Talk:Ergonomics
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[edit] Introduction
The introduction of this page needs to have more information. It is fairly vague, it should give a lot more detail about ergonomics in general. I have added some sentences and reorganized part of teh introduction. However, I think more work should be completed on this section of the page. --Laurel 310 03:10, 5 May 2007 (UTC)Laurel310
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- I'd say the introduction lacks clarity. I don't think the first sentence helps in this regard - despite its lofty source - because it's liable to leave the reader confused as to what it is ergonomics is actually concerned with. Ergonomics is not a complex subject, the goal should be to come up with simple, easy to understand explanations, rather than technical definitions which place linguistic accuracy over clarity (I imagine the International Ergonomics Association had the opposite motivation when they arrived at their definition). Blankfrackis (talk) 18:30, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Recent External links cleanup
I don't understand the criteria for the recent cleanup of external links[1]. Why remove just some of the professional organizations and not them all? -- Ronz 17:19, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
- Well, it will be good to get a third view about it, I thought closely before removing the EL's as I left some which seemed to be appropriate organisations. The Sunshine Man 17:30, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
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- I've sought help: Wikipedia_talk:External_links#External_link_cleanup_in_Ergonomics. -- Ronz 17:48, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
- The external link cleanup has gone over the top. Ofcourse having an article that's for the majority links isn't good, but no links at all is worse in my opinion. I'd like to be able to find recent books or articles about ergonomics. How is one to be expected to find the peer-reviewed article named "ergonomics"? Atleast add the journal / edition in which it got published and the author(s) who wrote it, so you got something to go on. The way it's listed now, that list is just utterly useless... --Xiph
- There was no response to the request for help, so I think we just put together some criteria. Easiest way would be to find similar articles (other professions) and derive some basic criteria from them. --Ronz 17:33, 17 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Citation
I added a citation to the one area that said was needing a citation, so I removed the needs to be cited tag from the page. --aishel (talk) 03:53, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] The coining of the term?
The article describes the term as being coined in 1857, however Ergonomics: Man in his working environment by K.F.H. Murrell, first published in 1965 has this to say:
...a meeting was held in my office in the Admirality in July 1949, at which an interdisciplinary group was formed for those interested in human work. ... An Immediate need was to find a name for this interdisciplinary field and it was finally decided to coin a new word, ERGONOMICS, from the Greek ergos: work; nomos: natural laws.
Anyone have any thoughts on which is correct, or whether both should be mentioned? JackAidley (talk) 15:19, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
This also accords with the account given by the Ergonomics society http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/page.php?s=3&p=15 . JackAidley (talk) 15:24, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
- The original coinage appears not to have been the English word "ergonmics" but the Polish word "ergonomji", which may or may not have been intended to mean the same thing. Indeed, it would appear that Wojciech Jastrzębowski published only in Polish. Even if his works were translated into English before July 1949, I am not sure that Murrell would necessarily have been aware of them. On this basis I certainly think both should be mentioned, not least because both parties probably thought they had something new (and even if the agenda mapped out by Murrell and colleagues may have been wider). Martinevans123 (talk) 16:22, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Acronyms removed
I removed the following list of Acronyms related to ergonomics. This kind of lists are not acceptable in Wikipedia -- Mdd (talk) 22:21, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
BIO Biomechanics
DM Decision Making
HF Human Factors
HEP Human Error Probability
HFE Human Factors Ergonomics
HR Human Reliability
IE Industrial Ergonomics
MDS Multidimensional Scaling
OE Operational Environment
OST Operational System Testing
S-R Stimulus-Response
Organizations
APA American Psychological Association
HFES Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
IEA International Ergonomics Association
NIOSH National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
BCPE Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization\
[edit] Examples removed
This article is the main article in the field of ergonomics and should an overview, not overloaded with examples. That is way I removed the following examples. I do think this text can be used in an other article or a Wikibook about ergonomics. -- Mdd (talk) 11:08, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Examples of Ergonomics in the workplace
Examples of areas which may need improvement in workplaces are lighting, noise, duration of work, number and frequency of breaks, seating, posture, lifting requirements, and shift scheduling.
Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders, WMSDs WMSDs can be defined as disorders of the muscles, tendons and nerves that are caused or aggravated by exertions or movements of the body. The primary cause may be work related or non-work related. In either case, work exposure is an important consideration in determining work-relatedness and in return to work from an injury.
Properties of Musculoskeletal Disorders
- they involve both mechanical and physiological process
- they are related to work intensity and duration
- they require periods of weeks, months or years to develop
- they require periods of weeks, months or years for recovery
- their symptoms may be poorly localized, nonspecific and episodic
- they are often unreported
- they may have multiple work and personal issues
Work Factors of Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Repeated or sustained exertions
- Forceful exertions
- Localized mechanical stresses
- Postural stresses
- Low temperatures
- Vibration
- Work schedule and duration
- Psychosocial stresses
The relationship between work factors and the occurrences of musculoskeletal disorders is referred to as the exposure response relationship. Generally, it can be assumed that there will be a background level of musculoskeletal disorders irrespective of work exposures. Increasing exposure is accompanied by increasing prevalence or incidence of musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal disorders includes a large group of muscles, tendon and nerve disorders and their individual sensitivities to risk factors will vary. The exposure response relationship provides a basis for establishing allowances to help prevent WMSDs.
- Lighting
Vision is the main sensory channel used in most workplaces. In order to improve ease of visual tasks one could:
- Increase contrast by using black ink instead of blue, or pencil
- Increase the size of the smallest critical detail by increasing font size or decreasing viewing distance
- Change the work area so that what is being viewed is perpendicular to the light source
To improve illumination, minimize glare. Glare can be direct, or indirect. Direct glare is caused when the light source is much brighter than the work materials. Indirect glare is caused when the light is reflected from the work surface. Indirect is preferred because it is more uniform than direct. Also, direct lighting has more shadowing and veiling reflections. To reduce glare in VDU workplaces one could:
- Lower ambient lighting
- Sit operator with back to a dark wall
- Paint walls with matte dark colors and use desks with matte finishes
- Don't put reflective things in areas where reflections could appear on the screen
- Tilt the screen down
To reduce glare from windows
- Cover windows
- Use awnings to shield the sun
- Cover windows with neutral density filters
- Make a right angle between the VDU and window
The three types of methods use to reduce noise are equipment and tool selection, altering the environment, and protecting the listener’s ears.
For long duration jobs sitting is preferred because it is less of a strain on the body and a good posture is easier to keep while sitting than standing. Sitting enables better controlled arm movements, improves blood circulation and gives a stronger sense of balance and safety.
The NIOSH Lift Guide was set in place to assess the risk in a lifting task. Consult this resource for information about what tasks are considered safe. However, note that te NIOSH Lift Guide is for ideal situations, which rarely occur in real life. The guide has two limits, one is the action limit and the other is the maximum permissible limit. The action limit represents a limit where most women would not be injured performing the task (implying that most men would not be injured either). The maximum permissible limit represents a limit where most men would experience back injury (implying that most women would experience injury.
A weekly rotation in shift work scheduling is a bad method from the biological rhythm point of view because our biological rhythms take about a week to adjust, or flatten. Therefore, if the shift work was rotated weekly, the worker’s biological rhythm would be continually adjusting to their work schedule.
- ICAO Formula
The ICAO(International Civil Aviation Organizaion) Formula, also known as the Jet Lag formula calculates the rest period a worker should be given before they should be required to work. When using this equation, keep in mind, travel time includes time spent in the airport, time to drive to and from the airport, time to check in to a hotel(if necessary) and so on. Use the chart below to fine the adequate Arrival and Departure Coefficients.
Rest period(tenth of a day)=0.5 x travel time(hr) + time zones(in excess of 4) + departure coefficient + arrival coefficient
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Local Time Departure Time Coefficient Arrival Time Coefficient 8am-11:59am 0 4 12 noon-5:59pm 1 2 6pm-9:59pm 3 0 10pm-12:59am 4 1 1am-7:59am 3 3
When calculating, round up to the nearest half day for rest period.
