Ergonomics

Fitting the task to the person is what ergonomics is really about. Good ergonomics:

Shortens learning times Makes the job quicker with less fatigue Improves care of machines Reduces absenteeism Reduces labor turnover and other signs of worker malcontent Meets the requirements of health and safety legislation

Within management services various principles exist; for example,

work-place design motion economy rest allowances job satisfaction and environmental control

which have for at least 50 years been taught and applied on a semi-empirical basis, and all of which are orientated around the worker. Starting with the Industrial Fatigue Research Board in 1919, scientific advances in the study of the human at work have shown that the application of scientific understanding of anatomy, physiology and psychology results in improved productivity, thus ergonomists will have received formal education at degree level in these subjects. Although they may seek to operate directly on the shop floor or in the office, they will often be naive concerning some of the harder facts of industrial and commercial life and will therefore work much better via the management services department. On the other hand some people in management services, in their lack of scientific knowledge, try to apply commonsense solutions to ergonomic problems that subsequently backfire on them. Ergonomic principles are much better described in some books (e.g. Murrell (1965), Grandjean (1969)) than in others. The main snag with many scientific authors is their lack of industrial experience. Conversely many industrial writers have no formal scientific training; their books are merely restatements of what they themselves have read elsewhere. This section will describe the application of ergonomics within a broad area of the subject. Readers are recommended to consult books listed in the references (in the PDF

version) for a full description of ergonomics. There is no point in restating that which will be found better written elsewhere. It is important for the manager and supervisor to be conscious of the effect that the application of ergonomics has in the average workplace. Ergonomic principles are important in the constant search for productivity improvement. This section will serve as a reminder. Is there a better way? Seek, examine and consult widely with experts, keeping in mind the background information from this section.

Application of ergonomics to anatomical problems

Anatomy is about the structure of the body.

Many jobs are better done by workers of a particular shape and size. The motor car is an obvious example; the seating and controls are designed to suit the majority of the driving population. The same approach should be used in the design of most controls. Whilst many design engineers use their general knowledge and experience for positioning controls etc., there are statistical data used by ergonomists that give the dimensions of most parts of the body relating to percentages of the population. Using these data, the carmakers know fairly accurately the number of people who will not fit comfortably in their cars and can assess the cost of meeting their needs against the amount of lost sales. Most workplace design involves positioning controls but what may be comfortable for a short thickset individual is likely to be awkward for someone tall and slim. Additionally, the reading of poorly positioned instruments may require excessive body movement. Adjustment of the workplace can solve many problems; the typist's chair with armrests for some work is an inexpensive and robust solution to many seating problems arising from differences in anatomical dimensions. The design of many everyday things, e.g. stairs, doorknobs, wheelbarrows, manholes etc., are all based on human dimensions. People in Western countries in general are more obese than 50 years ago; the trend is likely to continue whilst the better-fed children of the post war years replace the older generation. The principal body dimensions of women are similar to those of many of the smaller men, with the difficulty of shorter arms and legs; although for some tasks the female bosom causes minor problems in equipment and workplace design both because of position and size, and because of its sensitivity. Nowadays there are computer three-dimensional simulations of the person at the workplace that enable the ergonomist to project onto the computer screen how operators, with ranges of given body dimensions, would fit into a new workplace and use new equipment.

The overall differences in body dimensions in people are so great that, like the car designer, normally only a proportion of people will be suited in any particular situation. To increase the suitability of the workplace or equipment, for a wider range of people, costs money, but this can be offset against the greater ease of filling that job. Many health and safety requirements relate to human anatomy; they are difficult to formulate for all shapes and sizes of worker.

Application of ergonomics to physiological problems

Physiology is about the way the body functions.

