Ergonomics



Ergonomics

Introduction

Ergonomics is an interdisciplinary field that designs objects, systems, and environments to improve human capability and interaction. It is largely synonymous with the term human factors, which cover the same technical areas but originated and developed in Europe. Although ergonomics has a broad scope, it commonly refers to workplace health, performance, and safety. A central theme of ergonomics is the environment-behavior relationship, in which environment is defined freely to include built environments of buildings, workplaces such as the material environment which are lighting, temperature, noise, technical environment which are equipment, workstations, parameters of machines, organizational environment such as work processes, and social environment. All of these can be designed and optimized in environmentally sustainable ways (Donald Norman, 2002).

Discussion

Ergonomics is divided into several broad domains: physical, cognitive, organizational, and environmental. It is very vital for the organization in order to improve their work environment and performance of the employees. Within these domains there is wide diversity. For example, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society organize more than 20 specific application areas (D. Caple, 2010). They include the application of ergonomics to aviation and space environments; computer systems; education and training; environmental design; health and quality of life; human communication; Internet technology; manufacturing and industry; product design; and transport. Practitioners come from a variety of backgrounds, drawing upon anthropology, biomechanics, biology, computing, engineering and design, biology, occupational therapy, and psychology. The aim is to provide a complete picture of employee interaction with good performance. A recent trend has been the integration of a green agenda into projects.

Habits of Employees

To improve the behavior of employee comfort should be considered at the most. Comfort is a subjective term, so what might be considered cozy to one worker could be viewed as troublesome for another. There might never be a truly perfect office chair for workers, but employers can follow a few guidelines when they evaluate ergonomic options. Business owners should keep in mind that workers might spend a large amount of their work weeks in these seats, and it might be wise to assess the risk of back, neck and spine injuries in the workplace. If the work station is not comfortable, then perceptions of employees change in a way that it affects on the productivity of employees. Habits of employees change according to the work environment and behavior of the other employees.

Workers might spend the majority of time in their office in front of computer or workstations, so delivering maximum comfort are important to help them stay comfortable. Many organizations have offered footrests to these employees, as they promote positive workplace ergonomics while helping maximize organizational efficiency.

Behavior modification

Training program in organization should focus in a way that it helps employees to improve their work and productivity. It mainly focuses on the structural work environment. An employee's loss could negatively affect an organization and its customers. Not only might the business need to find a replacement, but the quality of the goods and services it provides could suffer if it fails to hire ...