Ergonomics

Design and ergonomics of package inserts of drugs in Brazil: a reality in construction

by Charles Leite

Published in the Journal "Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation"

This research deals with the design of leaflets of medicines, evidencing the problems resulting from the lack of... more This research deals with the design of leaflets of medicines, evidencing the problems resulting from the lack of Brazilian normalization to promote the use of the graphical representation of instructional texts warnings. It approaches studies related to the effectiveness and efficiency of information systems, highlighting the semiotics and the cultural and informational ergonomics. The analysis of the context uses as method, an analytical study on selected warnings of thirty leaflets of medicines, followed by interviews lead with the public managers involved with the regulation of the pharmaceutical companies, and two experiments with users performed in city of Recife, in State of Pernambuco: one aiming at to identify how they interact with the leaflets of medicines, and the second one testing their understanding concerning standardized illustrations in the United States and the South Africa. The results show the need for improvements in presentation and graphic representation of leaflets of medicines, powering them to the role of communication, to ensure the consumption of medicine safely by its users. The conclusion congregates parameters and recommendations for the graphic representation of warnings in leaflets of medicines in Brazil

Exploring how anthropometric, vehicle and workplace factors influence whole-body vibration exposures during on-farm use of a quad bike

by Daniel Ribeiro

Milosavljevic, S.; Mani, R.; Ribeiro, D. C.; Vasiljev, R.; Rehn, B. (2012).  International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 42, 392-396

The primary aim of this study is to determine whether a combination of body height, terrain and vehicle mechanical... more The primary aim of this study is to determine whether a combination of body height, terrain and vehicle mechanical factors confound for the effect of body mass on WBV exposure while using a quad bike under normal rural working conditions. A seat pad mounted triaxial accelerometer and data logger recorded full work day vibration and shock data from 130 New Zealand rural workers. Personal, vehicle and workplace characteristics were gathered using a modified version of the Whole Body Vibration Health Surveillance Questionnaire. Whole-body vibrations were analysed in accordance with the ISO 2631-1 and ISO 2631-5 standards and it is presented as one hour vibration dose value in the Z-direction (1 h VDVZ). Body mass did not demonstrate any significant bivariate association (P > 0.20) with 1 h VDVZ. However BMI, body height, vehicle weight, sheep farm, dairy farm, 2 shock absorber solid axle rear suspension, flat farmland and engine capacity (cc) all demonstrated threshold bivariate associations (P _ 0.20) with 1 h VDVZ. Body mass, body height, 2 shock absorber solid rear axle suspension, and working on a sheep farm created the strongest multiple regression model explaining 16% of variance in VDVZ. Relevance to industry: The influence of driver’s body mass on vibration exposure is strongly influenced by work environment and vehicle mechanical factors and this should be taken in to consideration for research that explores exposures and/or designing seating and suspension systems to attenuate vibration exposures in small on-farm vehicles.

Dose-response relationship between work-related cumulative postural exposure and low back pain: A systematic review.

by Daniel Ribeiro

RIBEIRO, D. C. ; ALDABE, Daniela ; ABBOTT, J.H. ; SOLE, G. ; MILOSAVLJEVIC, S. Annals of Occupational Hygiene (Online), in press, 2012

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the evidence for a dose-response relationship between ROM, duration, and frequency of... more OBJECTIVES:

To assess the evidence for a dose-response relationship between ROM, duration, and frequency of trunk flexion, and risk of occupational LBP.
METHODS:

An electronic systematic search was conducted using Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EMBASE, and Scopus databases focusing on cohort and case-control studies. Studies were included if they focused on non-specific LBP and postural exposure, considering ROM, duration, or frequency of trunk flexion as independent variables. No language restriction was imposed. Included studies were assessed for risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies and a summary of evidence is presented.
RESULTS:

Eight studies were included and all were methodologically rated as high quality. The included studies yielded a total of 7023 subjects who were considered for risk analysis. Different outcome measures for postural exposure were adopted making meta-analysis difficult to perform.
CONCLUSIONS:

We could not find a clear dose-response relationship for work posture exposures and LBP. Limited evidence was found for ROM and duration of sustained flexed posture as risk factor for LBP. We found no evidence for frequency of trunk flexion as a risk factor for LBP.

