Ergonomics

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 ERGONOMICS

ERGON --> WORK

NOMOS --> LAW
The Laws to be Observed at Work
History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics
• To understand human factors it is
important to know where the discipline
came.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics
• Early History
• It could be said that human factors
started when early humans first
fashioned simple tools and utensils.

• Such an assertion, however, might be a

little presumptuous.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics
• Early History

• The development of the human factors

field has been inextricably intertwined
with developments in technology and
as such had its beginning in the
industrial revolution of the late 1800s
and early 1900s.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics
• Early History

• It was during the early 1900s, for

example, that Frank and Lilian Gilbreth
began their work in motion study and
shop management.

• The Gilbreth’s work can be considered

as one of the forerunners to what was
later to be called human factors.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• Early History

• Their work included the study of skilled

performance and fatigue and the
design of work stations and equipment
for the handicapped.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• Early History

• Their analysis of hospital surgical

teams, for example, resulted in a
procedure used today: a surgeon
obtains an instrument by calling for it
and extending his or her hand to a
nurse who places the instrument in the
proper orientation.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• Early History

• Prior to the Gilbreths’ work, surgeons

picked up their own instruments from a
tray.

• The Gilbreths found that with the old

technique surgeons spent as much
time looking for instruments as they
did looking for the patient.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• Early History

• Despite the early contributions of

people such as Gilbreths, the idea of
adapting equipment and procedures to
people was not exploited.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• Early History

• The major emphasis of behavioral

scientists through WW2 was on the
use of tests for selecting the proper
people for jobs and on the
development of improved training
procedures.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• Early History

• The focus was clearly on fitting the

person to the job.

• During WW2, however, it became clear

that, even with the best selection and
training, the operation of some of the
complex equipment still exceeded the
capabilities of the people who had to
operate it.
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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• Early History

• It was time to reconsider fitting the

equipment to the person.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• At the end of the war in 1945,

engineering psychology laboratories
were established by the US Army Air
Corp (later to become the US Army Air
Force) and US Navy.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• At about the same time, the first

civilian company was formed to do
engineering psychology contract work
(Dunlap & Associates).

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• Parallel efforts were being undertaken

in Britain, fostered by the Medical
Research Council and the Department
of Scientific and Industrial Research.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics
• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• It was during the period after the war that

the human factors profession was born.

• In 1949, the Ergonomics Research Society

(now called simply the Ergonomics
Society) was formed in Britain, and the
first book oh human factors was
published, entitled Applied Experimental
Psychology: Human Factors in
Engineering Design (Chapanis, Garner,
and Morgan, 1949)
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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• During the next few years conferences

were held, human factors publications
appeared, and additional human
factors laboratories and consulting
companies were established.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• The year 1957 was an important year

especially for Human Factors in the
United States.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• In that year, the journal Ergonomics

from the Ergonomics research Society
appeared, the Human Factors Society
was formed, Division 21 (Society of
Engineering Psychology) of the
American Psychological Association
was organized, the first edition of this
book was published, and Russia
launched Sputnik and the race for
space was on. 22
History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1945 to 1960: The Birth of a Profession

• In 1959 the International Ergonomics

Association was formed to link several
human factors and ergonomics
societies in various countries around
the world.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• The 20 years between 1960 and 1980

saw rapid growth and expansion of
human factors.

• Until the 1960s, human factors in the

United States was essentially
concentrated in the military-industrial
complex.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• With the race for space and staffed

space flight, human factors quickly
became an important part of the space
program.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• As an indication of the growth of

human factors during this period,
consider that in 1960 the membership
of the Human Factors Society was
about 500; by 1980 it had grown to over
3000.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• More important, during this period,

human factors in the United States
expanded beyond military and space
applications.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• Human factors groups could be found

in many companies, including those
dealing in pharmaceuticals, computers,
automobiles, and other consumer
products.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• Industry began to recognize the

importance and contribution of human
factors to the design of both
workplaces and the products
manufactured there.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• Also during this period another event

occurred that would have a major
impact on the public’s awareness of
human factors – the incident at Three-
Mile Island nuclear power station.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1960 to 1980: A Period of Rapid Growth

• Despite all the rapid growth and

recognition within industry, human
factors was still relatively unknown to
the average person in the street in
1980.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• Human factors continues to grow with

membership in the Human Factors
Society reaching over 4000 in 1986.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics
• 1980 and Beyond

• The computer revolution propelled

human factors into the public limelight.

