Introduction to Ergonomics

Lecture 1

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 1. Human Factors and Ergonomics
in Practice
Improving System Performance
and Human Well-Being
in the Real World

Edited by Steven Shorrock and Claire Williams

© 2017 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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2. OCCUPATIONAL
ERGONOMICS
A Practical Approach
Theresa Stack,
Lee T. Ostrom, And
Cheryl A. Wilhelmsen

Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley

& Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

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3. Ergonomics for Beginners - A Quick
Reference Guide
Third Edition
By
Jan Dul • Bernard Weerdmeester
CRC Press Taylor and Francis 2008
(Selected as text book)

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 Detailed Contents:
 Introduction to ergonomics, its importance and considerations
in engineering
 Ergonomic design of a work place/station
 Introduction to work study
 Techniques and procedures of work study and their relation
 Method study and its techniques
 Work measurement and its techniques
 The human factor in the application of work study
 Working condition and the working environment, The flow and
handling of material
 Movement of workers and information in the work area
 Predetermined Time Standards (PTS)
 Case studies and problem solution 6
 Contents -1
 Chapter 1 Introduction- What Is Ergonomics
 Chapter 2 Posture and Movement
 Chapter 3 Information and Operation
 Chapter 5 Work Organization Jobs and Tasks
 Chapter 6 The Ergonomic Approach
 Chapter 7 Sources of Additional Information and
International ISO Standards on Ergonomics

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THE BASICS OF ERGONOMICS
LEARNING
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of this module,

students will be able to identify

 Basic principles of ergonomics, which will include a
working definition of the term, and a brief history
 Recognize the physical workplace risk factors and
other contributors to the development of work-related
musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) as well as
potential resolutions to reduce or control workplace
risk

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 Introduction - What Is
 Ergonomics
Ergonomics is application of knowledge about
physiological, psychological, and biomechanical
capacities and limitations of the human
(Butterworth, 1974)
 This knowledge is applied in the planning, design,
and evaluation of work environments, jobs, tools,
and equipment to enhance worker performance,
safety, and health. Ergonomics is essentially fitting
the workplace to the worker
 Ergonomics seeks to prevent WMSDs by applying
principles to identify, evaluate, and control physical
workplace risk factors 9
 Introduction - What Is
Ergonomics
The formal definition of ergonomics, approved by the IEA,
reads as follows:
Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific
discipline concerned with understanding of the
interactions among humans and other elements of a
system
and the profession that applies theory, principles,
data and methods to design, in order to optimize
human well-being and overall system performance

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 Factors Effecting Ergonomics
Factors that play a role in ergonomics incl
 Body posture and movement (sitting, standing,

lifting, pulling and pushing)

 Environmental factors (noise, vibration,

illumination, climate, chemical substances)

 Information and operation (information gained

visually or through other senses, controls, relation

between displays and control)
Work organization (appropriate tasks, interesting

jobs)

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 Factors Effecting Ergonomics
 Ergonomic knowledge Derived from
 Safety health, comfort and work performance efficiency,
anthropometrics, biomechanics, physiology, psychology,
toxicology, mechanical engineering, industrial design,
information technology and management
 Methods and techniques in Ergonomics are applied and
interdisciplinary ie relate to many different human facets
 Actually the ergonomic approach results in the
adaptation of the workplace or environment to fit people,
rather than the other way round

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 What Is An Ergonomist?
 In Europe, for example the Center for Registration
of European Ergonomists (CREE) decides on
candidates for registration as European
Ergonomists (EurErg)
 Similarly in the USA, the Board of Certification in
Professional Ergonomics (BCPE) awards the title
Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE)

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 The Social Value of

Ergonomics
Ergonomics - human well-being in terms of safety,
health, and comfort
 Daily accidents at work, in traffic and at home
 Disasters eg cranes, airplanes and nuclear power
stations can often be attributed to human error
 Analysis of failures - cause is inadequate
relationship between operators and their task
 Probability of accidents reduced by designing work
taking better account of human capabilities and
limitations
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 The Social Value of
Ergonomics
 Design of complex technical systems eg process

installations, aircraft and (nuclear) power stations,

ergonomics is the most important design factors in
reducing operator error
 Absence due to illness, and Occupational Disability
arise from hazardous diseases of musculoskeletal
system (mainly lower back pain) and psychological
illnesses (for example, due to stress), partly
ascribed to poor design of equipment, technical
systems and tasks

