The promises and problems of ergonomics application in the People's Republic of China

Ergonomics or human factors, as an applied science concerning the design of interfaces between man, machine and the working environment, has shown its great capacities and potentials for improving working conditions and efficiency during its applications in most industrially developed countries (IC). As a means of improving the economy, industrialisation has been initiated in many industrially developing countries (DC). Knowledge and technology available in ICs have been transferred to DCs in order to increase the process of industrialisation. Ergonomics as a western discipline has also been transferred to many DCs during the technology transfer process. As an example of the transfer and development of ergonomics in industrially developing countries, this paper examines the development of ergonomics and its various areas of application in the People's Republic of China. After reviewing the current ergonomics situation and its applications in China from various points of view — i e, from organisation, research, education and industrial application — promises and problems associatd with the development of this new area of science are discussed.     

Improving engineering design- contributions of cognitive ergonomics

Engineering design is analysed in terms of design problem-solving. Engineering designers of differing productivity hardly differ in mental abilities, especially their tested intelligence. However, they differ in their strategies concerning the analysis of requirements and of the problem, in their search for general principles solving the relevant problem, and in the procedures used for developing specific solutions. Experimental and interview results stress that the interrelationship of thinking and sketching, as well as other kinds of an early low-cost prototyping are of crucial importance for the efficiency of the problem-solving procedure and the result. Possibilities for assisting design problem-solving and to improve the training of designers are discussed.     

Cognitive ergonomics: it's all in the mind

In this paper a distinction is made between classical ergonomics as dealing with the quality of working and cognitive ergonomics as dealing with the quality of work including the joint system products. It is argued that classical ergonomics can be seen as embracing a dualism, where the effects of work on the body are considered separately from the effects of work on the mind. This continues the mechanistic tradition of Western psychology. The aim of cognitive ergonomics is to describe (1) how work affects the mind, as well as (2) how the mind affects work. Work is all in the mind in the sense that the quality of work depends on the person's understanding of the situation (goals, means, constraints) and in the sense that the design of a worksystem depends on the designer's understanding, in particular the conceptualization of the people in the system. In cognitive ergonomics, the reliability of performance—and in particular the reliability of cognition—become central issues. The differences between classical and cognitive ergonomics are illustrated by considering two typical areas: risks at work and human-computer interaction. It is concluded that classical and cognitive ergonomics represent two complementary views of work that must be combined to meet the challenges of present day work environments.     

Video analysis in cognitive ergonomics: a methodological perspective

The object of this paper is to discuss the methodological issues associated with using video analysis in the evaluation of Human-Computer Interaction. It is proposed that the mapping between low-level observed events and the high-level goals of the usability evaluation ultimately determines the success of this research technique. The paper firstly addresses the advantages of using video as a data-capture medium in the context of usability evaluations, and secondly, evaluates the use of alternative data capture devices. The process of conducting video analysis is then described. The methodological issues that arise in employing this technique are presented in a format consistent with the execution of any empirical investigation: research design, scoring, data analysis and interpretation of results. The reader is alerted to certain methodological problems associated with the use of video analysis as a means of data collection. The conclusion is drawn that video analysis provides a very powerful data source for the study of human performance in cognitive ergonomics and usability evaluations provided that human factors practitioners attend to the methodological requirements imposed by this technique.     

Recent developments in ergonomics in China

Ergonomic thought and practice were introduced in ancient China in relation to modern developments in Chinese ergonomics. Despite the ten-year interruption of the 'cultural revolution’ in the late 1960s and 1970s, ergonomics has made great progress in China in the last decade. In this paper some general developments in recent ergonomics’ teaching and in professional organizations are described. Four major areas of ergonomics research are illustrated: (1) Visual displays and signal design; (2) Human-computer interface with Chinese computers; (3) Cognitive strategies and decision support; (4) Mental workload and occupational stress. The main characteristics of Chinese ergonomics are discussed and new directions are highlighted, based on recent developments and progress.     

