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• Health Hazards - Chemicals, Physical, Biological, Psychosocial, Ergonomic
• Safety Hazards - Electricity, fire, machinery, falling
• Ergon - Greek word for work
• Nomos - Greek word for law
• Ergonomics - Science of discovering and applying information about human behavior, abilities, limitations, and other characteristics to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for productive, safe, comfortable, and effective human use. (
• Components of Ergonomics

  • Physical
  • Cognitive
  • Organization
  • Environment
  • Person
• Physical Ergonomics

  ⊳ manual materials handling ⊳ repetitive motions ⊳ awkward working postures ⊳ excessive force ⊳ workstation design ⊳ equipment design ⊳ tool design
• Cognitive Ergonomics

  ⊳ display design ⊳ control layout ⊳ Systems ⊳ information processing ⊳ interpretation ⊳ feedback ⊳ intervention ⊳ usability ⊳ intuitive ⊳ standardized
• Environmental Ergonomics

  ⊳ Noise ⊳ Vibration ⊳ Temperature ⊳ Lighting
• Organizational Ergonomics

  ⊳ work system design ▸ pacing ▸ layout

  ⊳ administrative controls ▸ work scheduling ▸ task rotation ▸ productivity
• Person/Human

  ⊳ consider individual differences between workers

  ▸size ▸reach ▸strength ▸fitness

  ⊳ work postures ⊳ physical abilities ⊳ fatigue
• Human–machine system is a system in which the functions of a human operator (or a group of operators) and a machine are integrated.
• Goals of Ergonomics - Minimize the mis-match between human capabilities and task requirements
• ⊳ Objectives of HF

  ▸ Improve human performance

  ▸ Improve Safety

  ▸ Reduce the need for training

  ▸ Improve user satisfaction
• ⊳ Worker’s capacity should match the work demand.