Physiological problems occur when the body is required to do too much work, to work awkwardly or to work under bad environmental conditions. Fatigue results from most work. The worker should be not more than healthily tired at the end of his working day. Thus the rest allowances built into the task should be adequate without being excessive and uneconomic. Ergonomists assess physical work by measuring oxygen breathed, heart rate change etc, but are usually handicapped by only being able to measure individuals under semi-natural conditions. However, in a similar way they can measure recovery from fatigue. This has a direct connection with rest allowances; for instance, it has been confirmed that although learners need more rest than qualified workers, they are apt to tire themselves out by not resting adequately during the early part of their work. There is a natural balance between work periods and rest periods for every day whereby quality and quantity of work are at an optimum. This is not yet being adequately exploited by the employment of industrial ergonomists at the actual workplace. Work measurement, in management services, involves rating for effort. A worker on piecework performs at 25 per cent more output than on day rate, and a work study person can assess within fairly close limits the rate at which an operator is working. In the past there have been many attempts at using ergonomics to measure effort more accurately; unfortunately such successes as have been achieved in the laboratory tended not to have been repeated in the rigors of the actual workplace. But with the transistorized miniaturization of equipment now available, improved accuracy of shopfloor studies will increase substantially, eventually leading to the point where rates can easily be set by using simple standard physiological measuring equipment. In jobs where anatomical restrictions result in postural difficulties, extra physiological effort and fatigue occur. Often work is aided by using momentum from part of the body, and the value of this depends on exactly how it is done. Performed inexpertly it can result in permanent damage to the back. By assessing the effect on the affected muscle groups, ergonomists can determine which of several postures is less fatiguing and make recommendations of how to improve matters at least cost.

The physiological effects of environmental factors have been traditionally catered for by increased rest allowances. Ergonomists have shown this practice to be erroneous; it now contravenes health and safety legislation. Actually by giving workers an increased rest allowance, indirectly translatable into cash, vulgarly but accurately called 'dirt money', management formally acknowledges the health hazard by bribing the worker not to make a fuss about it. Thus there is cause for saying that both management and workforce become liable to prosecution where poor environments are compensated for in increased wages, however sophisticated the payment system may appear.

Application of ergonomics to psychological problems

Psychology is about the theory of the human mind.

The difficulty with the application of psychology in management services departments is in its vagueness. Psychology is concerned with the analysis and classification of various states of the human mind. Because human beings vary so much between each other and in such complex ways, all attempts at classifying people into groups merely results in the statement of broad principles that may or may not be relevant to the individual worker on the shopfloor or in the office. We know each other more or less superficially. Psychology attempts to improve this knowledge and is therefore useful. But because psychologists are trying to describe what goes on in the mind and this cannot be actually seen, touched, heard, smelt or tasted, their published works are more often expressions of opinion than checkable fact. So management services is in the difficult position of needing to know but not being able to judge what is worthwhile. Management is not really concerned with what people think; management is very involved in what people may do as a result of thinking. So the branch of psychology called 'occupational' or 'applied' psychology is of more relevance as much of its research is concerned with the worker's reaction to working conditions. For example, in an inexpensive Pelican paperback (Warr (1971)) called Psychology at Work, there are 17 chapters which include the topics of: shift work, skill performance and stress, the learning curve, person-machine interface problems, accidents, ageing, worker selection, job appraisal, decision-making, management of managers, worker motivation, worker participation, negotiating behavior, organization relationships. The book might equally have included chapters on language, the five senses, behavioral disorders, alertness and fatigue, individual differences, speed versus accuracy, information acquisition, information processing, knowledge of results and feedback, frustration, leadership, attitudes and opinion gathering, informal organization within formal organizations, short-long-term memory, imagery, role-playing mediation, forgetting, etc. All these topics, and there are more, are of direct interest to both the ergonomist and to the management services department as occurring within any typical organization. In