Consideraciones en el diseño de productos adecuados al contexto venezolano. Caso de estudio: diseño de un cochecito para bebés

by Ivan Leon-Trujillo

Co-autored with Thais Rincón Architec, professor of Escuela de Diseño
Industrial, Universidad de los Andes.
e-mail: thaisr@ula.ve
Plublished in Revista arbitrada de la Facultad de Arquitectura y Diseño de la Universidad del Zulia. Año 9, vol. 2, no. 18, Julio-Diciembre 2008, pp. 130-140

In Venezuela, the industrial designer has to take
into consideration the problems generated by import
and... more In Venezuela, the industrial designer has to take
into consideration the problems generated by import
and implementation conditions of products.
In order to achieve a design adequate to the proper
characteristics, two main areas of study are relevant:
the ergonomic research and the characterization
of components according to our industrial
reality. The lack of widgets made in Venezuela for
transporting and protecting babies justifies the results
of a research project that analysed eighteen
baby strollers already in the market, in order to
establish considerations for its design. Supported
on the adaptation of ergonomic analysis methods
(qualitative and quantitative), the research studied
the adjustment of these products to a previously
characterized population and context, identifying
their composing pieces. It is concluded that the
studied baby strollers do not respond to the characteristics
of the Venezuelan population. Some
considerations to achieve a feasible design to be
nationally materialized are established.

Towards an ergonomic gestural interface for computers

by Leon Barker

Proceedings of The Ergonomics Society Conference, Nottingham University

The Entropy Conservation Principle: Applications in Ergonomics and Human Factors

by S. Lee Hong

La compétence, ses définitions, ses enjeux

by Alain Klarsfeld

Article published in Revue Gestion 2000, n°2, mars-avril 2000, p.31-47

The notion of competence has drawn much attention from many contributors, many of whom call for a rigorous definition... more The notion of competence has drawn much attention from many contributors, many of whom call for a rigorous definition of that concept for fear it becomes meaningless. Indeed, the term of competence seems to have a wide variety of uses. Since the early 1990’s, some of these authors try to make sense of that diversity through an attempt to synthesize a variety of definitions, in order to provide a rigorous, unified, conceptual framework. On the contrary, our point of view consists in putting forward the irreducible differences between many of these definitions, while replacing these differences in their contexts, as we hypothesize the latter account for the former. Definitions and their stakes in such scientific disciplines as linguistics, ergonomy, psychology, and management, will be presented, as well as their implications for firms.

Embedding ergonomics in hospital culture: top-down and bottom-up strategies

by Sue Hignett

Postural analysis of nursing work

by Sue Hignett

Intervention strategies to reduce musculoskeletal injuries associated with handling patients: a systematic review

by Sue Hignett

Work‐related back pain in nurses

by Sue Hignett

Rapid entire body assessment (REBA)

by Sue Hignett

Finding ergonomic solutions—participatory approaches

by Sue Hignett

Is redundancy enough?: a preliminary study of Apache crew behaviour

by Gwendolyn Bakx

Published in: Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 2012, 1-15, iFirst
Co-author: James M. Nyce

Redundancy often is considered a safety multiplier. In complex socio-technological systems however, according to... more Redundancy often is considered a safety multiplier. In complex socio-technological systems however, according to proponents of complex systems theory, the impact of social redundancy (the social counterpart of technological redundancy) can be suboptimal. Ethnographically inspired research was therefore conducted on whether and how members of a European Apache attack helicopter unit applied the concept of social redundancy in their helicopters when conducting operations. Research results suggest that social redundancy is a far more nuanced phenomenon than its technological counterpart. Technological innovations and enhanced system integration of machine and operators have tightly coupled human tasks, system and environment over time. The impact of this on inter- and intra-crew behaviour has been neglected so far in traditional approaches to social redundancy. At a micro-level, above all, social redundancy appears to be affected by a broad range of contextual factors at a macro-level that have to be balanced and rebalanced again and again.

Ergonomic design and evaluation of surveillance systems

by Denis A. Coelho

by Denis A. Coelho and Isabel L. Nunes
in Effective Surveillance for Homeland Security: Balancing Technology and Social Issues
Published: November 15, 2012 by Chapman and Hall/CRC - 320 Pages Editor(s): Francesco Flammini; Roberto Setola; Giorgio Franceschetti
ISBN 9781439883242

As part of a state-of-the-art survey of methods and tools for surveillance and protection of citizens and critical... more As part of a state-of-the-art survey of methods and tools for surveillance and protection of citizens and critical infrastructures, this chapter presents a Human Factors and Ergonomics perspective to support the design and evaluation of surveillance systems. The chapter is composed of three main parts. Human characteristics that impinge on surveillance systems design for effective human-system coupling are reviewed, focusing especially on perception and modes of control, as well as on information processing. Performance considerations are centered on fatigue and arousal states, as well as tolerance to shift work. Human Factors and Ergonomics testing and evaluation methods are considered, including usability, while cognitive systems engineering is introduced as an approach to systems design that embeds both the user-centered design and the design of effective systems approaches. The set of concepts and methods reviewed forms a body of knowledge and techniques which ought to be considered and applied to ensure the design of effective surveillance systems and may be used to improve existing ones.

