esses. This is the same motivation behind much of ergonomics today. The association between occupations and injuries of body muscles and bones were documented centuries ago. Bernardino Ramazinni (1633-1714) wrote about work-related complaints (that he saw in his medical practice) in the 1713 supplement to his 1700 publication, "De Morbis Artificum (Diseases of Workers)." Wojciech Jastrzebowski created the word ergonomics in 1857 in a philosophical narrative, "based upon the truths drawn from the Science of Nature". In the early 1900's, the production of industry was still largely dependent on human power/motion and ergonomic concepts were developing to improve worker productivity. Scientific Management, a method that improved worker efficiency by improving the job process, became popular. Frederick W. Taylor, a well known management theorist, was a pioneer of this approach and evaluated jobs to determine the "One Best Way" they could be performed. At Bethlehem Steel, Taylor dramatically increased worker production and wages in a shovelling task by matching the shovel with the type of material that was being moved (ashes, coal or ore). Frank and Lillian Gilberth, another set of management theorists, made jobs more efficient and less fatiguing through time motion analysis and standardizing tools, materials and the job process. By applying this approach, the number of motions in bricklaying was reduced from 18 to 4.5 allowing bricklayers to increase their pace of laying bricks from 120 to 350 bricks per hour. World War II prompted greater interest in human-machine interaction as the efficiency of sophisticated military equipment (i.e., airplanes) could be compromised by bad or confusing design. Design concepts of fitting the machine to the size of the soldier and logical/understandable control buttons evolved. After World War II, the focus of concern expanded to include worker safety as well as productivity. Research began in a variety of ...
