The document discusses the history of ergonomics from ancient times through the 19th century work of Frederick Taylor on scientific management. It then outlines the development of international standards for ergonomics through the International Organization for Standardization, including the establishment of technical committees to develop standards related to various areas of ergonomics like anthropometry, physical and thermal environments, and human-system interaction. Standards are developed at basic, functional, and ecological levels to provide guidance on human factors in work systems, equipment, and the physical environment.

1. Ergonomics for Textile and
Garment Industry
History
Standards
G.Maheswaran
Assistant Professor
Department of Textile Technology
PSG College of Technology
Coimbatore

3. History of Ergonomics
• Hammurabi, the king of Babylon (1728–1686 BC),
introduced work planning, production control,
calculation of required workers and working days and
details of the required work hours.
• Xenophon (about 430–354 BC) left us a written
statement of the division of work into operations when
producing military shoes.
• The Ancient Greece (5th century BC) used ergonomic
principles in the design of their tools, jobs, and
workplaces.
• Hippocrates (c. 460 BC–c. 370 BC) described how a
surgeon’s workplace should be designed and how the
tools he uses should be arranged.

4. Is there ergonomics?

5. History of Ergonomics
• In the 19th century, Frederick Winslow Taylor
(1856–1915) made a pioneer method of “science
management,” who proposed a solution to find
the optimal way to perform a task.
• Taylor (1911), extending the principle of division
of labor, designed an efficient work system for
the proper design of job, the motivation of
employees and the division of responsibility
between management and labor.

6. Think the difference…

7. History of Ergonomics
• He published many of his
works, of which the most
famous are:
– “Shop Management” (1903),
– “Principles of Scientific
Management” (1911),
– “Testimony before the Special
House Committee” (1912),
• Which were published in
1947 with the title “Scientifi
c Management.”

8. Work Load
and
Productivity

9. History of Ergonomics
• On the basis of his experiments, Taylor set the
following principles of scientific management:
– The first principle is based on the assessment of
daily performance of workers.
– The second principle of scientific management -
Shop Management
– The third principle is the control of work and
carrying out work tasks.

10. History of Ergonomics
Taylor mapped out the methodology of implementation
of scientific management in practice, as follows:
– Employees with the highest level of qualification for the
specified work task should be chosen.
– Basic movements and operations that each worker should do
in his job are to be studied in details.
– The time required for performing each movement or
operation should be studied, using a stopwatch. On the basis
of this knowledge, the shortest possible time required to
make each movement should be established.
– All unnecessary and slow movements should be eliminated.
– After the removal of all unnecessary movements, a series of
fastest and most effective movements are to be established.

11. History of Ergonomics
• Frank Bunker Gilbreth (1868–1924) and Lilian
Gilbreth (1878–1972) are well-known worldwide for
their pioneering work in Time and Motion study and
ergonomics.
• Gilbreth made a table of 18 basic movements, which
he named “Therblig” by the anagram of his surname
(Fig. 1.6), with graphic signs that occur during each
work, and those movements are good enough to
show different jobs at different positions.
• This allowed the analysis of time and introducing
time standards for performing certain tasks.

13. Standards
• The first International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO) standard based on
ergonomic design of work systems ISO 6385
(1981) was developed on the basis of the German
standard DIN 33 400 (1975).
• International Ergonomics Association (IEA)
established a standard ISO/TC 159 in 1975.
• The scope of ISO/TC 159 standard in the field of
ergonomics includes terminology, methodology,
and data on human factors.

14. Standards
• The requirements for ISO/TC 159 to achieve its goals are as
follows:
– To collect and make a critical review of ergonomic data relevant
to international standardization and which are related to
designing and manufacturing of machinery, design and
organization of work processes, as well as the layout of work
equipment and the control of physical environment in the work
rooms.
– To identify those branches of industry, services and trade where
the ergonomic needs will expand or develop with new
technologies.
– To recognize the inevitable delay time in manufacturing, as well
as its performing.
– To set and implement comprehensive subprograms for
standardization of activities in different areas of ergonomics.
– To create, within the framework of ISO/TC 159, the function
responsible for strategic planning implementation and updating
of this strategic policy statement.

15. The organizational structure of ISO/TC 159, ergonomics (January
2000):
(1) ISO/TC 159/SC 1 General ergonomic principles:
TC 159/SC 1/WG 1 Principles of ergonomics and ergonomic design.
TC 159/SC 1/WG 2 Ergonomic principles related to mental work.
(2) ISO/TC 159/SC 3, Anthropometry and biomechanics:
TC 159/SC 3/WG 1 Anthropometry.
TC 159/SC 3/WG 4 Human physical strength: manual handling and force limits.
(3) ISO/TC 159/SC 4, Ergonomics of human–system interaction:
TC 159/SC 4/WG 1 Fundamentals of controls and signaling methods.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 2 Visual display requirements.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 3 Controls, workplace and environmental requirements.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 Software ergonomics of human–computer interaction.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 6 Human-centerd design processes for interactive systems.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 8 Ergonomic design of control centers.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 9 Tactile and haptic interaction.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 10 Accessible Design for Consumer Products.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 11 Ease of operation of everyday products.
TC 159/SC 4/WG 12 Image safety.

16. (4) ISO/TC 159/SC 5, Ergonomics of the physical environment:
TC 159/SC 5/WG 1 Thermal environments.
TC 159/SC 5/WG 4 Integrated environments.
TC 159/SC 5/WG 5 Physical environments for people with special
requirements.
TC 159/SC 5/WG 6 Perceived air quality.
• The standards were developed at different levels within the
following structure:
– Basic standards relating to the basic characteristics of humans.
– Functional standards related to human factors in work and use of
equipment, processes, products and systems.
– Ecological standards related to the effects of physical factors of
environment on human qualities, ranging from convenience,
health and risk.
– Standards for testing of procedures and processing ergonomic
data will be applied in developing standards in the above three
categories or assessment in accordance with the already-
accepted standards.