Introduction to Ergonomics

1. AE 421: Ergonomics, Safety and
Maintenance
Mr. A.T. Kashaija
Department of Engineering
Sciences & Technology

2. Course Objectives
 To provide the students with knowledge and skills in
the principles and practice of ergonomics with a view
to enhance efficiency and effectiveness (productivity)
in human activities providing a safe and healthy
working environment.
 To provide the students with knowledge and skills in
the principles and practice of product ergonomics
with a view to enhance skills for the design of
products that are efficient, comfortable and safe.

3. Course Objectives (Cont…)
 To let the students understand the importance of
maintenance and safety in operating systems.
 To show the relationships between maintenance and
productivity, and the influence of maintenance on the
quality of production.
 To learn modern techniques of planned maintenance.

4. Course Outline
 Ergonomics: Introduction to Ergonomics, Physical and
Chemical work evaluation, Biological Aspects of Work,
Psychosocial aspects of work, Human factors in engineering
and design, systems ergonomics and ergonomics in production
systems
 Safety: Objectives of Safety, causes of accidents and injuries,
types of accidents and fires, Application of Hazard Analysis
Critical Control Point (HACCP) and Production for Cleaner
Environment (PCE) with respect to safety and community
health.

5. Course Outline (Cont…)
 Maintenance: General Principles (maintenance concepts
and definitions), maintenance and the systems concept,
preventive and corrective maintenance, organization and
monitoring, spare parts, maintenance costs, cost-benefit
analysis, maintenance and re-order practices, aids and
instruction.

6. Course Assessment
 40% CA + 60% UE = FR
 CA = 0.5 T1 + 0.5 T2

7. Additional Requirements
 Students must have a minimum 75% attendance and
participate in all assignments, tutorials and group
works
 Assignment that was not submitted and delivered to
the course teacher within the stipulated time frame
shall not be graded
 Students shall be required to read beyond what is
provided in the class by making references to
textbooks for better grade standing

8. What is Ergonomics?
 Ergonomics is composed of two Greek words i.e
Ergos (Work) and Nomos (Laws) given by a
group of British scientists in 1949
 Ergonomics = The Laws of Work
 It is also known as “human engineering”

9. Professional Definition
“Human factors (ergonomics) is a body of knowledge
about human abilities, human limitations, and other
human characteristics that are relevant to design”
(Chapanis, 1991, p 2)

10. Professional Definition - cont
“Human factors engineering (ergonomics
implementation) is the application of human factors
information to the design of tools, machines, systems,
tasks, jobs and environment for safe, comfortable and
effective human use”.
(Chapanis, 1991,p2)

11. Layman’s Definition
Fitting the task to the person
Ergonomics
Is commonly defined as a scientific study of
relationship between the man, machine (with which
he works) and environment (in which he works)

12. Hybrid Science
“To study the man-machine related aspects, experience
in anatomy, physiology, psychology, neurology,
medicine, anthropometry, human performance and
engineering sciences is needed .”
Therefore ergonomics is also described as hybrid
sciences
These sections will be described in the following
chapters

13. Goals of Ergonomics
1. Reduce injuries and illnesses
2. Increase productivity and
efficiency
3. Increase quality of work and
fewer errors
4. Increase worker safety (safer
jobs with few injuries)
5. Increase worker satisfaction
and morale
6. Decrease fatigue
7. Decrease turnover
8. Decrease absenteeism

14. Ergonomics Cases-Examples
Awkward Postures
Being in these work positions for more than two
hours total per day.
- Hands above head
- Elbows above shoulder
- Back bent forward more than 30 degrees
- Neck bent more than 30 degrees
-Squatting
-Kneeling

15. Working with the Hands Above Head
For more than two hours per day

16. Working with the Elbows Above
Shoulders
For more than two hours per day

17. Neck or Back bent forward more
than 30°
For more than two hours per day

18. Back bent forward more
than 30°

24. Risk of injury-heavy lifting Cart reduces risk of injury

25. Designer’s Dilemma
DESIGNER
Intuition
Intelligence
Experience
Knowledge
Ergonomic
Requirements
Quality
Aesthetics
Customer
Wishes
Many
Materials
Competition
Analysis
Many Technological
Areas
Environment of
the Product
Politics
Business
Issues
(Marketing)
Culture
Information
Technology
Patents
Existing
Products

26. This concludes today's lecture.
Thank you for your time!