addition there is the psychology of society as a whole influencing people at their workplace. This is social psychology, an even more opinionated subject than occupational psychology, and a separate study in itself. The main difficulty is that so many people are professionally involved in introspective mind searching; so much has been written and so many laws, theories and hypotheses propounded that separating all grain from the chaff has become impossible. What may be fashionable in psychology today may be discredited tomorrow yet heralded as a fundamental truth in 20 years' time. Frequently, in new ideas there is a small amount of truth encapsulated in a proliferate of transient justifying jargon. Knowing what to peel off and discard is very difficult. Many new psychological theories are presented in the form of case histories that may seem very convincing. Whilst there should always be misgivings as to whether the new theory will fit into one's own circumstances, a word of caution is necessary concerning the case history itself. For example, the well known Hawthorne Experiment, conducted by Elton Mayo, in which five female workers were studied over a period of five years from 1927 under a variety of working conditions, has been widely reported as showing that active and benevolent interest by management brings about increases in production. What is not usually reported was that the method of choosing subjects was a little odd; two women, who were reported to be skilled at relay assembly, were asked to choose four others to work with them and the whole lot were segregated from the other 100 or so who were working on this particular job. Then, when a 'talking problem', occurred, and although they had been told to work 'as they felt', two of the girls were dropped from the experiment. Two replacements were found, and conditions were temporarily as the experimenters desired. However, when production began to fall, the supervisor used the technique of reprimand and threat, including the threat that the current working conditions which the women disliked so much would be continued for a much longer period. Eventually only three of the original women remained. Although the Hawthorne studies are an example of less competent observational studies, nevertheless they do illustrate how such work is open to error and inconsistency.

Ergonomics
Some case studies
There are many psychological studies which give insight into worker performance, some examples of which are given in the following paragraphs.

Postcode
The (UK) Post Office employs an ergonomics department and has done for many years. As is known, the postcode (e.g. TR27 5JZ) gives a unique reference for each post delivery round in the whole country; the actual combination of letters and numbers is easier to remember than an equivalent string of only digits or letters.

Shiftwork
A survey in Japan of 17000 shift workers in 1500 firms results in recommended 40 hour weeks, overtime limit of 150 hours per year, two-hour sleeping periods during night shifts, not more than eight night shifts per month, etc. Similar studies in Europe and elsewhere have highlighted that morning-active people differ considerably from evening-active people in how much sleep they got during shiftwork. These two types are easy to identify psychologically and ought to be borne in mind when recruiting for shiftwork.

Production line inspection

The improvement of inspection has been aided by using a complicated apparatus, which fits onto the inspector's head; this contains a small television camera which records the movement of a light reflected from the eye, superimposing it on what the inspector is looking at. In this way a video film is obtained which shows exactly what the inspector is looking at. From this, the search pattern, or strategy, used by the inspector in searching for product defects is obtained. For example, a study of 20 inspectors of production of small roller bearings found that the better inspectors looked directly at 85 per cent of the visible bearing surface whilst the worse inspectors looked directly at only 30 per cent, placing a greater reliance on the less-accurate peripheral vision. It is reported that better training of inspectors and running the belt towards the inspectors instead of away reduced defects by 25 per cent and inspection time by 50 per cent. Reaction times With increasing complexity and cost of machines, the need for an operator to react quickly to correct a malfunction becomes increasingly more important. Donders, over one hundred years ago, correctly identified three types of reaction requirement:

Type Has an event/signal occurred? (yes/no). Type Which event/signal has occurred and therefore which response is appropriate?

A B

Type Which event/signal has occurred and therefore is a response necessary?

From these, the discrimination time = type C response time minus type A response time and choice time = type B response time minus type A response time. These are used today in information processing. Like computers, information for humans is measured in bits; obviously a single choice is one bit, i.e. either 'on' or 'off'. The statistics concerning the likelihood of an event/signal are a little involved but relatively simple, e.g. if there are two events/signals which occur with probabilities of 70 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, the average information is 0.88 bits (the average of 0.51 and 1.71 bits worked out from log21 divided by each probability). It is thought that our brain cannot process more than about 12 bits a second. Reaction-time tasks involve a decision based on successive samples of sensory information. Each sample contains some extraneous information ('noise') as well as relevant information.

Ergonomic Indicators
The following is a list of key indicators that mitigate for the need for human factors engineering to be considered and applied. If any items in this list pertain to your workplace, pause, think and ask the question "Can we better fit the work to the worker(s)?"