• Talk of ergonomically designed

computer equipment, user-friendly
software, and human factors in the
office seems to be part and parcel of
virtually any newspaper or magazine
article dealing with computers and
people.
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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics
• 1980 and Beyond

• Computer technology has provided

new challenges for the human factors
profession.

• New control devices, information

presentation via computer screen, and
the impact of new technology on
people are all areas where the human
factors profession in making
contributions.
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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• The role of human factors in the

nuclear power industry came into
sharp focus during the early 1980s.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• The US Nuclear Regulatory

Commission mandated that all nuclear
power control rooms were to undergo
a human factors review to identify and
correct design deficiencies.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• Considerable contract work was

generated by that mandate, and many
human factors specialists turned their
attention to the problems.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• Another area that has been a dramatic

increase in human factors involvement
in forensic and particularly product
liability litigations.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• Courts have come to recognize the

contribution of human factors expert
witnesses for explaining human
behavior and expectations, defining
issues of defective designs, and
assessing the effectiveness of
warnings and instructions.

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• Approximately 15 percent of Human

factors Society members are involved
in expert-witness work. (Sanders, Bied,
and Curran, 1986)

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History of Human Factors and
Ergonomics

• 1980 and Beyond

• Human factors continues to grow with

membership in the Human Factors
Society reaching over 4000 in 1986.

o Today
o Industry, hospitals, offices, product
design

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Ergonomics Today
Matching the job, work tools, and
workplace to the worker.

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What is ERGONOMICS?

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What is ERGONOMICS?

CHAIR DESIGN
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COMPUTER WORKSATATION DESIGN
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CHAIR DESIGN
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APPLE ADJUSTABLE KEYBOARD

KEYBOARD DESIGN
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KEYBOARD DESIGN
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KEYBOARD DESIGN
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KEYBOARD DESIGN
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KEYBOARD DESIGN
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MOUSE DESIGN
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MOUSE DESIGN
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MOUSE DESIGN
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MOBILE PHONE DESIGN
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MATHEMATICS ENGINEERING MEDICAL SCIENCES BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

OCCUPATIONAL BIOMECHANICS

ERGONOMICS

Relationship between ergonomics and other sciences.

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BAD ERGONOMICS DESIGN

•One human factors problem I have found involves

walking in from the bright outdoors into a dark
building and encountering an almost invisible step.
This example comes from a library lobby. The
warning sign isn't a very elegant solution.

•Design suggestion
One possible solution would be to use lighting along
the step to make it visible.

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 What is ergonomics?
ERGONOMICS is the application of scientific
principles, methods, and data drawn from a variety
of disciplines to the development of engineering
systems in which people play a significant role.

Among the basic disciplines are psychology,

cognitive science, physiology, biomechanics,
applied physical anthropometry, and industrial
systems engineering.

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The goal of ergonomics is to design
jobs to fit people. Something is
ergonomically design, if it’s optimized
to fit people. This means taking
account of differences such as size,
strength and ability to handle
information for a wide range of users.
Then the tasks, the workplace and
tools are designed around these
differences. 60
The benefits are improved efficiency,
quality and job satisfaction. The costs
of failure include increased error
rates and physical fatigue - or worse.

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The Science of ergonomics draws
contributions from a couple of other
sciences like Engineering, medical
sciences, biomechanics,
mathematics and behavioural
sciences.

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What is ergonomics?
Also called as human factors or human
engineering in the United States.

It is the study of human characteristics for

the appropriate design of the living and
work environment.

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What Ergonomics does
The fundamental task is to generate
“tolerable” working conditions that do
not pose known dangers to human life
or health.

The next goal is to generate

“acceptable” conditions upon which the
people involved can voluntarily agree,
according to current scientific
knowledge and under given sociological,
technological, and organizational
circumstances.
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What Ergonomics does

The final goal is to generate “optimal”

conditions which are so well adapted to human
characteristics, capabilities, and desires, that
physical, mental, and social well-being is
achieved.

Its fundamental aim is that all human-made

tools, devices, equipment, machines, and
environments should advance, directly or
indirectly, the safety, well-being, and
performance of human beings.
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