Design Ergonomics
There is an anecdote that circulates among ergonomists: A graduate student in psychology takes a summer office job. She arrives at work the first day and begins to adjust her ergonomically designed chair. A supervisor comes along and cautions her not to do so. The chair was adjusted in the factory, he says, and is ergonomically correct.
This true story presents a perfect example of what ergonomics is not, a "one size fits all" science that studies how to make people more comfortable in their environments. Rather, ergonomics is the fit between one person and the tools he or she uses. These tools include everything from office furniture and equipment to a fork and knife. And just as people are not all the same size, so too their tools cannot all be the same size if they are to fit properly. Determining the psychological, physiological and work performance effects of a good fit versus a bad fit is the work of ergonomists. One eminent ergonomist today is Marvin J. Dainoff, Ph.D., CPE. Dainoff is an applied experimental psychologist specializing in the field of ergonomics applied to the workplace. He is currently a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Ergonomic Research at Miami University in Oxford, OH, and president of Dainoff Associates, Consultants in Workplace Ergonomics.
Dainoff received his undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Rochester in 1961. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force as a combat information center officer and navigator, he returned to Rochester and earned his doctorate in experimental psychology in 1969. He then joined the faculty of the department of psychology at Miami University. Dainoff's areas of interest include laboratory research on ergonomics of the work environment; practical implementation of ergonomic principles in the field; and effective communication of ergonomic principles to scientific peers, interested professionals and the general public. Dainoff first became interested in ergonomics in 1976, when Michael J. Smith, then head of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Cincinnati, OH, visited Miami University. Dainoff then began a consulting relationship with the applied psychology and ergonomics branch of NIOSH, turning his interest toward the office workplace.
"Smith had told me there was a team of scientists in Tennessee who had examined admissions to mental health clinics by occupation," Dainoff recalls. "They found that office secretaries had the highest rate of admission. I spent a summer studying the information that had been gathered and in the process I became aware of the psychological stress placed on office workers. Much later, another study revealed that female clerical workers with children at home were in a high risk category for cardiovascular problems."
In the course of his studies, Dainoff identified many of the potential problems associated with computers, which were just coming into their prime in the late 1970s. In 1980, Dainoff accepted a two-year appointment as a visiting researcher at NIOSH. While there, he performed the first controlled laboratory experiment demonstrating a correlation between improved ergonomic conditions, decreased health complaints--which translates into reduced medical expenses--and increased work performance in an office situation.
"We set up two work stations," Dainoff explains. "One station had ergonomic features, such as an adjustable chair and work surface heights, a copy holder and glare control for the monitor. The other simulated a typical work station in 1980. Then we hired people through a temporary agency to do three consecutive hours of data entry, one day at the ergonomic work station and the next day at the standard work station, for four days straight.
"At the end of the experiment, we documented a 23 percent key rate increase at the ergonomic station and a 50 percent decrease in health complaints, like back and shoulder pain. The value of ergonomics was proven by the increase in work performance."
To be taken seriously, ergonomics must be considered within the framework of Total Quality Management or TQM. According to Dainoff, this management philosophy focuses on the employee as an independent and responsible problem-solver. This philosophy, combined with ergonomics, encourages employees to adjust their work areas to accommodate personal physical characteristics, such as height, arm length and back comfort. Thus, employees not only act in their own interest, but help meet organizational goals by increasing their performance.
Another critical point of ergonomics is task analysis; the task performed must be defined and understood in order to find the ergonomic solution that will let that task be performed most efficiently.
"I have a friend who was asked by IBM to do a task analysis of converting from manpower to robot power on a certain task," says Dainoff. "My friend pointed out how to change the way people were performing the task in order to improve productivity. Thus, IBM saved the capital that would have been invested in robotics.
"Often a company has the right equipment to do the job, but that equipment is not being used the right way to best perform the job."
While experimental psychology provides a way to measure human performance as it related to ergonomics, Dainoff emphasizes that a collaboration among several professional disciplines is necessary for ergonomics to have the most beneficial results. As an example of the many components that comprise the study of ergonomics, Dainoff requires his graduate students to have a nodding acquaintance with biomechanics, social psychology, organizational psychology, epidemiology, engineering and design.