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 The Social Value of
Ergonomics
 Legislation in occupational health and safety

regulations refer to ergonomics as a means to

prevent work-related health problems
 Official standards incl International Standardization
Organization (ISO), European EN-standards of the
Comité European de Normalisation (CEN) etc
 Finally, user-friendly products (e.g., input devices
for computers) are being promoted as
ergonomical, suggesting comfort and pleasure
during the use of the product

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 Economic Value of
 Economic goals (performance)
Ergonomics
 At society level, ergonomics – costs reduction due to
preventable health problems eg work-related
musculoskeletal disorders and costs related to the loss
of labor productivity due to absence from work
 At company level - competitive advantage -
ergonomically designed production processes- increase
human performance, productivity and quality
 Customer Level - Furthermore, with ergonomically
designed products, a company can deliver benefits to its
customers exceeding competitors

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 2. Posture and Movement
 Posture and movement imposed by the task
 Body’s muscles provide the force , ligaments do
auxiliary function and joints allow the relative
movement of the various parts of the body
 Poor posture - local mechanical stress on the
muscles, ligaments and joints(MLJ), resulting in
complaints of the neck, back, shoulder, wrist - parts
of the musculoskeletal system
 A stress on the MLJ, use energy adds pressure on
muscles, heart and lungs
 Optimizing tasks leads to soft postures and
movements(sit, stand, lift, pull and push) 18
 Ergonomic Compulsions
 Joints must be in a neutral position
 Keep the work close to the body
 Avoid bending forward
 A twisted trunk strains the back
 Sudden movements and forces produce peak
stresses
 Alternate postures as well as movements
 Limit the duration of any continuous muscular
effort
 Prevent muscular exhaustion
 More frequent short breaks are better than a
single long one 19
 Joints must be in a neutral
position:
 In maint a posture or movement, the joints -

neutral position or stretched to the least possible

extent least stress, muscles deliver their greatest
force as the joints are in the neutral position.
 Raised arms, bent wrists, bent neck and turned
head, and bent and twisted trunk poor postures
where the joints are not in a neutral position
 Increasing the distance between the hands and
the body increases stress on lower back (10 N is
about 1 kg-force)

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 Keep the work close to the
 If the work is too far from the body,
body
 the arms will be outstretched
 trunk bent over forward
 The weight of the arms, head, trunk and load being held
then exerts a greater horizontal leverage on the joints
under stress (elbow, shoulder, back).
 Result increased stress on these muscles, joints

Figure above shows that the stress to the back increases

when the arms are outstretched.

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 Avoid bending forward
 The upper part of the body of an adult weighs
about 40 kg on average
 When trunk is bent forwards, the harder it is for
the muscles and ligaments of the back to
maintain the upper body in balance
 The stress is particularly large in the lower back
 Prolonged bending over for long periods must be
avoided wherever possible

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A twisted trunk strains the
back
 Twisted postures of the trunk cause

undesirable stress to the spine

 The elastic discs between the vertebrae are
stretched, and the joints and muscles on both
sides of the spine are subjected to
asymmetric stress

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Sudden movements and
forces
 Sudden movements and forces can produce

large, short-duration stresses

 These peak stresses are a consequence of
the acceleration in the movement
 It is well known that sudden lifting can cause
acute back pain in the lower back. Lifting must
occur as far as possible in an even and
gradual manner
 Thorough preparation is necessary before
large forces are exerted
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 Alternate postures &
movements
 No posture or movements to be maintained for a
long period of time
 Prolonged postures and repetitive movements
are tiring and can lead to injuries to the muscles
and joints
 It is best to avoid movements that involve regular
lifting or repetitive arm movements
 Standing, sitting and walking should also be
alternated and it should be possible to carry out
prolonged tasks either standing or sitting
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Limit the duration of any
continuous muscular
effort
 Continuous stress on certain muscles in the

body as a result of a prolonged posture or

repetitive movement leads to localized
muscle fatigue, discomfort and reduced
muscle performance.
 Muscular effort (force % max force), inversely
related to time it can be, 50 % muscular effort
for one minute causes muscular exhaustion