Is absenteeism on this task too high? Is turnover on this task too high? Is production efficiency on this task too low? Do employees complain frequently about this task? Is personnel assignment on this task limited by age, sex, or body size? Is the training for this task too long? Is product quality too low? Have there been too many accidents on this job? Have there been too many medical visits? Does the worker frequently make mistakes? Is there excessive equipment damage on this job? Does this task result in too much material waste?

The ergonomic checklists

A checklist is useful for somebody who does not know where to start. For the manager, often there is not enough time to consider the finer points when completing an investigation. The checklists will serve to remind you of various aspects of work where ergonomics can be of assistance.

On every point there is a financial gain to the organization if the requirement is met. In many instances the answers and advantages of having things right are obvious; in other instances the point may seem less important. This is probably because of lack of knowledge and the reader would do well to seek further information by reading up on those points which he or she is not familiar with. The list is not complete but covers most circumstances. Most industrial disasters today are the result of human error, either in setting up the workplace or in its running; these can be mostly prevented by the proper application of ergonomics by the management services department at the appropriate time. This checklist has been adapted from that published by the International Ergonomics Association in 1965-70 (still relevant today!) Organization of work

Is the work formed in shifts; if so what system is used? If rotating, what are the extra psychological and physiological loads imposed upon the worker? Are there any social implications? What are the actual hours of work? Are there any customs and practices that need close scrutiny? What is the average overtime? Is overtime income built into the job? Should this be recognized? What formal meal and refreshment rates are provided; are they organized effectively? Is the task paced? Is the pacing necessary and/or effective?

Environmental load

Are any conditions legally stressful? Are all recommendations under health and safety complied with? Do you know the air temperature, humidity, radiation and air movement? What are the limits in summer and winter? How are preventative measures used to mitigate adverse climatic conditions and do they impede performance? Is the worker exposed to rapid environmental changes during the course of his or her single shift? What is the noise level; does it interfere with performance; what risk is there of hearing loss? If noise level is high, how should preventative measures be taken; are hearing losses of workers screened on recruitment? Are there any other potential environmental hazards, e.g. dust, chemical agents, ultra-violet light, ionizing radiation? In cases of doubt has specialist advice been obtained in writing? To that extent should personal protective devices be provided; is the worker adequately protected from adverse weather as well as from hazardous substances?

Ergonmic checklists - Work Method

Physical Demands

Does the task involve a heavy muscular load; if so, does this limit selection of worker? Does the work involve overloading small muscle groups? Can the workload be transferred by method change to larger muscle groups thus reducing fatigue? To what extent can muscular effort be reduced by using suitable equipment? To what extent are heavy loads snatched or carried awkwardly? Are small or large muscle groups involved in static exertion by holding tools or material; can jigs be used? Is alternation of work and rest, and of static and dynamic work built into the work method? Is the pattern of movement in agreement with the principles of motion economy? Does the task require great accuracy of movement; is there an absence of feedback?

Mental Demands

Is there the recommended compatible relation between direction of movement of control and the resultant effect? Can the controls be recognized easily by shape, size, labeling, color, for both normal use and in emergency? Are the controls as near as possible to the corresponding sources of information? Are the positions of controls in the right sequence for the performance of the task? Do workers receive sufficient information regarding the process flow and output? Have data to be processed before required action can be taken? Have different data to be compared before action can be taken? Are any data to be estimated? Are standards of comparison available and used? Are parts to be assembled, supplied correctly pre-orientated? Can signals be confused? Do signals always have the same level of significance? Is the task adapted to the capacities of older workers; considering thought, sight, hearing, touch and movement as separate processes? Are there adequate rest pauses during the monitoring work; to what extent can rest be taken during the task?

Flow of Information

Are the data required to carry out the task obvious, unequivocal, and relevant? Is every part of these data necessary for performance; are differing and appropriate amounts of data available during the learning process? Is the rate of information likely to exceed the mental capacity of the operator and to overload him or her before the end of the task?

