Essay On Ergonomics Problems

This chapter will discuss about injuries and other indicators of ergonomic issues, human biomechanics, ergonomics risk factors, neutral positions for human during performing work, ergonomic task analysis, ergonomics control measures and design of tools and task for human.

INJURIES AND OTHER INDICATORS OF ERGONOMIC PROBLEMS

Due to present of ergonomics stressor, there are certain indicators or injuries which can be observed among the exposed group of working population. The injuries which can be noticed due to ergonomics problems includes the following:

• Epicondylitis;

• Tendinitis;

• Tenosynovitis;

• Carpal tunnel syndrome;

• Bursitis thoracic outlet syndrome; and

• Prolapsed intervebra disc (PID).

When these injuries develop, a worker experiences the following:

• Localized fatigue and discomfort (early indicator);

• Swelling, as tissues become irritated;

• Pain;

• Stiffness and loss of range of motion; and

• Inability to work and function at home.

Besides that, the other indicators that show the presence of an ergonomics problem in workplace as follows:

• Increase rate of accidents and injuries in workplace;

• High rates of worker turnover, absenteeism and people wanted to resign;

• Declining of productivity in workplace;

• Poor work quality and high rate of rejection or rework;

• Increase of medical expenses for organization;

• Increase rate of complaining in the workplace;

• Low morale and motivation observed among workers; and

• High rate of medical leaves among workers.

BIOMECHANICS

Biomechanics defined as mechanism of living systems (Fung, 1981). Biomechanics is the application of law of mechanics to biological system.

There are three levers systems and can be found in the human body. Th...

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...te the task such as hardware, software or information.”

Each task component is identified along with the goal of that component. Subtasks are then determined and in turn these tasks are broken down into smaller subtasks. Ergonomists perform task analysis for reviewing job components by breaking the job into individual tasks and subtask.

Example of simple task analysis:

Making a cup of tea.

Figure 2.13: Simple task analysis

[Source: http://web.cs.dal.ca/]

A task analysis will help the ergonomist to understand the whole task or process. During task analysis, a complex set of actions will be dissected and turn it into a simple task or sub task which can be evaluated easily by the assessor. Then, the risk factors for each task or sub task can be determined. Prior to performing and ergonomics risk assessment, it is essential to understand the process or task.