Course Title

Work Study and Methods Engineering (3+1)

Department of Industrial Engineering & Management

Batch 2018
Lecture 10-12
Working conditions and working environment
(Ch: 07. Work Environment Design
From
Niebel's Methods, Standards, and Work Design by andris)

1
Introduction

2
The value of a good environment
• Plants with good working conditions outperform those with poor
conditions.

• Economic return on investment in better conditions is usually

significant:
• Improves safety and morale
• Reduces turn-over, absenteeism
• Failure to comply results in OSHA fines

OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

3
Work Environment Design
• Lighting

• Noise

• Temperature: heat and cold stress

• Vibration

• Radiation

• Shifts to optimize productivity

• Training in ergonomics and safety

4
Lighting and Illumination
• Lighting intensity is measured in candalas (cd), or lumens,

• where

1 cd = 12.57 lumens.

• Illuminance is the amount of light shining on an object, measured in foot-candles (fc):

Illuminance = intensity / d2

• Where,

• d is in feet. Intensity is foot-candles (fc) where 1 fc = 1 lumen/(ft2).

5
Luminance
• Luminance is the amount of light reflected from an object,
• It impacts our ability to see objects,

• It is measured in foot-lamberts (fL):

luminance = illuminance x reflectance

• Reflectance is determined by the physical and color properties

of an object;

• How much light is absorbed or thrown back at the viewer?

6
Reflectance
• Reflectance is the property of a surface which is determined by
both color and surface finish, and expressed as a percentage of light
reflected (luminance).

• Luminance is measured by a photometer (pointed at surface).

• Reflectance is a ration between:

• The measured reflectance of the target surface,
• The measured reflectance of a standard Kodak neutral test card = 0.9

Reflectance = 0.9 x Ltarget / Lstandard

7
Reflectance
• Table 6-1 lists reflectance for various colors and surfaces.

8
Visibility

• Visibility is the clarity with which a human can see an object.

• There are 3 critical factors in visibility:
• Visual angle
• Contrast
• Illuminance

9
Factors in Visibility

• Visual angle: size of target on retina; the angle the image takes up on retina.
• Illuminance: amount of light reaching a surface (most important)
• Contrast: relative difference in luminance (light reflected) for two surfaces
• Contrast can be defined in several ways,
• A common definition of contrast (unitless):
• contrast = ((Lmax – Lmin)/Lmax
Where L is the luminance of each surface.

10
Sound and Noise
• Sound
• Sound is any change in pressure that can be detected by the ear. Typically
sound is change in air pressure.
• However it can also be change in water pressure or any other pressure
sensitive medium.
• Noise
• Noise is unwanted sound.
• Consequently the difference between noise and sound is in the perception
of the person hearing it.

11
Occupational Noise

• “Noise related to any occupation is called OCCUPATIONAL NOISE”

• Workers who operate, service or maintain vehicles, equipments & machinery
are exposed to occupational noise.
• Ex- Cement & Concrete industries, Printing press, Sheet Metal industries,
Gear manufacturing plants, Construction sites

12
Types of occupational Noise

• Wide band noise: is noise that is distributed over a wide range of frequencies.
Most noise from manufacturing machines is wide band noise.
• Narrow band noise: is noise that is confined to a narrow range of frequencies.
The noise produced by power tools is narrow band noise.
• Impulse noise: consists of transient pulses that can occur repetitively or non
repetitively. The noise produced by a jackhammer is repetitive impulse noise.

13
Physiological problems associated with excessive noise

• Physiological Effects
• Hearing impairment
• Hypertension
• Heart disease
• Lowering the concentration and effect on memory
• Muscular strain and nervous breakdown.

14
Physiological problems associated with excessive noise

• Psychological Effects
• Depression and Fatigue
• Mental Stress
• Frustration
• Sleep Interference

15
Physiological problems associated with excessive noise

• Other Health Effects

• Communication Disturbance
• Habit of talking loudly
• Uncomforting

• “Traffic noise alone is harming the health of almost every third person in
the WHO European Region.”

16
Risk of hearing loss from exposure to excessive noise
• A number of factors affect the risk of hearing loss associated with exposure to
excessive noise:
• Intensity of the noise (pressure level)
• Type of noise (wide band, narrow band, impulse)
• Duration of daily exposure
• Total duration of exposure (number of years)
• Age of the individual
• Coexisting hearing disease
• Nature of the environment in which exposure occurs
• Distance of the individual from the source of noise
• Position of the ears relative to the sound waves

17
Measurement of Noise

18
Measurement of Noise

19
Control of Noise
• Noise can be controlled at three levels:
1. Reducing the sound produced.
2. Interrupting the path of the sound.
3. Protecting the recipient .

20
Control of Noise
• Noise can also be controlled by following:-
i. Reducing Impact Force.
ii. Reduce Speed and Pressure.
iii. Reducing Friction b/w Machine Parts.
iv. Isolate & Damper Vibrating Elements.
v. Providing Mufflers/Silencers.
vi. Highways could be routed away from populated areas.
vii. Maximum germination of green plants or vegetation.

21
Vibration
• Vibration is the mechanical oscillations of an object about an equilibrium
point.
• The oscillations may be regular such as the motion of a pendulum .

22
Vibration
• Vibration is desirable for the correct functioning of the various devices in case
of:
• Harmoniums
• Mobile Phones
• Loudspeaker etc.

• While Vibrations are undesirable such as:

• Wasting energy
• Creating unwanted noise
• Vibration of engines, electric motors
23
Types of Vibration
• On the basis of force applied:-
1. Free vibration: Occurs when a mechanical system is set off with an
initial input and then allowed to vibrate freely.
Ex-simple pendulum

2. Forced vibration: When a time-varying disturbance (load, displacement

or velocity) is applied to a mechanical system.
Ex-shaking washing machine due to an imbalance, transportation
vibration (caused by truck engine, springs, road, etc.),

24
Causes of Vibration
• Vibrations can be caused by:
i. Imbalanced rotating parts.
ii. Uneven friction.
iii. Meshing of gear teeth.

25
Effects of Vibration
• Effects of Hand Arm Vibration (HAV)
i. Vibration –induced White Finger(VWF) or dead finger
ii. Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome(Raynauld’s Phenomenon)
iii. Vascular
iv. Neural
• Effects of Whole Body Vibration (WBV)
i. Shakiness
ii. Insomnia (sleep disorder)
iii. Headache
iv. Fatigue
26
How to control Vibration
• Anti Vibration Tools
• Anti Vibration Gloves
• Safe Work Practices
• Employee Education

27
Howe Work
• Solve all the problems of Chapter No. 07 (Page No. 318 to
323).

28
Questions

29