Can the relative advantages of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, etc. be used to advantage in spreading the information load more evenly? Is the rate of information likely to underload the operator? How are signals to be detected when the worker's mind is occupied by monitoring actions? Do the various displays of different information vary in more than one aspect? To what extent can they be distinguished from each other simply and in emergency? How much information has to be retained for longer than three seconds; to what extent is it reinforced by retrieval? Is the attention span longer than about 20 minutes if a signal can occur at any time; but does it occur less than about four times per half-hour? Can signals from different sources occur simultaneously or almost simultaneously; is this more likely to happen in an emergency when the consequences of misinterpretation could be catastrophic? Can preferred signals be easily distinguished? Do identical or very similar signals occur for a long time and are they frequently repeated? To what extent does the worker have to make one or more choices in response to a signal, and how soon does he or she know if the choice is wrong? Are all the factors relevant to a decision presented at the right time and sequence? Is adequate time allowed for decisions and resulting actions, not only in the normal circumstance but more importantly in the emergency? To what extent does rapid feedback give the results of system adjustment; to what extent is there a knock-on effect?

Ergonomic Checklists - The Workplace

Physical Demands

Is the workspace adequate? Does the position of equipment, controls and workbench allow a satisfactory posture and correct control by hand and foot? Does the worker have to stand for all or most of the time; alternatively, must he or she remain seated for all the time? Is the provision for the worker to sit adequate in relation to the task? Is the height of the worktable satisfactory in relation to posture and viewing distance; if posture is unsatisfactory is it due to the construction of the machine, workbench, controls, or portable instruments? Is the surface of the workbench satisfactory in regard to hardness, smoothness, color, and slope? To what extent are any foot controls required? Are pedals satisfactory in respect of position and size, and is special allowance made if there are more than two for sitting postures or any used for a significant time for standing postures? Are foot rests and/or supports for arms, hand, back, available if required; do any of these restrict the safe and effective operation of the task?

Are the characteristics of the hand controls compatible with the forces required to operate them (shape, size, surface) and are the forces acceptable? If hand tools are used, are they the correct ones for the task; are they adequately maintained, and are they accessible to the operator in the most effective way? Are containers used; is their position, size and weight satisfactory? To what extent can the speed of the machine be adjusted according to the skill and/or preference of the operator and how does this affect output? Is design and layout of the equipment satisfactory for repair and maintenance? Are any of the considerations unsatisfactory so as to bring liability under health and safety regulations; are recommendations as to operator comfort and stress clearly distinguished?

Ergonmic Checklists - Workplace Sensory Demands

Vision:

Does the task impose high visual demands? Is the illumination level adequate for the visual demands required? Is lighting met by general and/or local lighting? Is the visual contrast between workplace and surroundings as it should be? Is there any discomfort glare; is there any disability glare? Is color discrimination needed; are operators screened for visual acuity, and what allowances are made for ageing? Are controls, instruments, equipment etc. in comfortable visual range and adequately lit? Are warning lights correctly designed and located?

Hearing:

To what extent are auditory signals used; are their characteristics appropriate to the message conveyed? Does noise level permit adequate verbal communication if required in the task? Is confusion possible because of auditory signals required for other tasks?

Other senses:

Does the task require accurate tactical discrimination? Are all controls and tools recognized by touch, and are they positioned correctly? Does the task require a good sense of balance (with ladders), and are these workers regularly screened, especially older workers? Does the task require accurate position movements or exact application of muscular force? Does the task require a good sense of smell or taste; if so, has any attempt been made to check the abilities of the operators? Have the effects of vibration, infrasound or ultrasound been thought of seriously, both in the health and safety context and in terms of performance decrement?

Ergonmic Checklists - Visual Displays and Dials

Legibility:

Can the required data be obtained from display quickly with the required accuracy? Are the scales correctly graduated and are as simple as possible; not giving needless or spurious accuracy? Do the letters, numbers, graphics and markings conform to the relevant standards in relation to the required reading distance; is the required reading distance different from the normal reading distance? Are pointers and other indicators simple and clear, and do they allow numbers to be read without obstruction? Are pointers mounted so that the visual parallax is minimized? Have great differences in brightness between displays, dials and surroundings been avoided? Is the legibility of the display impaired by reflection of light sources? Is the legibility of dials impaired by bright lights visible within the same area of vision? Has shadowing by pointers, edges, or controls been avoided? Does the chosen numerical progression minimize reading errors?