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 Prevent muscular
 Exhausted muscular recovery takes long time
exhaustion
so exhaustion must be avoided
 Exhausted muscle needs to rest for 30 minutes
to achieve a 90 % recovery. Muscles 50%
exhausted require 15 minutes. Complete
recovery can take many hours

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More frequent short
breaks are better than a
single long one
 Muscular fatigue can be reduced by

distributing the resting time over the task

duration or working day
 It is not sensible to accumulate break times
until the end of the task or working day

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Ergonomics -Physiological
Background
 Exercise Physiology, estimates the energy
demands on the heart and lungs resulting from
muscular movements. Physical tasks over a long
period cause localized muscular and general
body fatigue
 The limiting factor here is the amount of energy
that the heart and lungs supply to the muscles to
allow postures to be adopted or movements to be
carried out
 Important physiological principles of to the
ergonomics of posture and movement are
discussed next 32
1. Limit the energy
expenditure
 The majority peoplein
can task
carry out a prolonged
task without experiencing any general fatigue
untill energy demand of 250 W (1 W = 0.06
kj/min = 0.0143 kcal/min) including 80W body
needs when at rest
 No special measures (breaks or alternating with
light activities necessary) Ex of tasks needing
250 W are writing, typing, ironing, assembling
light materials, operating machinery, a gentle
walk or a leisurely cycle ride

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 2. Rest is necessary after
heavy tasks
 When energy demand of task exceeds 250 W,

then additional rest is necessary to recover. Rest

can be in the form of breaks or less demanding
tasks. The reduction in activity must be such that
the average energy demand over the working day
does not exceed 250 W
 Next table lists some activities with a high-energy
demand. It is also true here that rest is most
effective if the total rest time is spread over a
number of break periods spaced regularly during
the task and not saved up until the end of the task
or the end of the working day 34
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 2.Anthropometric
 Anthropometrics is concerned with the size and
Background
proportions of the human body.
 A few anthropometric principles of importance to
the ergonomics of posture and movements are:
 Take account of differences in body size
 Use the anthropometric tables appropriate for
specific populations

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 Differences in body size
 The designers of workplaces & accessories must
bear in mind differences in body size users
 A table height, suitable for a person of average
stature, can be unsuitable for a tall or short person
A table height that is adjustable over a sufficient
range is the solution if the table is to be used by
several people.
 Sometimes only the shortest users must be
considered, for example, in designing a control
panel that has to be reached with the arms. In other
cases, eg choosing a door height, only the tall
users have to be considered 37
Anthropometric tables -
Populations
Data for body dimensions refers to a
particular population group(do not apply to other
population) Next Table, shows the body
dimensions of British and U.S. adults who are
comparatively tall. The dimensions refer to
unclothed, unshod persons. Some 30–50 mm
must be added to the stature to account for shoe
thickness (The data in the table does not apply to
other population groups)

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 Ergonomics – Posture That
Fits
PostureJob
is imposed by the task or the workplace
 Prolonged postures can cause stress and lead to
complaints of the muscles and joints eg sitting
standing, hand and arm postures in the use of
handheld tools, combinations of sitting and
standing or work stations with pedestal stools
provides a selection procedure for the best basic
posture

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 Sitting - Poster 1
 Working for long periods in a seated position
occurs in offices, in industry (assembly and
packaging work, machine operation etc)
 Sitting has advantages over standing as body is
better supported because several support
surfaces can be used: floor, seat, backrest,
armrest and work surface
 Adopting sitting posture is less tiring than
standing. However, activities that require the
operator to exert a lot of force or to move around
frequently are best carried out standing
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 Alternate sitting with standing and walking
 Sitting for long periods should be avoided as it has
a number of disadvantages
 Manual seated activities (e.g., writing or assembly
work) require hands in view so head and trunk
must be bent forward adding stress on neck, back,
(bending the trunk forward not using back rest),
esp if the trunk has to be twisted and the seat
cannot swivel
 Manual work requiring working with unsupported
raised arms leads to shoulder complaints,

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 Alternate sitting with standing and walking
 Tasks requiring prolonged sitting (eg on VDU
screen) should be alternated with tasks which can
be carried out in a standing position, or where
walking is necessary. A sit–stand workplace or a
chair that promotes active sitting allow the user to
alternate between sitting and other postures during
the task

