"Discusses the strategies to effectively use design in order to enhance human well-being and work efficiency"--

Production ergonomics – the science and practice of designing industrial workplaces to optimize human well-being and system performance – is a complex challenge for a designer. Humans are a valuable and flexible resource in any system of creation, and as long as they stay healthy, alert and motivated, they perform well and also become more competent over time, which increases their value as a resource. However, if a system designer is not mindful or aware of the many threats to health and system performance that may emerge, the end result may include inefficiency, productivity losses, low working morale, injuries and sick-leave. To help budding system designers and production engineers tackle these design challenges holistically, this book offers a multi-faceted orientation in the prerequisites for healthy and effective human work. We will cover physical, cognitive and organizational aspects of ergonomics, and provide both the individual human perspective and that of groups and populations, ending up with a look at global challenges that require workplaces to become more socially and economically sustainable. This book is written to give you a warm welcome to the subject, and to provide a solid foundation for improving industrial workplaces to attract and retain healthy and productive staff in the long run.

The approach to the book is analogous to a toolkit. The user will open the book and locate the tool that best fits the ergonomic assessment task he/she is performing. The chapters of the book progress from the concept of ergonomics, through the various assessment techniques, and into the more complex techniques. In addition to discussing the techniques, this book presents them in a form that the readers can readily adapt to their particular situation. Each chapter, where applicable, presents the technique discussed in that chapter and demonstrates how it is used. The supporting material at the end of each chapter contains exercises, case studies and review questions. The case study section of the book presents how to use techniques to analyze a range of workplace scenarios. Topics include: The Basics of Ergonomics; Anthropometry; Office Ergonomics; Administrative Controls; Biomechanics; Hand Tools; Vibration; Workstation Design; Manual Material Handling; Job Requirements and Physical Demands Survey; Ergonomic Survey Tools; Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders; How to Conduct an Ergonomics Assessment; and Case Studies

Every year workers' low-back, hand, and arm problems lead to time away from jobs and reduce the nation's economic productivity. The connection of these problems to workplace activities-from carrying boxes to lifting patients to pounding computer keyboards-is the subject of major disagreements among workers, employers, advocacy groups, and researchers. Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace examines the scientific basis for connecting musculoskeletal disorders with the workplace, considering people, job tasks, and work environments. A multidisciplinary panel draws conclusions about the likelihood of causal links and the effectiveness of various intervention strategies. The panel also offers recommendations for what actions can be considered on the basis of current information and for closing information gaps. This book presents the latest information on the prevalence, incidence, and costs of musculoskeletal disorders and identifies factors that influence injury reporting. It reviews the broad scope of evidence: epidemiological studies of physical and psychosocial variables, basic biology, biomechanics, and physical and behavioral responses to stress. Given the magnitude of the problem-approximately 1 million people miss some work each year-and the current trends in workplace practices, this volume will be a must for advocates for workplace health, policy makers, employers, employees, medical professionals, engineers, lawyers, and labor officials.

Until quite recently conditions in industry were often rough. Long hours were worked in insanitary and murky workshops, often with little regard to the effects upon the workpeople who were considered to be expendable. Now, however, these adverse conditions have been recognized and so remedied that there remains little in industrial conditions to disturb the public conscience. This does not mean that conditions of work in office or factory are perfect. The obvious and dramatic abuses of the human frame may have gone, but in their place have arisen stresses and strains which, taking effect only in the long term, are generally undramatic and often unrecognized. They exist none the less. No organized effort to study the effect of working conditions on man's performance was made until the end of World War I, when the Industrial Fatigue Research Board was set up. For the first time, men trained in the human sciences entered industry to study men at work. They made con tributions which set a new standard of scientific investigation into human performance and allowed executive action on the basis of evidence rather than of hunch. The Board's work differed from the contribution of Gilbreth in America in that the principles of Motion Study which he developed were, to a large extent, based on intelligent observation rather than controlled experiment. During the 1920S the National Institute of Industrial Psychology was founded and there was close collaboration between it and the I.F.R.B.

When faced with productivity problems in the workplace, engineers might call for better machines, and management might call for better-trained people, but ergonomists call for a better interface and better interaction between the user and the machine. Introduction to Ergonomics, 2nd Edition, provides a comprehensive introduction to ergonomics as the study of the relationship between people and their working environment. The author presents evidence from field trials, studies and experiments that demonstrate the value of ergonomics in making the workplace safer, more error resistant, and compatible with users' characteristics and psychological and social needs. Evidence for the effectiveness of each topic is incorporated throughout the book as well, which helps practitioners to make the case for company investment in ergonomics. In addition, the author outlines international standards for ergonomics that influence engineering and design and pave the way for a more precise form of practice. Extensively revised and updated, this second edition explains the main areas of application, the science that underpins these applications, and demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of implementing the applications in a wide variety of work settings.