Ergonomics and international standards: introduction, brief review of standards for anthropometry and control room design and useful information

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) coordinates the production of internationally accepted standards, and involves over 100 countries. ISO TC 159 'Ergonomics' was set up in 1975. In 1988, the Comite Europeen De Nomalisation (CEN) established CEN TC 122 'Ergonomics' for the production of European standards. An exhaustive list of standards, proposed standards and work items is provided. Standards in the areas of anthropometry and control room design are presented. Additional useful information is provided in the form of abbreviations and terms and a list of addresses of where to obtain standards.     

International consensus on manual handling of people in the healthcare sector: Technical report ISO/TR 12296

In 1990 the European Union introduced a directive on manual handling in the health and social care industries. A review of the implementation in 2004 found a wide variation in official national guidance on patient handling. This paper reports the iterative development of a Technical Report (ISO/TR 12296) by the international standards Technical Committee ISO/TC 159, Ergonomics, Subcommittee SC 3, Anthropometry and Biomechanics representing 23 participating and 12 observing countries with expert support from the European Panel on Patient Handling Ergonomics. The process included 6 reviews over 3 years to produce a consensus document as a state of science summary. It has an overarching framework of risk management with sections on risk estimation and evaluation, organisational aspects, aids and equipment, buildings and the environment, staff training and education and intervention evaluation.     

Developing national ergonomics standards for Thai industry

This paper reports activities initiated by the Thai Government and its Technical Committee on Ergonomics Standards (TC 887) to develop national ergonomics standards for Thai industry. The main objective is to promote ergonomics practice by disseminating recommended ergonomics principles and applications to various industries so that employers and/or management become aware of essential design concepts and work methods that help to improve workplace conditions and enhance workers’ safety. Initially, the paper discusses the history of ergonomics in Thailand and its progress during the past 30 years. Ergonomics research activities and industrial projects that have been conducted are also summarized. Government activities to develop national ergonomics standards are then described in detail. Steps already taken to achieve such goals include participating as a P-member of the ISO/TC 159, conducting national surveys on ergonomics education and ergonomics specialists, and drafting ergonomics standards.

Relevance to industry

It has been well recognized in developed countries that ergonomics principles help to increase workers’ productivity and enhance workplace safety. For industrially developing countries such as Thailand in which ergonomics is not well known, it is essential that national ergonomics standards be developed and disseminated to employers and/or management. Furthermore, national standards need to be compatible with international standards to allow Thai manufacturing companies to be competitive in international markets.     

Ergonomics user interface standards: are they more trouble than they are worth?

The purpose of this paper is to review the history, progress and results of one area of international standardization—the ergonomics of human-system interaction. It is a personal perspective based on my experiences as Chairman of ISO/TC159/SC4 over the past 17 years. The paper starts with some historical background and summarizes the main work of the Committee. It then identifies five areas where the results of the standardization work could have been more successful and discusses what went wrong. These problems include the long time-scale for development, how the standards were misunderstood, how political the process can be, how we may have tried to be too clever and how the abundance of help at times may have been a problem. The paper concludes with an explanation of why the activity and the results were not all bad. The five positive areas include the benefits that can come from the slow pace of the work, the benefits of structure and formality, why standards do not have to be restrictive, how the standards themselves are only part of the outcome and how being a truly international experience makes it all worthwhile.     

Ergonomics user interface standards: are they more trouble than they are worth?

The purpose of this paper is to review the history, progress and results of one area of international standardization--the ergonomics of human-system interaction. It is a personal perspective based on my experiences as Chairman of ISO/TC159/SC4 over the past 17 years. The paper starts with some historical background and summarizes the main work of the Committee. It then identifies five areas where the results of the standardization work could have been more successful and discusses what went wrong. These problems include the long time-scale for development, how the standards were misunderstood, how political the process can be, how we may have tried to be too clever and how the abundance of help at times may have been a problem. The paper concludes with an explanation of why the activity and the results were not all bad. The five positive areas include the benefits that can come from the slow pace of the work, the benefits of structure and formality, why standards do not have to be restrictive, how the standards themselves are only part of the outcome and how being a truly international experience makes it all worthwhile.     

