Vocational Rehabilitation& Ergonomics

University of Social Welfare &Rehabilitation Sciences

(Department of Occupational Therapy)

Week 9

R.osquei-zadeh@uswr.ac.irwww.uswr.ac.ir

BergRice V. (1998) Ergonomics in Healthcare and Rehabilitation.

Woburn: Butterworth - Heinemann.

Bridger R. (2003) Introduction to Ergonomics (2nd edition). London:

Taylor & Francis.

Karwowski W. (2003) Occupational Ergonomics: Principles of Work

Design. New York: CRC Press.

Moray N. (2005) Ergonomics: Major Writings, The History and Scope of Human Factors. London: Taylor & Francis.

Noyes J. (2001) Designing for Humans. London: Taylor & Francis.

References

45% Coursework25 % Seminar

30% Exam

Total MarkAssessment

Ergonomics

Promotional Tool

CraftEngineering

DisciplineApplied

Psychology

Ergonomics

ScienceTechnologyor ?and

International Ergonomics Association (IEA)• Ergonomics (or Human Factors) is the scientific

discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theoretical principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

International Standards Organization (ISO)• Ergonomics produces and integrates knowledge from

the human sciences to match jobs, systems, products, and environments to the physical and mental abilities and limitations of people. In doing so it seeks to safeguard safety, health and well-being whilst optimizing efficiency and performance.

Some Definitions

Prehistory

Machine

s 1750 -

1870

Power

1870 -

1945

New

Age

1945 -

Now

Age of Tools Industrial Revolution

• Textile Industry

• Steam Power• Improving Work Efficiency

• Time & Motion Studies (Taylor, Gilbreths,

etc.)

• Second World War (Complex Military Equipment)

• Transportation & Agriculture

• Decision Making

• Reasoning

• Information Processing

• Human Computer

Interaction

United Kingdom

• Anatomy & Physiology

• Illumination

Engineering

• etc.

United States

• Psychology

• Engineering

• etc.

Germany &

Scandinavia

• Medicine

• Functional Anatomy

• etc.

Eastern Europe

• Industrial Engineering

• etc.

Aesthetics

Comfort

Accessibility

Usability

Performance Management

Health & Safety

Some Ergonomics Concepts

Anatomy

Physiology

Management

StatisticsPsychology

Engineering

Industrial Design

Some Overlapping DisciplinesWith Ergonomics

Physical Ergonomics

Cognitive Ergonomi

cs

Organizational

Ergonomics

Domains of Specialism

Physical Ergonomics

• Fit, Manual Handling, Display-Control, Health & Safety, Product Design, Tools, Workplace Layout, Environment

• US, 2nd World War, Engineering Psychologists aviation accidents, Engineering error instead of Human error. Human Factors (needs, limitations and capabilities) were not considered in design

• Europe , Industries

Cognitive Ergonomics

• Mental workload, Stress, Reaction, Problem Solving, Decision Making

• How people process information

• Software design

• 25% rise in job opportunities

• Artificial Intelligence (Supportive)

• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Organizational (Social) Ergonomics

• Attitudes, Motivation, Job and team design, Satisfaction

• Late 1970

• Good Human-Hardware and Human-Software → still poor work system

• Development of macro-ergonomics

• Lower injuries and higher production in different industries all over the world

Systems Ergonomics

• Most successful ergonomics analysis, design and evaluation integrates the physical, cognitive and organizational.