Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Business Ergonomics Ergonomics Ergonomics, as defined by the Board of Certification for Professional Ergonomists (BCPE), "is a body of knowledge about human abilities, human limitations and human characteristics that are relevant to design. Ergonomic design is the application of this body of knowledge to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for safe, comfortable and effective human use". The term ergonomics is derived from the Greek word ergos meaning "work" and nomos meaning "natural laws of" or "study of." The profession has two major branches with considerable overlap. One discipline, sometimes referred to as "industrial ergonomics," or "occupational biomechanics," concentrates on the physical aspects of work and human capabilities such as force, posture, and repetition. A second branch, sometimes referred to as "human factors," is oriented to the psychological aspects of work such as mental loading and decision-making. The profession is comprised of practicing and academic engineers, safety professionals, industrial hygienists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurse practitioners, chiropractors, and occupational medicine physicians. Christensen, an expert in the said field, points out that the importance of a "good fit" between humans and tools was probably realized early in the development of the species. Indeed cavemen are known to have selected stone tools and made scoops from antelope bones in a clear display of selecting/creating objects to make tasks easier to accomplish. In the work environment, the selection and creation of tools, machines, and work processes continued. Over centuries, the effectiveness of hammers, axes and plows improved. With the Industrial Revolution, machines such as the spinning jenny (a machine that produced yarn to make cloth) and rolling mills (a method of flattening iron ore into flat sheets) were developed to improve work processes. 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 areas such as: · Muscle force required to perform manual tasks · Compressive low back disk force when lifting · Cardiovascular response when performing heavy labour · Perceived maximum load that can be carried, pushed or pulled Areas of knowledge that involved human behaviour and attributes (i.e., decision making process, organization design, human perception relative to design) became known as cognitive ergonomics or human factors. Areas of knowledge that involved physical aspects of the workplace and human abilities such as force required to lift, vibration and reaches became known as industrial ergonomics or ergonomics. The broad group focus and name duality continues at this time. Contributors to ergonomics/human factors concepts include industrial engineers, industrial psychologists, occupational medicine physicians, industrial hygienists, and safety engineers. Professions that use ergonomics/human factors information include architects, occupational therapists, physical therapists, occupational medicine nurses, and insurance loss control specialists. The following points are among the purpose/goals of ergonomics: · occupational injury and illness reduction · workers' compensation costs containment · government regulation compliance. The methods by which these goals are obtained involve: · evaluation and control of work site risk factors · identification and quantification of existing work site risk conditions · recommendation of engineering and administrative controls to reduce the identified risk conditions · education of management and workers to risk conditions. The work setting is characterized by an interaction between the following parameters: 1. a worker with attributes of size, strength, range of motion, intellect, education, expectations, and other physical/mental capacities. 2. a work setting comprised of parts, tools, furniture, control/display panels and other physical objects. 3. a work environment created by climate, lighting, noise, vibration, and other atmospheric qualities. The interaction of these parameters determines the manner by which a task is performed and the physical demands of the task. For example, a 5' 10", 160-pound, male worker lifts a 35-pound cabinet from the floor by generating 600 pounds of force from the low back muscles. Certain characteristics of the work setting have been associated with injury. These work characteristics are called risk factors and include: Task Physical Characteristics (primarily interaction between the worker and the work setting) Environmental Characteristics (primarily interaction between the worker and the work environment) The risk factors addressed by industrial ergonomics are a partial list of hazards present in the work setting. Others include: · Working hours (shift work, overtime) · Radiofrequency/microwave radiation. Examples of analytical tools include: · RULA - Rapid Upper Limb Assessment - Assesses the risk of cumulative trauma disorder through posture, force, and muscle-use analysis. · Repetitive Motion Evaluation - Analyzes posture, repetition, and discomfort to reveal the performance of high risk motions (Drury, 1987). · Observation Analysis of the Hand and Wrist - Quantifies hand exertions associated with risk factors of pinch grip, high force, wrist flexion/extension/ulnar deviation, power tool exertion, and use of hand to strike object (Stetson et al., 1991). · Utah Shoulder Moment Model - Evaluates the risk of shoulder injury for a one-time lifting task comparing task moment to an individual's capacity. · Liberty Mutual Tables - Based on psychophysical experimentation, determines the maximum acceptable weight for a lifting/lowering task, push/pulling task, and carrying task given selected job characteristics. Tables are accessible from the Lifting/Manual Material Handling Job Review and Analysis Options. · AAMA Metabolic Model - Evaluates the risk of physical exertion strain for a task. · Anthropometry Analysis - Determines proper workplace dimensions for various body sizes. · Detailed Checklist For Computer (VDT) Workstation Risk Analysis - Presents the recommended characteristics of a VDT workstation. Work practice controls involve training and encouraging a specific method of task performance to reduce worker exposure to the ergonomic risk. An example of work practice control is training workers in proper lifting techniques. Workers unload cases of soda cans and bottles from trucks and the storeroom, carting them to and stacking them on the premises. NIOSH recommended weight limit lifting criteria was exceeded for most lifting tasks. An injury and illness rate of 18.5 per 100 full-time workers put the industry among the top 12 for injury frequency and top 5 for severity according to NIOSH studies. An average lift of 34,000 pounds each day was performed by each worker. Lifting of up to 45,000 pounds a day might have been required for some workers because of case content inequities. Extended reach is required by delivery workers to unload the trucks. Ergonomic Solution (Engineering Controls) Pullout steps, external handles and multilevel shelving have been installed in delivery trucks to make access to beverage cases easier. Counterbalancing devices have been added to improve hand truck stability. Beverage cartons have been redesigned for easier handling. The total weight was decreased by substituting plastic for some glass containers. Improved physical and psychological comfort. Ergonomic Solution (Method Which Verified Effectiveness) Quantitative tests of heart rate, stress/fatigue levels and discomfort reports showed statistically significant improvements in physical and psychological comfort, providing scientific justification for the changes. Bibliography: References; ~ R.S. Bridger. (1995) Introduction to Ergonomics. McGraw-Hill International Editions ~ K.H.E. Kroemer & E. Grandjean. (1999) Fitting the task to the human Taylor & Francis Publishings ~ The Human factors section, Health, Safety & Human factors laboratory, Eastman Kodak Company. (1983) Ergonomic design for people at work Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York ~ www.ergoweb.com Word Count: 1533
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