中国在ISO/ IEC JTC1/ SC2 的活动与中文编码的国际标准化

标准化是实现技术产业化的基础。中文信息处理技术是我国特有的、具有国际领先水平的技术。我国自 20 世纪80 年代参与ISO/ IEC J TC1/ SC2 的活动以来,在中文编码技术的国际标准化工作中取得了显著成绩。本文介绍了ISO/ IEC J TC1/ SC2 的工作领域、工作方式和组织结构;我国参与ISO/ IEC J TC1/ SC2 及其下属该组织活动的方式;国际标准ISO/ IEC 10646 的大致情况和我国在参与此国际标准研制工作中取得的成绩、当前的工作和未来工作的计划。本文论述了我国参与本文ISO/ IEC J TC1/ SC2 活动的意义,以及我国在ISO/ IEC J TC1/ SC2 活动中的作用、地位和影响。作者还提出了对未来工作的建议。     

Standardizing the user side of the X.25 interface

CCITT Recommendation X.25 describes the interface to a public data network operating in the packet mode. However, it describes this interface almost entirely from the network's viewpoint. Investigations within ANSI X3S3 in 1980 showed that X.25 leaves open many issues regarding DTE operation. As a result, ISO/TC97/SC6, at ANSI's request, undertook an activity to define DTE operation for both DTE-to-DCE (network) operation as well as direct DTE-to-DTE operation. In June 1981, ISO/TC97/SC6 approved for balloting among its member countries a draft proposal of an X.25 LAPB-compatible DTE link layer standard. The results of this balloting were favourable; the DP was then forwarded to ISO/TC97 for further processing as a draft international standard. A proposed X.25 DTE packet layer standard has been submitted to ISO for further consideration within TC97/SC6. The purpose of this paper is to briefly trace the history of this activity and to provide insight into the proposed ISO DTE standards.     

Standardizing the specification, verification, and exchange of product geometry: Research, status and trends

The task of international standardization of product geometry specification, verification and exchange is shared largely by two ISO committees. One is ISO TC 213, which is charged with the standardization of dimensioning, tolerancing, surface finish and related metrological principles and practices. The origin of this standardization dates back to pre-information age, and much effort in the last 20 years has gone into bringing greater mathematical rigour to this work to make it suitable for the information age. The other committee is ISO TC 184/SC 4, which is charged with the standardization of product data models suitable for exchange among various information systems. This effort, commonly known as STEP, is relatively new and is a product of the information age. This paper describes the current state of the interplay between the efforts of these two ISO committees, research work that was undertaken to meet the goals of their standards and plans to address future challenges.     

Appropriateness of international heat stress standards for use in tropical agricultural environments.

Where a danger to health from heat stress is identified, standards allow decisions for implementing measures to reduce the heat stress to be made. These standards, specifically ISO 7243 (Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index, WBGT) and ISO 7933 (Sweat Required, SWreq) were designed with European and American subjects, primarily for use in those countries. While the scope of the standards is international, little consideration has been made about how valid and usable they are in industrially developing countries. This investigation evaluated ISO 7933 and ISO 7243 in terms of validity and usability. A tropical agricultural task was simulated; 16 subjects plucking tea leaves for 2 h, (ta = tr = 37.18 degrees C; va = 0.16 m/s; rh = 70.17%). While ISO 7243 was valid (if slightly over protective) and usable, ISO 7933 was over protective and underestimated sweat and evaporation rates in its predictions. The discrepancies between predicted and observed results were attributed primarily to the calculations related to clothing in the standard. Furthermore, ISO 7933 was unusable without a computer; in regions where access to such technology may be limited, a simpler method of presentation is required.     

STEP-compliant CNC system for turning: Data model, architecture, and implementation

STEP-NC, a new data model for CAD-CAM-CNC chain, is expected to encompass the whole scope of e-manufacturing. The new data model formalized as ISO 14649 is under development by ISO TC184 SC1 and SC4 for the replacement of the old standard so-called G&M codes, formalized as ISO 6983 which has been used since the 1950s. As the new data model is being established, development and implementation of STEP-compliant CAD/CAM/CNC system based on the new data model is drawing worldwide attention. Several systems have been reported in such international conventions as the ISO Expert Committee Meeting. Up to the present time, all the STEP-CNC systems are intended for milling operation. In this paper, the authors first present STEP-compliant CNC system for turning system including the data model, followed by a generic architecture and functionality. Implementation results obtained from a prototype system called TurnSTEP have been provided. Based on the results, the authors are convinced of the validity of the STEP-NC data model together with the effectiveness of the STEP-CNC system for turning.     

3D extension to GKS

The Graphical Kernel System GKS has [1] been established as the first standard in the field of Computer Graphics covering two-dimensional (2D) graphics. Now work is going on to develop standards in related areas. One important effort is the extension of GKS for three-dimensional (3D) graphics. This paper will briefly overview the history of standardization efforts with respect to 3D graphics and then report the current activities of various national and international standardization bodies for extending GKS to 3D. Then the paper will concentrate on GKS-3D [2], a proposal for a 3D extension of GKS which is developed by the Dutch standardization committee NNI in close collaboration with the International Organization for Standardization ISO/TC97/SC21/WG2. Technical work is expected to finish in 1985. Scope and purpose of this future 3D standard and goals of the design are given and the functionality of the 3D extension is described in some detail. As technical work on GKS-3D is going on, changes may occur to the standard document. The major issues will be surveyed and trends will be sketched.     