Grouping:

Is it possible to group the different categories of dials and displays in different planes or surrounds of mounting? Can groups of displays of a specific category be divided by area or color patterning; are the layouts of displays so contrived as to highlight when the normal changes to abnormal? Are displays located near to their corresponding controls? Have the most important and/or the most frequently used instruments the best position in the normal visual field? Are the most frequently used instruments grouped together in one and in the same area of the visual field?

Positioning:

Is the positioning of controls on similar machines or displays correctly standardized? Does reading of instruments require undue movement of head and/or body? Is the location and size of the display correct in regard to sitting posture, arm reach and viewing direction?

Accuracy and speed:

Is the accuracy of the instrument compatible with the required reading accuracy? Are reading errors minimized by the design of the instrument?

Is the time lag between changes in the system and indication of it in the display minimized as far as possible? Are digital displays used for accurate reading and for adjusting to a predetermined value? Is a moving pointer display used for estimation of the degree of deviation and for adjusting deviation? Is the dial as simple as possible in regard to the desired information; can colored zones (e.g. red, amber, green) be used instead of numbers and markings when only check information is required? Is a satisfactory signal used to indicate the breakdown of a measuring instrument; and is the knock-on effect whereby several alarms may occur simultaneously avoided in favor of the most important?

Conformity:

Does the grouping and arrangements of displays conform to the required reading sequence? Do pointers and other graphics point in the same direction when equipment is working correctly? Does the direction of the movement display have a similar meaning in different displays? Is the positioning of displays in different colors the same where these panels serve a similar purpose?

Controls:

Is it possible to see immediately which situation is indicated by the position of the control? Does the controlling hand impede the reading of the dial? Is it possible to indicate the zero position by a stop? Is it possible to recognize controls or visual graphics by means of differences in shape, color or size?

Gaining knowledge of ergonomics

Ergonomics is a scientific subject and is written about by scientists. Non-scientists read the books and scientific papers that have been written by ergonomists and do their best in reproducing the information. Unfortunately, this is seldom adequate; usually the information is summarized in a mechanistic manner, omitting warnings and limitations that were included in the original scientific paper. There are many scientific books on each subject and because scientists seldom entirely agree with each other, it is wise to read three or four different authors on any one subject. With the day-to-day pressures of work in management services department, to read several books in order to find out one very small piece of information about one project is obviously uneconomic. But ergonomics is about people and work; and a problem that has turned up in one area is likely to be encountered in other similar situations.

Most of the books are written by good scientists; this means that readers can dip into the book, retrieve the piece of information that they want and put it down again without having to read more than part of a single chapter. Many scientists have little appreciation of the problems of modern industry and commerce, leaving their readers to stretch their own knowledge and skills in applying the information to their own problems. Because of this, all management services training courses include a large section on ergonomics, whether described as such or not.

Putting the person first

Unfortunately in the application of ergonomics, a mechanical engineering background is usually a positive disadvantage because the engineer will naturally consider the machine first whereas ergonomics is about putting the person first. In the same way, training departments often expect the human being to adapt to the machine; this can be expensive and will usually break down in an emergency. In gaining knowledge about ergonomics the manager or supervisory has to be able to look at work from the point of view of the person doing it. As well as having the scientific knowledge, ergonomists need to have a feel for the job. They need to be able to picture themselves with the skills, attributes and background of the worker being actually engaged in the work for a full working year. They need to be able to feel that management is getting full value from the worker without stressing him or her and without unnecessary set-up cost of the job. This is an attitude of mind that is seldom mentioned in the textbooks but is important. Formal training in pure ergonomics may be gained at colleges and universities. Each course should have anatomy, physiology and psychology, and environment firmly distinguished from each other.