased social interaction and support. In fact, worker involvement has been shown to be the most common feature among effective stress-management programs (Karasek 1992). 

Workers who perform heavy physical work are subjected not only to forces and stresses from the immediate physical environment but also to mechanical forces generated from within the body. As a result of these forces and stresses, a strain is produced on the worker s musculoskeletal system as well as on other systems such as the cardiopulmonary system. One of the most important issues in the apphcation of ergonomics to work design is to reduce the stresses imposed on the musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary systems (Ayoub and Mital 1989). Several approaches have been used by different investigators to estabhsh safe handling limits, including the psychophysical approach, the physiological approach, and the biomechanical approach. 

The lifting index (LI) provides a relative estimate of the physical stress associated with a manual lifting job and is equal to the load weight divided by the RWL. According to Waters et al. (1994), the RWL and LI can be used to guide ergonomic design in several ways ... 

Kee, D., and Karwowski, W. (2001), Ranking Systems for Evaluation of Joint Motion Stressfulness Based on Perceived Discomforts, Ergonomics (forthcoming). 

Rohmert, W. (1973a), Problems in Determining Rest Allowances. Part 1 Use of Modern Methods to Evaluate Stress and Strain in Static Muscular Work, Applied Ergonomics, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 91-95. 

Carayon, P. (1994b), Stressful Jobs and Non-stressful Jobs A Cluster Analysis of Office Jobs, Ergonomics, Vol. 37, pp. 311-323. 

Lim, S. Y, Rogers, K J. S., Smith, M. J., and Sainfort, P. C. (1989), A Study of the Direct and Indirect Effects of OfiSce Ergonomics on Psychological Stress Outcomes, in Work with Computers Organizational, Management, Stress and Health Aspects, M. J. Smith and G. Stdvendy, Eds., Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 248-255. 

Smith, M. J., Carayon, P., Sanders, K. J., Lim, S. Y., and LeGrande, D. (1992a), Employee Stress and Health Complaints in Jobs with and without Electronic Performance Monitoring, Applied Ergonomics, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 17-27. 

Reduce high intensity levels with good ergonomic practices for example, use machines and devices to reduce hold and carry activities. Static work (holding) is especially stressful. 

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