Ergonomic Issues Research Articles

Organizational Ergonomics and its Framework

The work proposes that the ergonomic infrastructure of any organisation consisting of structural, technical, relational condition between organisational and stakeholders plays an important role as whole in the development of the ergonomics conditions. These conditions focus on positioning of stakeholders towards ergonomics issues, relationship between stakeholders and strategies they used for implementations. It also includes influences of the culture, attitude and exception of the organisation into implementation of ergonomics as engineering process. It is important to include all such elements because it causes issues at the time of ergonomics proactively (design phase), reactively (in response to injuries, discomfort and compensation claim).

Safety Voice for Ergonomics (SAVE): Evaluation of a masonry apprenticeship training program

BackgroundMasons have a high rate of musculoskeletal disorders among construction workers and greater than all other industries. Viable solutions to musculoskeletal hazards have been identified by industry stakeholders, yet masons receive minimal ergonomics training. Apprentices, as the next generation of masons, need training and strategies to identify and speak up about ergonomic and safety issues on job sites. To fill this gap, our team developed the Safety Voice for Ergonomics (SAVE) training program. MethodsThe interactive, 7-unit SAVE program was developed specifically for masonry brick and block apprentices. This innovative training contains detailed ergonomics lessons focusing on risk factors and solutions specific to this masonry craft. It also contains lessons that provide communication and problem solving strategies. Evaluation of SAVE employed a randomized control trial designed to assess the effectiveness of SAVE for apprentices over a six-month period. ResultsOur findings demonstrated that compared to controls, SAVE trained apprentices used their safety voice more (P = .049) and had greater safety participation (P = .028). They adopted more ergonomic practices such as adjusting scaffolding (P = .016) and using better body postures (P = 042). Apprentices liked SAVE and indicated that it prompted them to change workplace safety behaviors. ConclusionsSAVE is an effective program, providing needed ergonomic and safety communication training for workers as they begin their trade. The broad adoption of SAVE training by the masonry industry has the potential to empower apprentices, elevate the trade's safety culture, and ultimately reduce musculoskeletal disorders.

IMPROVING HUMAN-CENTRED DESIGN APPLICATION IN THE MARITIME INDUSTRY – CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Ergonomic issues with the design of ships and on-board equipment have been reported to hinder the crew’s performance, increase the chance of erroneous actions and, consequently, lead to negative outcomes of maritime operations. One solution to such issues is following a human-centred approach in system design and evaluation, which helps improve usability. While being widely applied in other sectors such as in designing aviation systems, medical equipment, or consumer electronics, HCD practice is still limited within the maritime field. Acknowledging this issue, the Nautical Institute organised a focus group with the participation of 78 people representing various maritime stakeholders. The participants jointly discussed and proposed solutions to improve HCD adoption in the maritime industry. Proposed solutions were aimed toward promoting awareness of usability and HCD among all stakeholders, increase HCD practices through regulatory documents, provide means to support designers in adopting HCD, and introducing a sector-based strategy to adopt HCD.

Assessment of occupational safety, health, and ergonomics issues in agriculture in some cities of Iran.

Iran has a variety of climates which support agriculture in different seasons. Hence, a significant proportion of people, especially in rural areas, are engaged in farming. Agriculture is considered one of the most insecure job sectors in developing and developed countries. Since there is no comprehensive study on safety, health, and ergonomics issues in Iran's agriculture, it is necessary to use checkpoints to assess occupational safety, health, and ergonomics issues in Iran's agriculture. In this study, 430 villages from seven provinces of Iran were selected to study safety, health, and ergonomics in agriculture using ergonomic checkpoints. The checkpoints were collected with the help of rural health centers. The results of the study showed that the villages of Kurdistan Province had the best safety, health, and working conditions (66.12%); and Khuzestan province villages had the worst safety, health, and working conditions (38.16%). Among the ergonomic checkpoints in agriculture, the control of hazardous chemicals (CHC) index with 71.41% and work organization and work schedule (WOWS) index with 35.25% represented the best and worst ergonomic conditions of the study villages, respectively. Furthermore, the general index of ergonomics in agriculture for the study villages was 53.64%. Therefore, Khuzestan Province and the WOWS index top the priorities for corrective actions to improve the safety, health and working conditions in agriculture. The ergonomics indices in Iranian agriculture are important, and should be prioritized for corrective actions.