Software quality assessment and standards

The development of software product-quality assessment methods is reviewed. Much of the software quality standards work has been performed under the aegis of international organizations such as the IEEE Computer Society and the International Standard Organization/International Electrotechnical Committee Joint Technical Committee No.1 Subcommittee on Software Engineering (ISO JTC1 SC7). An alternative approach that defines a set of requirements for members of a class of software product and certifies those that meet the requirements is described     

Results from a normative dependency analysis of geographic information standards

Standardization in the field of geographic information started in the 1990s when geographic information systems (GIS) matured and the advent of the Internet accelerated the exchange of information. Recent developments, such as location-based services and the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) on handheld devices, have further increased the demand for standardization in the field. ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics develops the ISO 19100 series of geographic information standards and collaborates with other standards organizations, for example, by developing abstract standards for which the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) develops implementation specifications. To date, forty nine ISO 19100 standards have been published. Many of these were recently approved for revision. One of the challenges of standard maintenance is to determine whether a change in a revised standard affects other standards, and how. Object dependency analysis is commonly used in object-oriented software maintenance. Geographic information standards, however, are not composed purely of objects. Instead, dependencies in all the normative elements of the standard have to be analyzed and understood. This paper presents the novel approach of a normative dependency analysis for standard maintenance in which interdependencies between the normative elements of standards are analyzed. In the paper a normative dependency between two standards is defined for the first time, a notation for normative dependencies is introduced, a normative dependency data model is presented and results from a normative dependency analysis of the ISO 19100 geographic information standards are discussed. The paper concludes with results, applicable to any suite of standards, and a discussion of further work.     

Open systems interconnection — the presentation service

During 1981 far reaching decisions concerning the presentation service have been achieved. It was recognized that the use of the abstract data-type approach in the presentation service conveniently allows the required degree of precision. A specification of a presentation service based on this abstract data-type approach was outlined by the ISO Working Group 5 (responsible for developing the presentation service specification within ISO/TC97/SC16), was immediately used by Working Group 4 (for clarifying and structuring the area of open systems management, for which this WG is responsible) and was supported by Working Group 1 (responsible for the overall architecture of the area of open systems interconnection). Thus, this abstract data-type approach is currently considered to be the fundamental concept provided by presentation layer service to its users. The paper provides a presentation service specification derived by technical elaboration from the outline produced by WG5. These elaborations were performed keeping in mind the requirements of system design, which eventually must be met by the OSI application services. The paper briefly explains how the requirements of systems and software designers are related to the presentation and application services. A draft proposal for an international standard for the presentation service, which will be based on abstract data typing (as currently being discussed in the WGs of SC16 and as explained in this paper) may be expected by the end of 1982.     

ANALYSIS OF THE HEBERN CRYPTOGRAPH USING ISOMORPHS

In December 1984, under reference ISO/TC97/SC20/N42, a Technical Report has been published relating the state-of-the-art of public-key cryptosystems: various comments were sent to WG2, the ISO Working Group dedicated to public-keys; major results have since been published. This document is a brief synthesis on this large subject where randomness and redundancy play the major roles, mainly in integrity techniques: identification, authentication and signature.     

Standardization in Information Technology Security

The author overviews the international standards developed by SC 27 “IT Security techniques” of the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee “Information technologies.” The standards include cryptographic mechanisms, evaluation and testing of products and information systems, countermeasures, and security services. Both published standards and those under development are considered.     

Publicly available specification. A new paradigm for developinginternational standards

Formal standards groups have been criticized in recent years for the time required to develop standards. With notable exceptions, standards groups have earned this criticism. One body, ISO/IEC JTC1 (Joint Technical Committee 1), is aggressively addressing the time required to develop formal international standards (ISs) for the information technology industry. With its latest addition, publicly available specification (PAS), JTC1 now has three standards development paradigms: traditional, fast-track and PAS. All three paradigms share the same final approval procedures but have different development processes. The PAS paradigm resembles both the traditional and fast-track paradigms in its process for moving from a draft IS to an IS. The PAS paradigm even more closely resembles the fast-track paradigm in that it lets a standard be initially developed outside ISO. However, whereas the fast-track paradigm lets a standard be developed by a JTC1 member, the PAS paradigm lets it be developed by any organization