Keywords:
Human Factors
Ergonomics
User Centered Design
Vigilance
Arousal
Fatigue

Anthropometric lot sizing of garments

by Denis A. Coelho

by Denis A. Coelho and Isabel L. Nunes
in Advances in Usability Evaluation
Series: Advances in Human Factors and Ergonomics Series
Published: July 09, 2012 by CRC Press - 700 Pages
Editor(s):Gavriel Salvendy, Tsinghua University, P.R. China; Waldemar Karwowski, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA
ISBN 9781439870242

European Norm 13402-3 sets standards for clothes sizing designation. Depending on the kind of garment, between one to... more European Norm 13402-3 sets standards for clothes sizing designation. Depending on the kind of garment, between one to up to four anthropometric dimensions need to be considered in defining the clothing size system. According to the distribution of the anthropometric dimensions of a specific population, the quantity needed or proportion for the various clothes and garment size categories varies greatly. In order to develop a process that enables clothing distribution managers to foresee the relative proportion of each category size that is expected to be consumed, assuming a homogeneous appeal of the garments irrespective of their size, across the population, a set of considerations supported by mathematical calculations, need to be established. To this end, it must be noted that the combination of anthropometric dimensions, described by their Gaussian statistical parameters (mean and standard deviation) is mathematically feasible, as long as correlation factors between anthropometric dimensions are known for the population at hand (these may only be extracted from original data sets). The chapter proposes deploying correlation factors between anthropometric dimensions involved in the European clothes sizing standard, and presents a method for garments lot sizing for point of sale application, informed by the correlation factors, which may be retrieved from literature, and by the statistical parameters of the population (actual or inferred). The chapter demonstrates the approach presented for various clothing item types, including men shorts (sizing based on one anthropometric dimension) and women brassieres (sizing based on two anthropometric dimensions). The mathematical formulation presented and demonstrated in the chapter is systematized in examples solved by spreadsheet calculations and is intended to support the management of orders of garments by size at their point of sale considering the reduced cycle of fashion (about 3 months). The chapter also emphasizes that reporting of anthropometric data should consider not only the mean and standard deviation of individual dimensions as has been the common practice in the field of human factors and ergonomics, but should also be accompanied by correlation charts between the anthropometric dimensions, given reduced availability of this kind of data.

Application of two-dimensional anthropometric data in the construction of three-dimensional human manikins (PT-BR)

by Daniel Braatz

Braatz, D.; Menegon, N. L.; Costa, M. A. B.; Bertoncello, D.

ABERGO | 2002

Human simulation computational tools are more and more presents in the development of devices and work processes. The... more Human simulation computational tools are more and more presents in the development of devices and work processes. The objective of this study was to build digital human models from anthropometric data raised in Brazil. The methodology adopted in the development of this work consisted of three phases: definition of the variables of interest, anthropometric survey and construction of digital human models. Six models had been constructed using Jack software, referring to the woman and the man in percentiles 05, 50 and 95. These models can be used by Brazilian ergonomists in the development of projects, having as starting point a digital human configured from measures from the local population.

Anthropometric survey EMBRAER (PT-BR)

by Daniel Braatz

N. L. Menegon, D. Braatz, V. M. S. Secchin, M. L. L. Regazzini, A. B. N. La Salvia, W. A. Pereira, D. M. Naveiro, M. C. P. L. Zamberlan, F. C. H. Pastura

ABERGO | 2002

Use of human simulation in workplace design (EN)

by Daniel Braatz

Tonin, L. A.; Braatz, D.; Camarotto, J. A.; Menegon, N. L.; Costa, M. A. B.; Torres, I.

CIO | 2007

This paper describes and evaluates the use of the Jack 2.1 computational tool in the process of workplace design, from... more This paper describes and evaluates the use of the Jack 2.1 computational tool in the process of workplace design, from the standpoint of the concepts of simulation and ergonomics. The results reveal how some design factors were coherently dimensioned, taking into account the human factors involved, particularly in anthropometric terms.
Human Simulation and Modeling,Workplace Design, Ergonomics, Health and SafetyWorker.

Application of a computational tool to simulate human in the design of a manual packager table (PT-BR)

by Daniel Braatz

Tonin, L. A.; Braatz, D.; Camarotto, J. A.; Menegon, N. L.; Costa, M. A. B.; Torres, I.

ENEGEP 2007

Este artigo descreve e avalia o uso da ferramenta computacional Jack 2.1 no processo de projeto de uma mesa embaladora... more Este artigo descreve e avalia o uso da ferramenta computacional Jack 2.1 no processo de projeto de uma mesa embaladora manual, do ponto de vista da ergonomia e dos conceitos da simulação. Os resultados revelam como alguns fatores de projetoo foram coerentemente dimensionados, considerando os fatores humanos envolvidos, principalmente os que concernem à antropometria. Pôde-se concluir que esta ferramenta pode contribuir fortemente para a atividade do projetista, desde que incorporada em uma abordagem holística, integrando principalmente os aspectos organizacionais e cognitivos,
inerentes à atividade humana.