From members of the interior design profession, Dainoff says he has encountered most interest in and hostility toward ergonomics.
"I have heard arguments from designers that adding ergonomic adjustments to a chair ruins aesthetics," says Dainoff. "I don't want to sound harsh, but I believe it is every designer's responsibility to understand ergonomics. And if they don't, then they should hire someone who does know about ergonomics to help them."
"Ergonomics is about comfort. And I don't think anyone can deny that comfort also is a big part of interior design. The two just naturally go together. To give you an example, I know of a situation where a designer refused to specify ergonomically adjustable chairs because she thought they were ugly. One year later the chairs she had specified were back in the warehouse. They looked good, but no one could bear to sit in them. Ergonomic chairs were purchased instead, and now everyone is happy. So, by way of example, I'm simply saying that designers at least need a healthy appreciation for ergonomics if they are going to be successful."
Dainoff adds that designing an ergonomic environment does not necessarily have to cost a lot of money. "Guerrilla ergonomics" is a term ergonomists use that means making ergonomic improvements with materials that are free, inexpensive or readily available.
Arranging a work area to accommodate the person who works there is probably the easiest form of guerrilla ergonomics. Need to raise a work surface? Try adding casters. A wedged seat cushion can substitute for a forward-tilted seatpan. Dainoff even had an inexpensive solution for this writer: purchase a telephone headset to use when interviews require lengthy telephone conversations, a much better way of holding the telephone than perched between a stiff head and shoulder.
If you are going to make a purchase, Dainoff cautions that the marketplace is stocked with equipment touted as "ergonomic," which has about as much clout as "new and improved." The price tag is not a reliable indicator, either. If you don't know, and the salesperson can't reasonably explain why something is ergonomic, look elsewhere.
The best item to spend money on as far as ergonomics goes is a chair, says Dainoff. The adjustment of the chair, as it relates to a person's body and to a keyboard, work surfaces and the task being done, has a powerful influence on health. The investment will pay off in comfort and saved medical expenses. "A good chair should provide lumbar support, be capable of locking in forward tilt, must orient the body so as to allow straight wrist postures while keying and should provide enough stability for doing the task at hand," explains Dainoff.
First coined in 1949, the term ergonomics has grown to include just about anything that involves the interface of technology with humans. In other words, when "user-friendly" is heard, ergonomics is at work.
Dainoff points to "software ergonomics" as one of the newest and most important territories now being studied by ergonomists. The field seeks to answer that 2 a.m.-and-I-can't-sleep question of "What did I do to make my computer program bomb?"
"The point is, there are marketers adding technology on top of technology to the system, but then the system is too complex for the majority of customers to use," says Dainoff. "Whether it's a chair or a computer program, good design takes human capabilities and limitations into account.
"Instruction manuals often don't consider the fact that people have limited attention spans. Why do you think there are so many VCRs flashing 12:00 in this country? Because people don't want to take the time to read how to program the clock."
Of course, there are many technological success stories. Dainoff points to Apple Computer as one example. When introduced, the Apple system, which requires simply pointing with a mouse and clicking, revolutionized the industry because it was so easy to use. That, says Dainoff, is good ergonomics. The importance of ergonomics in the workplace is reflected in the involvement of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The agency has outlined ergonomic regulations designed to protect Americans from the aches and pains of working. If the new rules are adopted, which does not require congressional approval, employers will have to continuously monitor and fix jobs deemed risky by OSHA.
The list of jobs runs on and on and includes everything from jobs that require lifting heavy loads to typing too long at a computer keyboard without the benefits of an adjustable chair and work surface height. NIOSH claims these jobs may cause upwards of 160 musculoskeletal and nervous system disorders, often referred to as cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs).
Whether or not these regulations will actually enhance the work environment remains to be seen. Dainoff believes much depends on how the government plans to implement the regulations. Until that variable of the equation is completed, Dainoff reserves comment. However, he does support OSHA's attempt to focus on the individual, rather than lumping groups of individuals together into job categories that require this or the other kind of ergonomic solution.
" 'Ergonomically correct' is an incorrect statement," explains Dainoff. "It assumes that there is a single solution and there rarely is. Ergonomics must have many different solutions because people are different and their jobs are different. The correct ergonomic solution is as individual as each person."
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