A survey of ergonomics in Yugoslavia

The writer conducted a survey of ergonomics in Yugoslavia during the month of December 1982. This survey was made possible by the scientific exchange programme between the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and the Council of Academies of Yugoslavia. The writer met with engineers and scientists in academic, research and public health institutions to develop an overview of historical developments, the compostion of the ergonomics community, current research interests and methodologies, academic training programmes and future trends. The schedule of visits, which spanned four of the six Yugoslavian republics, is summarised in Table 1. The present study is a sequel to earlier surveys of ergonomics or human factors in Eastern Europe (Seminara, 1975; 1976; 1979a; 1979b; 1979/80; 1980; 1982; 1983).     

Role of ergonomics in the transfer of technology to industrially developing countries

Technological development has contributed to economic growth and social progress as well as a reduction of many sources of occupational accidents, injuries and stresses. However, advanced technology has also brought new sources of work stress and injuries. Industrially developing countries (IDC) have tended to try to achieve economic growth and development by importing technology designed for IDC. However, because of several complex technical, cultural and socio-economic factors, this policy has not been always successful. Inappropriate technology transfer has led to many work environment and productivity problems. Consideration of ergonomics in the choice and utilization of the transferred technology can help to create a good fit between technology, technology users and the operating environment. Application of ergonomics is, however, not widely spread in most IDC. Ergonomics input will create the appropriate working environment in which people are safe and motivated to participate and can better utilize company resources for increasing system productivity, reliability and availability.     

Enhancing the impact of ergonomics interventions

The aim of this paper was to provide recommendations for ergonomists involved in project design and evaluation. Twelve research and consultancy projects involving ergonomics interventions in a variety of settings in The Netherlands were analysed to identify factors important to success. Projects included participatory and non-participatory cases. Eight factors were identified for successful project design and for demonstrating project effectiveness.     

Forty years of IEA: some reflections on the evolution of ergonomics

This paper is the IEA Presidential Address to the 1997 IEA Triennial Congress in Tampere, Finland. The evolution of ergonomics prior to and after the foundation of the International Ergonomics Association in 1957 is reviewed. Ergonomics has broadened from considering work activities to include all types of human activities. The recent introduction of computers has changed many of the premises for work and leisure activities, and cognitive ergonomics is now as important as the ‘biological’ emphasis that was mentioned in the founding documents of IEA. Ergonomics is a science of design. There are three important targets for ergonomics design activity: to improve safety, productivity and operator satisfaction. A systems approach is presented to define how these parameters interact and how they can be measured.     

Development of an ergonomics guideline for the furniture manufacturing industry

Industry-specific ergonomics guidelines are an important component in the four-pronged approach to workplace ergonomics currently pursued by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The American Furniture Manufacturers Association has taken the initiative of developing such a guideline for its members. The result of this effort is the "AFMA Voluntary Ergonomics Guideline for the Furniture Manufacturing Industry", a document that includes basic information about ergonomics program components as well as a compilation of work-proven, ergonomics best practices as submitted by members of the furniture manufacturing community. This guideline was developed through an industry-research-government partnership and made strategic use of the unique attributes that each sector brought to this effort. Outlined in this paper are some of the characteristics of this partnership including, the roles played by each, the different motivations for pursuing the guideline, the challenges faced during the development of the document, the successes experienced in this process, as well as a proposed outline for measuring the effectiveness of this effort. The hope is that this summary, and some of the lessons learned contained herein, would be helpful to others considering the prospect of developing such a guideline for their industry.     