Process improvements using lean methodologies in a subassembly line

This research study focused on an engine subassembly line at a manufacturing facility. The objective of the study is two-fold: 1) to reduce takt time for engine build by implementing continuous improvement methodologies using lean principles; 2) to minimise the risks this subassembly line is currently prone to because of area congestion, safety issues and ergonomic concerns. Takt time was reduced by 25% by improving the layout using kaizen events based on the input obtained from time studies and motion studies (with spaghetti maps and heat maps). Failure mode effect analysis and three-dimensional static strength prediction program software were used to study the safety risks and ergonomic issues respectively and recommendations were implemented to improve the current working environment.

Dual Robot Kit Preparation in Batch Preparation of Component Kits for Mixed Model Assembly

Kitting is a materials supply principle that plays a vital role for performance in mixed model assembly systems. The kit preparation process, whereby component kits are created, is central when kitting is applied. Kit preparation is a form of materials handling and is associated with several ergonomic and quality related issues. Robotics holds a great potential for decreasing the need for human labour, but literature on the topic is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to identify the time efficiency potential of a dual robot application for kit preparation. To address the purpose, a mathematical model is developed that allows dual robot kit preparation to be analysed and compared with manual kit preparation. Furthermore, the model supports identification of a suitable batch size given a lead time requirement from the assembly system. A numerical example shows dual robot kit preparation to be slightly more efficient than its manual ditto for preparation of 2, 3 and 4 kit batch sizes. The paper’s makes a theoretical contribution in terms of the time efficiency model of dual robot kit preparation. This model is also useful for practitioners when evaluating the potential of dual robot arm kit preparation in their own processes.

Ergonomics as basis for a decision support system in the printing industry

The newspapers must be printed each night in a very short time, in order to deliver them next morning. A printing plant must perfectly design the production, in which some manual operations as the supplement insertion are critical. The main concerns about this manufacturing step are to determine ergonomically the maximum capacity to setup and feed the line by the workers and improve the knowledge on the input conditions of each supplement. A decision support system to determine the number of hired workers needed for the manual insertion (setup and feeding) was developed for a printing plant. It takes into account the supplement characteristics, ergonomic issues and the production rates. A linear program has been defined and some variants have been studied. The new system led to a 13% increase in productivity, a reduction in cost overruns and an important reduction in labor costs. The system may be used for a short-term staff planning.

Digital Human Modeling to Predict Passenger Comfort: A Case of Indonesian Angkot

This paper presents an evaluation of angkot, which was conducted to address ergonomic issues related to this mode of transport and to support the development of design recommendations for angkot use by the Indonesian population. This was achieved by carefully investigating the way people sit inside the angkot, modeling and running simulation to assess comfort, and finally proposing a design recommendation that is likely to be more ergonomic and healthy based on the simulation. A contextual inquiry method using video observation was applied to investigate sitting postures that appear most often among passengers. The analysis revealed that the most common sitting postures were sitting fairly upright, with the head facing down to the floor or facing front to the direction of travel; meanwhile, both arms were supported, and both legs were free on the floor. JACK Digital Human Modelling (DHM) software was used to perform Rapid Upper-Limb Assessment (RULA) analysis, which revealed a number of commonly adopted postures that require correction. A new seating layout is proposed based on the analysis and best practices from literature. RULA analysis was reapplied to the design changes to check the anticipated postures that would emerge i.e. passengers are facing towards the front of the bus, which is more likely to be ergonomically better for their comfort and health. This paper also discussed its limitations and potential future works. Future study of similar phenomena is still wide-open to obtain a more thorough comprehension of angkot microbus.

A review of the application of ergonomics in instructional design.

Ergonomics can help instructional designers to develop projects compatible with students' needs, capabilities, and limitations. We intend to verify the application of ergonomics in instructional design methods, methodologies, techniques, and recommendations. We searched journal articles in the following databases: Compendex, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science. Based on two inclusion criteria: (1) whether the article presents methods, methodologies, techniques, or recommendations for the instructional design; (2) whether the article addresses issues of ergonomics, we found 17 studies published from 1988 to 2013 in 16 journals. The main ergonomic concept addressed in the reviewed studies was usability, followed by accessibility, and user-centred design. Most articles suggest guidelines for embedding ergonomics in instructional design. We found that future research could explore topics, such as user experience, design thinking, service design, and organisational ergonomics to improve instructional design practice. The number of studies found in this review demonstrates that scientific research should explore the application of ergonomics in instructional design methods.

