Ergonomics  . . . . Defined

What is ergonomics?

Well the word itself was coined in 1857 by a Polish scholar. In Greek "ergo" means "work" and "nomos" translates to "laws". So ergonomics is literally the "laws of work."

In modern day context ergonomics has been described as "Fitting the job to the person!" or "Work smarter - not harder!" Reasonable definitions. Here is another way to think about it.

Take a ball and throw it into the air.

                           What happens?

        Correct! the ball comes back down.

            Why? (Obvious question, feel free to give the obvious answer!)

                   Gravity works!

In fact, if it didn't come back down, we would be quite surprised!  As we understand the laws of gravity, when we stand on the face of the earth and throw a ball into the air, it will come back down. In other words the CIRCUMSTANCES PREDICT THE RESPONSE.

Now, imagine we DON’T want the ball to come back down. What do we need to do? How about throw the ball up and just tell it to stay in the air . . .

"BALL - STAY UP!!"

Everyone will agree this is LUDICROUS. You can’t get a ball to stay in the air just by telling it to. Rather you need to change something . . . attach Velcro to it, throw it into a net, attach it to a string, launch yourself into outer space . . . you get the picture! How does this relate to what ergonomics is all about?

Circumstances predict the response!

Well, rather than throw a ball into the air, let's say you need to reach to a low file drawer or to assemble a component at a low level. The body position most likely used is to just bend over at the waist.

From a health and safety, as well as productivity standpoint, we recognize this work position can cause problems. But unfortunately it is a commonly observed work position.

How about this for a solution -  whenever we see someone in this poor position we tactfully tap them on the shoulder and say,

‘When you are in that bad position, be really, really, really careful you don’t hurt yourself!’

That makes about as much sense as telling the ball to:

 "Just stay in the air!"

A much better solution is to. . .

CHANGE THE CIRCUMSTANCES TO CHANGE THE RESPONSE!

We could reposition either the assembler or the work; for example, use a rolling stool. We could put the equipment on a lift to raise it up or we could put a pit in the floor to lower the person. (Don't laugh too much - this has been done. For example mechanics changing oil work underneath the vehicle work this way.)

Bottom line: given a certain set of circumstances, we will typically respond in a predictable way.

If we want to change the RESPONSE  We need to change the CIRCUMSTANCES!

Ergonomics . . .

The optimization of all aspects of job performance - health, safety, quality, productivity, comfort - accomplished through the appropriate design and use of workstations and equipment, work processes and the overall organization of work and home.