The impact of organizational ergonomics on work effectiveness: with special reference to concurrent engineering in manufacturing industries

A theoretical interdisciplinary model that gives consideration to the critical human and organizational variables for success in concurrent engineering has been developed and validated based on the data derived from 103 electronic component manufacturing companies in the USA. The aim of the model is to determine the impact of organizational ergonomics on work effectiveness in concurrent engineering. A set of questionnaires was developed and data were collected from the manager of the concurrent engineering effort, the team leader and design, manufacturing and marketing team members. The study supports the proposed model and shows that a reward structure that reflects the team effort and quality of communication are significantly related to concurrent engineering performance. This implies that companies using team work structures should find ways to facilitate effective communication among team members and have a reward structure that is balanced to recognize the success of the team.     

Ergonomics in the German Democratic Republic

A survey of ergonomics in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was conducted over approximately a two-month period starting in mid-May 1982. This study was sponsored by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) located in New York City. IREX maintains scientific exchange agreements with Eastern European countries and the USSR. This survey is one of a series of similar studies conducted in Eastern Europe. Earlier countries surveyed were Romania (Seminara, 1975), Bulgaria (Seminara, 1976a, 1976b, 1982), the USSR (Seminara, 1977, 1979/80), Poland (Seminara, 1979a), Czechoslovakia (Seminara, 1979b), Hungary (Seminara, 1980), and Yugoslavia (Seminara, 1983).     

Knobology in use: an experimental evaluation of ergonomics recommendations

The scientific basis for ergonomics recommendations for controls has usually not been related to active goal-directed use. The present experiment tests how different knob sizes and torques affect operator performance. The task employed is to control a pointer by the use of a control knob, and is as such an experimentally defined goal-directed task relevant to machine systems in general. Duration of use, error associated with use (overshooting of the goal area) and movement reproduction were used as performance measures. Significant differences between knob sizes were found for movement reproduction. High torques led to less overshooting as opposed to low torques. The results from duration of use showed a tendency that the differences between knob sizes were reduced from the first iteration to the second iteration. The present results indicate that the ergonomically recommended ranges of knob sizes might differently affect operator performance.     

Doing ‘organizational work’: Expanding the conception of professional practice in ergonomics

Literature on ergonomic practice contains many discussions of how ergonomists should work but far less attention has been paid to how they do work and the factors that influence their practice. In an effort to improve our understanding of ergonomic practice as it occurs and how it is conditioned by broader contexts, we conducted an interview study with 21 ergonomists in Canada. We were particularly interested to understand the different kinds of activities study participants engaged in during the course of their work, the challenges they faced and the strategies they employed for facing these challenges. Findings indicate that in the course of their professional practice ergonomists engage in a variety of types of activities. This includes consulting on risk factors as well as a proactive role of fostering the application of ergonomics in organizations. The process of advocating for ergonomics brought study participants into a variety of interactions and collaborations with workplace parties in a type of activity we have called “organizational work”. In the course of doing organizational work, ergonomists utilize different strategies, including “political manoeuvring”, tailoring data collection and report presentations to clients’ concerns and ‘goal hooking’ in order to make the case for implementing ergonomics in workplaces. The article concludes with a list of “tips” for practicing ergonomists that are suggested by the analysis.     

Measuring the physical demands of work in hospital settings: design and implementation of an ergonomics assessment

BACKGROUND: Assessing the physical demands of the heterogeneous jobs in hospitals requires appropriate and validated assessment methodologies. METHODS: As part of an integrated assessment, we adapted Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), using it in a work sampling mode facilitated by a hand-held personal digital assistant, expanding it with selected items from the UC Computer Use Checklist, and developed a scoring algorithm for ergonomics risk factors for the upper (UB) and lower body (LB). RESULTS: The inter-rater reliability kappa was 0.54 for UB and 0.66 for LB. The scoring algorithm demonstrated significant variation (ANOVA p<0.05) by occupation in anticipated directions (administrators ranked lowest; support staff ranked highest on both scores). A supplemental self-assessment measure of spinal loading correlated with high strain LB scores (r=0.30; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: We developed and validated a scoring algorithm incorporating a revised REBA schema adding computer use items, appropriate for ergonomics assessment across a range of hospital jobs.     