Neck muscle activation and head kinematics when using a smartphone while walking

Using a smartphone while walking has been common in countries with high smartphone penetration rates. While pedestrian safety issues have been studied frequently, research regarding ergonomics issues such as neck discomfort of smartphone use while walking has been limited. An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the neck muscular load of smartphone use while walking. Twenty-one asymptomatic young smartphone owners conducted one-handed browsing and two-handed texting while walking on a treadmill. Their neck muscle activation level, head and upper back posture were quantified. Compared to when walking upright without using a smartphone, the two smartphone-use tasks demanded 33.3% to 101.8% more activation of the neck extensor muscles. Mean head tilt angles (relative to upright standing) were 28.9° and 36.9° for the one-handed browsing and two-handed texting, respectively. Between the two smartphone tasks, the head tilt angle and the muscle activation level were significantly greater for texting than for browsing. Results indicated that conducting two-handed texting while walking would pose larger muscular load to the neck extensor muscles compared to when conducting one-handed browsing while walking due to the larger head tilt angle.

Guidelines on Safe Work Practice when Commuting in Oil Palm Plantations

Previous local researches on the oil palm workers are mostly focusing on the musculoskeletal disorders and ergonomic issues. However, the workers are easily exposed to many other accidents such as commuting accidents. The location of the oil palm plantations itself which are remote and requires the workers to commute far from their home elevate the possibility of commuting accidents. The present paper describes contributing factors to commuting accidents and suggests guidelines to be followed as prevention from such accidents. Reports, news, and previous research on commuting accidents are reviewed and cross-referred with the safety and health guidelines in the agriculture published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia to ensure it fits the commuting nature in an oil palm plantation. A safety and health practice guideline is presented in this paper, still, regular training and commitment from both the organisation and the workers are essential in ensuring the safety of the workers.

Evolution and Current Applications of Robot-Assisted Fracture Reduction: A Comprehensive Review.

Robots in orthopedic surgery have been developed rapidly for decades and bring significant benefits to the patients and healthcare providers. However, robotics in fracture reduction remains at the infant stage. As essential components of the current robotic system, external fixators were used in fracture reduction, including the unilateral and Ilizarov-like ring fixators. With emerging of the industrial robots and mechanical arms, their sterilized variants were developed as the serial robots, including the traction device and robotic arm, for fracture reduction. Besides, parallel robots (e.g., Gough-Stewart platform) were devised for lower extremity traction and fracture reduction. After combining the advantages of the serial and parallel mechanisms, hybrid robots can fulfill specific clinical requirements (e.g., the joint fracture, including multiple major fragments). Furthermore, with the aid of intra-operative navigation systems, fracture reduction can be performed under real-time guidance. The paper presents a comprehensive overview of the advancement of the robots in fracture reductionand evaluates research challenges and future perspectives, including ergonomic and economic issues, operation time, artificial realities and intelligence, and telesurgery.

Addressing Occupational Ergonomics Issues in Indonesian Forestry

This study addresses occupational ergonomics issues in Indonesian forestry (work conditions, workers' characteristics, occupational safety, occupational health, and job satisfaction) to acquire a comprehensive perspective in understanding the actual problems facing the operations. Direct observation, interview, questionnaires, and secondary data analyses were carried out to acquire all of the required information. A total of 191 frontline forestry workers (chainsaw operators, helpers, manual hauling workers, skidder/tractor operators, logging truck drivers, and nursery workers) participated in this study. The study shows that various techniques of forest operations (labor-intensive to semi-mechanized systems) have been applied in Indonesian plantation forests, both short and long-rotation, as well as in natural forest management. Most of the workers were non-permanent workers, who receive a low wage, work under a straight piecework system, have a high dependency on the forestry work to make a living, and exhibit poor comprehension of the concept of hazard control. The fatality rate was recorded as 1.3 deaths/106 m3 log, but this may be even higher as this rate only represents data taken from formal forestry workers. An intense physical dimension of fatigue occurs among workers involved in forest operations, with the highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the upper back, lower back, neck, shoulders, and arms. This study reveals eight variables that influenced job satisfaction, i.e., wage, type of contract, accessibility, health services, living facilities, work equipment, training, and social facilities.

