Ergonomics, human engineering or human factors engineering is the science of creating products or designing machines which maximize safety, comfort or efficiency of people who use them.
People who work with ergonomics apply general principles of industrial engineering, psychology, anthropometrics, which is the science of human measurement, and even biomechanics to adapt certain designs of products or workplaces to peoples constitution, strengths and limitations.
This science also takes into consideration peoples reactions and the amount of time they need to process a specific task or information received from their environment, as well as the capacity of dealing with certain psychological factors, mainly stress and isolation.
Once a study about a certain group of peoples reactions to their environment has been made, people who design with ergonomics attempt to develop the best possible design for a system or product.
Ergonomists view people and a the object or machine they will use as a sole unit, and the ergonomic approach to design blends the persons abilities with those of the machine.
When designing one must take into account the several limitations of both the mechanical and the human factor involved in a certain workspace. Human beings need to rest or experience less stress when realizing a certain task or they will spend their energies quickly and begin making mistakes when working, they are also subject to illness, accidents and the need of rest. The mechanical factor is also subjected to several limitations, for instance, they cannot repair themselves nor adapt to dynamic or unexpected situations as well as human.
An ergonomically designed system should therefore take advantage of the strengths of each of the components involved to provide optimal performance, an almost "symbiosis" between man and machine.
Ergonomists contribute to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people.
Ergonomics are commonly divided into three main domains:
Physical ergonomics
Cognitive ergonomics
Organizational ergonomics
Physical ergonomics usually deals with the field of the human body's reaction to physical or physiological work. Relevant to this field of application is the materials a workers has to work with, the layout at his workstation, the physical demands of his job and different types of risks such as repletion, vibration, forces or awkward and static postures since all of these factors have been determined to cause musculoskeletal disorders known as repetitive strain injury's.
Repetitive strain injury, also called repetitive stress injury, is a group of conditions that comes from the overuse of computers, typewriters and other similar motions or tools.
The field of ergonomics stresses the idea of designing the perfect product for people so that whenever the people interact with the product, they are having a beneficial experience and their health and safety is protected by the shape and design of the product. Not only is ergonomics focused on protecting the body, it is also focused on protecting the cognitive abilities (the mind). Therefore, companies should all have ergonomic or human factor departments within their organizations so that the products that they manufacture can have a design that is safe for both the body and mind. This will make their products much more desirable and their companies more competitive in the overall market. Ergonomics has also been proven to increase user satisfaction and reduce insurance claims in work-related injuries. There is a general reduction in work-related injuries because the products being used by employees are safer and healthier. They do not risk that physical health of the employee like regular products might. With ergonomic products, workers are also more productive, efficient, and overall happier when using them.
In order to keep up with current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements, employers must ensure they take all the aspects required into consideration and educate their employees on the security and safety measures to be taken as well as updating them on the procedures relevant to their duties. OSHA is in charge of upholding and conducting standards measures that are lawfully imposed by the state and federal agencies. It requires every company to have well educated, trained employees on safety issues and who are able to apply these training into practice to ensure they achieve a healthy working environment. Employees need to be educated on the safety of the equipment they use in their place of work too.
“One of OSHA’s key mistakes when it issued the 2000 ergonomics rule was making it too flexible. The flexibility made the rule vague, which in turn made it difficult for businesses to achieve benefits that exceeded costs” (Safety and OSHA News, 2012, para. 8).
Horrey, William J., Wickens, Christopher D., Spring 2006. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. vol. 48 no. 1. pg. 196-205
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