Measurement instruments and data collection: a consideration of constructs and biases in ergonomics research

Theoretical assumptions become valid only when they are tested empirically. Whenever measurement instruments are used one needs to be sure that they yield accurate information for the construct of interest. This article outlines the measurement instruments properties and their impact on research as well as the differences and similarities between biases that could occur in different measurement and data collection procedures. Important criteria that must be met when developing a new measuring tool are presented in detail. The purpose of this review paper is to gather and organize the relevant information regarding measurement bias in research. It outlines important steps that will lead to a decreased error in measurement and data collection. As more and more ergonomic decisions are taken, based on the research outcome, the impact of the quality of measurement in various intervention programs becomes increasingly critical.

Relevance to industry

Ergonomic interventions, ergonomic work and work place designs based on investigational results can only be sustainable if they are valid. Considerations regarding reliability and validity of these strategies are of importance to industries.     

Axiomatic design principles in analysing the ergonomics design parameter of a virtual environment

One of the negative side effects experienced by users when interacting with virtual environment is visual symptoms. This paper explores the ergonomics design parameters of the virtual environment to minimize such negative side effect by applying axiomatic design principles. Axiomatic design is a method to provide a systematic way for designing products and large systems. The independence axiom is used to map customer domain (CAs) to functional domain (FRs) and physical domain (DPs). A paper based survey was conducted to identify and define customers' preference in the virtual environment. A virtual robot manufacturing system was developed as a case study to explore ergonomic design parameters that satisfy the independence of FRs and CAs. Results of this study shows that the ergonomic design parameters of virtual environment identified (DP₁₆₁-DP₁₆₂-DP₁₂₁-DP₁₁₁-DP₁₃₁-DP₁₄₁-DP₁₅₁-DP₁₅₂) have satisfied the independence functional requirement and desired visual comfort for users. By uncoupling the design it provides an efficient and effective sequence of design activities FR₁₆₁-FR₁₆₂-FR₁₂₁-FR₁₁₁-FR₁₃₁-FR₁₄₁-FR₁₅₁-FR₁₅₂.     

Citation analysis and bibliometric research in the field of ergonomics

Given that journal impact factors now represent such a “hot” topic in the modern scientific world, it is essential that ergonomists remain fully cognizant of the citation‐based research that has been conducted in our field. This article reviews and examines bibliometric research in the ergonomics profession, ranging from seminal work on content analysis and citation indexing, to some of the latest research describing ergonomics journal lists and longitudinal impact factor trends. Overall, history has shown how citation‐based studies have become increasingly common in the ergonomics field during the past few decades, and, as we move through the 21st century, ergonomics journals continue to mature as a result. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Digital twins to enhance the integration of ergonomics in the workplace design

Recently, human-centered design has become one of the most promising approaches for improving the entire production process design. During the design phase, among the main important aspects to investigate, ergonomic performance of the workplace (WP) plays a key role. It is well known that design errors can lead to significant delays in the design and engineering of a production process, especially when it is related to a complex system such as the assembly line of an automotive industry. Prediction of the ergonomic performance, which is often coarsely considered during the design phase, can represent a fundamental step in preventing ergonomic issues since the early design phase of a production process, avoiding also negative consequences on line balancing. Based on a concurrent engineering (CE) approach, the aim of this paper is to present a framework that uses digital twins of stations in order to minimise the time necessary to develop and design a new assembly line. The application of this procedure will allow avoiding the possibility of realising a line that reveals ergonomic problems and correcting design errors during the design phase and not just during the production phase. In this way, it is possible to achieve great advantages in terms of cost avoidance for the correction of the design errors and in terms of time to market, which will be significantly reduced. A digital twin of a real station of a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) assembly line is presented to validate the numerical procedure and the design approach proposed in this paper. Finally, numerical results, regarding the evaluation of an ergonomic index, were compared with experimental ones achieved by analysing data collected during an experimental session.