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Adjustable heights of the
seat and backrest of the chair
 Ergonomically sound chairs is one with adjustable height of the seat and backrest,
feet and upper legs are also properly supported and back of the knee is not cramped
to allow a continuous, smooth motion rather than steps
 For persons between the heights of 38.5 and 52.0 cm minimum adjustment range
should be at least 13.5 cm (plus 3 cm for shoe thickness) Table 2.2

 The backrest must provide support mainly to the lower back; for British and U.S.
 adults, the recommended adjustment range is 15 cm between the heights of 15 and
 30 cm above the seat height, based on differences in the lumbar height, not shown
in
 Table 2.2. Avoid misusing a low backrest as a high backrest.
 The lower part of the backrest must be given a convex shape in order to preserve
 the curve of the lower back.
 In addition, the chair should swivel. This reduces the need to twist the body

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Adjustable heights of the
seat and backrest of the chair
 Ergonomically sound chairs is one with adjustable height of the seat and backrest,
feet and upper legs are also properly supported and back of the knee is not cramped
to allow a continuous, smooth motion rather than steps
 For persons between the heights of 38.5 and 52.0 cm minimum adjustment range
should be at least 13.5 cm (plus 3 cm for shoe thickness) Table 2.2

 The backrest must provide support mainly to the lower back; for British and U.S.
 adults, the recommended adjustment range is 15 cm between the heights of 15 and
 30 cm above the seat height, based on differences in the lumbar height, not shown
in
 Table 2.2. Avoid misusing a low backrest as a high backrest.
 The lower part of the backrest must be given a convex shape in order to preserve
 the curve of the lower back.
 In addition, the chair should swivel. This reduces the need to twist the body

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Limit the Number of Adjustment
Possibilities
 Adjustment possibilities must be restricted to
only the most important components of the
chair, as a minimum, the seat height and the
height of the backrest
 If too many features are adjustable, settings
will be used either incorrectly or not at all

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Provide proper seating
instructions
 Users of adjustable chairs must receive
regular instruction in the optimum adjustment
of the chair, say, every six month
 This also applies to other adjustable
elements of the workplace, such as the table

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Specific chair
characteristics are
determined
An bychair
ergonomically sound the will task
also display
specificfeatures that depend on the task
Chair with armrests can hinder the activities,

otherwise armrests can support the weight of

the arms, trunk and help rising from the chair
Armrests should be short to allow close

proximity to the table

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 Specific chair
characteristics are
determined by the task -
 Castors are useful if a chair has to be moved

frequently but none should be present if pedals

2 to be operated
have
 If the trunk is upright or tilted backward, the seat
should be tilted backward a few degrees
 Where bending body fwd is unavoidable, a limited
forward tilt (max 20o )is advantageous, as it can
prevent the lower back from curving (See Figure
chair for VDU work (Visual Display Unit)
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 25 feb 2020

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An ergonomically
sound chair for VDU
work. The height of
the seat and back rest
(with support for the
lower back) can
easily be adjusted.
The chair swivels, has
short,
adjustable armrests
and fitted with castors
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 The work height depends on
the taskof the hands & focal point dictate the
The position
posture of the head, trunk and arms
 Right height for the hands & focal point depends
on the task, individual body dimensions and
individual preferences
 Tasks using hands & vision simultaneously, work
height is a compromise between the optimum
arms height and optimum position of the head and
trunk. Low table favours less arms raising & easier
to apply a force but needs bending forward for a
better view of the work9 force on body and back)
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CRUXample
 Tradeoff- heights of the hands and focal point
 Work surface to be lowered accounting thickness
of the work pieces, tools or accessories (e.g., a
keyboard) leaving space for legroom
 Work tables used for a given type of seated task
not involving objects of different thickness must be
adjustable over a range of at least 25 cm because
of differences between individuals. Where a
number of tasks have to be carried out which
require different work heights, the adjustment
range must be even greater.

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CRUXample
 A good starting position for the height of a VDU
workstation is one where the hands are kept at
elbow height. The height of a VDU table with a
keyboard thickness of 3 cm (measured at the
position of the middle row of keys) must be
adjustable between 51.5 and 74.5 cm for British
adults, and between 51.5 and 75 for U.S. adults
(based on differences in sitting elbow height
between short females and tall males, estimated
from dimensions 11 and 16 in Table 2.2, minus 3
cm for keyboard thickness).
 It must be possible to make the adjustment easily
from the seated position. 62
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