Enhancing the Usability of Brain-Computer Interface Systems.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) aim to enable people to interact with the external world through an alternative, nonmuscular communication channel that uses brain signal responses to complete specific cognitive tasks. BCIs have been growing rapidly during the past few years, with most of the BCI research focusing on system performance, such as improving accuracy or information transfer rate. Despite these advances, BCI research and development is still in its infancy and requires further consideration to significantly affect human experience in most real-world environments. This paper reviews the most recent studies and findings about ergonomic issues in BCIs. We review dry electrodes that can be used to detect brain signals with high enough quality to apply in BCIs and discuss their advantages, disadvantages, and performance. Also, an overview is provided of the wide range of recent efforts to create new interface designs that do not induce fatigue or discomfort during everyday, long-term use. The basic principles of each technique are described, along with examples of current applications in BCI research. Finally, we demonstrate a user-friendly interface paradigm that uses dry capacitive electrodes that do not require any preparation procedure for EEG signal acquisition. We explore the capacitively measured steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) response to an amplitude-modulated visual stimulus and the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) to an auditory stimulus modulated by familiar natural sounds to verify their availability for BCI. We report the first results of an online demonstration that adopted this ergonomic approach to evaluating BCI applications. We expect BCI to become a routine clinical, assistive, and commercial tool through advanced EEG monitoring techniques and innovative interface designs.

Robust interactive design for ergonomics and safety: R-IDEaS procedure and applications

This paper presents an interactive design method aimed at improving workplace health and safety. Human performances and anthropometric variability are carefully considered to make the workplace “robust” from a safety point of view. This topic is of increasing interest to industries that plan to make safer workplaces without renouncing to their productivity targets. A challenging issue concerns the evaluation of the effects of sources of anthropometric variability in the process by using just a small sample of real or digital humans. The adoption of a discretization technique helps to solve this problem and saving time and resources. Through real industrial case studies, the authors investigate the main ergonomic and safety issues faced during the development of both manual and human–robot hybrid workcells.

Management of Process and Infrastructure in Higher Education Institution

The work is dedicated to analyzing the management challenges of higher education institutions, which are discussed from two different angles: the management process and its supporting - ergonomic and infrastructural issues. The work is accomplished under the auspices of the Human Potential Management Laboratory at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. The present work is a continuation of the previous research items, which were devoted to studying the perceptions of university challenges. The work is based on the qualitative analysis of the Georgian higher education system and Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University management mechanisms, also the research analysis on the attitude towards the current challenges of TSU Economics and Business Faculty students and the academic personnel. 62% of the total composition of the academic personnel participated in the surve. The questionnaire included 48 closed and two open questions. The data was developed in the program "SPSS-Statistics”. Preliminary hypotheses have been verified by statistical methods. Person correlation test, the Chi-square tests and linear regression, namely the ANOVA test are used to analyse the results. The analysis of the challenges based on the qualitative and quantitative research became the basis of searching ways to improve the management strategy of higher educational institutions. The challenges identified in the work and the suggested recommendations will help the stakeholders interested in the issue/field.

Management of Process and Infrastructure in Higher Education Institution

The work is dedicated to analyzing the management challenges of higher education institutions, which are discussed from two different angles: the management process and its supporting - ergonomic and infrastructural issues. The work is accomplished under the auspices of the Human Potential Management Laboratory at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. The present work is a continuation of the previous research items, which were devoted to studying the perceptions of university challenges. The work is based on the qualitative analysis of the Georgian higher education system and Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University management mechanisms, also the research analysis on the attitude towards the current challenges of TSU Economics and Business Faculty students and the academic personnel. 62% of the total composition of the academic personnel participated in the surve. The questionnaire included 48 closed and two open questions. The data was developed in the program "SPSS-Statistics”. Preliminary hypotheses have been verified by statistical methods. Person correlation test, the Chi-square tests and linear regression, namely the ANOVA test are used to analyse the results. The analysis of the challenges based on the qualitative and quantitative research became the basis of searching ways to improve the management strategy of higher educational institutions. The challenges identified in the work and the suggested recommendations will help the stakeholders interested in the issue/field.

A Transdisciplinary digital approach for tractor’s human-centred design

ABSTRACTTransdisciplinarity is characterising numerous research areas, in which natural sciences are integrated with technical and social sciences, requiring mixed methodologies for achieving full sustainability. However, there is a lack of engineering methods and design tools able to effectively integrate the analysis of human performance and social impacts with technical issues during product and process design. In this context, digital manufacturing tools and virtual simulation technologies can be validly used to create interactive digital mock-ups where human-system interaction during manufacturing operations can be simulated to support product and process design. The paper proposes a mixed reality (MR) set-up to support human-centred product and process design, where systems and humans interacting with them are monitored and digitalised to easily evaluate the human-machine interaction, with the scope to have feedback for design optimisation. Such an approach is defined as trans disciplinary since it merges technical design issues and human perspectives to design products on the basis of effective human performance, with the goal to early detect design criticalities and improve the overall system design. Industrial use cases have been developed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach to support human-centred design of a tractor. Results have demonstrated potential improvements, in terms of time saving for design review and workers’ training, reduction of physical prototypes for design validation, reduction of late design and engineering changes, reduction of ergonomic issues, and global positive impact on time-to-market.

