Benefits of Ergonomics in the Workplace

Office ergonomics as is the case with other disciplines in ergonomics all emerged in the 1940s during the world war (McCormick and Saunders 1993). Difficulties arouse from soldiers inability to handle technical equipment produced for the war due to physical incompatibility or lack of understanding of the equipment and when the advancements in technology was transferred to the civilian populous after the war, the same problems in human-machine system incompatibility were observed. This led to a study by military personnel, academics psychologists and physiologist all researching on solutions to the complications arising from the operation of the machines (Kumar and Cohn, 2013).

In the year 1949 the term ergonomics was coined from the Greek words “ergo” meaning work and “nomos” meaning law in a meeting attended by distinguished psychologist and physiologist. The same group later formed the ergonomic research society (ERS) which was the first body in the world to study on ergonomics. ERS then evolved to the ergonomics society (ES) and then to the current Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (IEHF) (Omerley, 2103). Office ergonomics is part of this generalized evolution of ergonomics with it being a recognized discipline among the domains of ergonomics. Office ergonomics deals mainly in the office setting or environment and helps in averting injuries and adapting the work to the person rather than the person to the work.

Development of office ergonomics

Office ergonomics was developed in a bid to better the already good working environment (Lauren, 2006). This helps individuals operating machines give their best job results as well as maximizing production. As production is increased, risks of injury are greatly reduced due...

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...izations, everything changes for the better.

References

Kumar, S., & Cohn, E. R. (2013).Telerehabilitation. London: Springer.

Lauren, Q. Healthy demand for ergonomists. (2006, 01 17). Retrieved 11 13, 2013, from The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2002714366_ergonomists01.html

Heyman, M. (2012, 07 20). Professional Certification. Retrieved 11 13, 2013, from Association of Canadian Ergonomists: http://www.ace-ergocanada.ca/index.php?contentid=139

Omerley, P. (2013, 09 19). Ergonomics & Human Factors. Retrieved 11 13, 2013, from Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factors: http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/iehf/a-brief-history/

Schwartz, P. (2011, 05 31). Pain Management Health Center. Retrieved 11 13, 2013, from WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/tc/office-ergonomics-using-ergonomics-at-the-workstation-to-prevent-injury