Ergonomics on furniture design

Essay by biancacUniversity, Bachelor's May 2003

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1.Introduction.

Ergonomics may be defined as the generation and application, particularly of experimental psychological data and capabilities. It is a study of the office environment to allow employees to work productively. Ergonomically designed work environment that takes into consideration both psychological and physical needs increases job satisfaction and prevents injuries. Organization became aware of the high cost associated with injuries therefore; ergonomic furniture and equipment became an important issue in the work place. Ergonomic furniture and equipment is an important issue that management should consider because it decreases the medical cost, insurance cost associated with injuries and also increases worker's efficiency in the workplace.

In the sections, which follow, will be evaluated on the topics that involved in week one to week four. The problems of body size and posture, limitations of the sense organs, the design of controls and the effects of climate, and the design of displays and the person/machine information exchange will be discussed.

2.Problems of body size and posture.

One of the primary responsibilities of ergonomics is to provide data about body size. The variations between individuals are usually large enough to be important and so the statement of averages is not enough. Ranges are required, but since human dimensions are distributed normally in a statistical sense there are very few individuals at either extreme. Therefore, it is now standard practice to take into account 90% of the population. In selecting anthropometric data, the exact definitions of the measurements, the size and kind of population sample from which the data were obtained, and the availability of range information in addition to average information should take particular note on.

Apart from sex differences, there are continually size changes among populations in times; it is reasonable to suggest that the data need to be checked every...