Safety and Ergonomic Challenges of Ventilating a Premature Infant During Delayed Cord Clamping.

Delayed cord clamping (DCC) is endorsed by multiple professional organizations for both term and preterm infants. In preterm infants, DCC has been shown to reduce intraventricular hemorrhage, lower incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis, and reduce the need for transfusions. Furthermore, in preterm animal models, ventilation during DCC leads to improved hemodynamics. While providing ventilation and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) during DCC may benefit infants, the logistics of performing such a maneuver can be complicated. In this simulation-based study, we sought to explore attitudes of providers along with the safety and ergonomic challenges involved with safely resuscitating a newborn infant while attached to the placenta. Multidisciplinary workshops were held simulating vaginal and Caesarean deliveries, during which providers started positive pressure ventilation and transitioned to holding CPAP on a preterm manikin. Review of videos identified 5 themes of concerns: sterility, equipment, mobility, space and workflow, and communication. In this study, simulation was a key methodology for safe identification of various safety and ergonomic issues related to implementation of ventilation during DCC. Centers interested in implementing DCC with ventilation are encouraged to form multidisciplinary work groups and utilize simulations prior to performing care on infants.

Strategic approach to managing human factors risk in aircraft maintenance organization: risk mapping

Purpose Aviation has multi-cultural business environment in all aspects as operational and management. Managing aviation requires high awareness on human factor risk which includes organizational behavior-related topics. The greatest risk to an enterprise’s ability to achieve its strategic goals and objectives is the human factor. Both organizational behavior and corporate culture behavior with social psychology are the most vital aspects of management and strategy in terms of human resources. Related risks, including organizational behavior and culture, have the potential to directly impact on both business performance and corporate sustainability. Therefore, in this paper, the most prominent risks were determined in accordance with social psychology, and after identification of human factor-based risks, these have prioritized and prepared risk mapping with fresh approach. For this reason, this study aims to develop risk mapping model for human factors that takes into account interrelations among risk factors three dimensional based new approach. This approach includes both identification of human factor based risks, prioritization them and setting risk mapping according to corporate based qualifications via tailoring risk list. Developed risk map in this paper will help to manage corporate risks to achieve improved performance and sustainability. Design/methodology/approach This new organizational behavior- and culture-focused risk mapping model developed in this study has the potential to make significant contribution to the management of the human factor for modern management and strategy. In enterprise risk management system, risk mapping is both strong and effective strategic methodology to manage ergonomics issue with strategic approach. Human factor is both determinative and also strategic element to both continuity and performance of business operations with safely and sound. In view of management and strategy, vitally, the human factor determines the outcome in both every business and every decision-making. Findings It is assumed that, if managers manage human risk you may get advantages to achieving corporate strategies in timely manner. Aviation is sensitive sector for its ingredients: airports, airlines, air traffic management, aircraft maintenance, pilotage and ground handling. Aim of this paper is to present risk management approach to optimize human performance while minimizing both failures and errors by aircraft maintenance technician (AMT). This model may apply all human factors in other departments of aviation such as pilots and traffic controllers. AMT is key component of aircraft maintenance. Thus, errors made by AMTs will cause aircraft accidents or incidents or near miss incidents. In this study, new taxonomy model for human risk factors in aircraft maintenance organizations has been designed, and also new qualitative risk assessment as three dimensions is carried out by considering the factors affecting the AMT’s error obtained from extensive literature review and expert opinions in the field of aviation. Human error risks are first categorized into two main groups and sub three groups and then prioritized using the risk matrix via triple dimension as probability, severity and interrelations ratio between risks. Practical implications Risk mapping is established to decide which risk management option they will apply for managers when they will look at this map. Managers may use risk map to both identify their managerial priorities and share sources to managing risks, and make decisions on risk handling options. This new model may be a useful new tool to manage ergonomic human factor-based risks in developing strategy in aviation business management. In addition, this paper will contribute to department of management and strategy and related literature. Originality/value This study has originality via new modeling of risk matrix. In this study, dimension of risk analysis has been improved as three dimensions. This study has new approach and new assessment of risk with likelihood (probability), impact (severity) and interrelations ratio. This new model may be a useful new tool to both assess and prioritize mapping of ergonomic-based risks in business management. In addition, this research will contribute to aviation management and strategy literature and also enterprise risk management literature.