The Importance of Ergonomics and Workplace Design

Productivity has always been a main goal of many organizations.  But how productivity is enhanced has changed greatly over the past several years.  Today, many organizations and companies are concerned with the ergonomics and workplace design of their business because, if constructed and executed properly, they can have a significant impact on the productivity of employees. Based on the OSHA website, ergonomics is "the science of fitting workplace conditions and job demands to the capabilities of the working population".  Ergonomics seeks to incorporate comfort, efficiency, and safety into the design of items on the job site.  The main focus of these aspects are concentrated on the chair, keyboard, display device, and work surface.  Based on the information found in Discovering Computers and Microsoft Office 2007, the viewing angle of the screen to the user should be 20 degrees to the center of the screen and the viewing distance should be 18-28 inches.  The keyboard height should be 23-28 inches, with an adjustable height chair with 4 to 5 legs for stability, wheels can also be beneficial.  The workers feet should be flat on the floor and the elbows at about a 90 degree angle with one's arms and hands approximately parallel to the floor. The picture below is another good resource for information about proper workplace ergonomics.

 A well designed workplace that is ergonomic is said to help, "assure high productivity, avoidance of illness and injury risks, and increased satisfaction among the workforce" according to OSHA.  However, all of this information has to be flexible to adjust for the differences in human sizes, shapes, and health needs.  To help solve this ergonomics problem of differing human size, "the development of effective digital human modeling
capabilities seems to be a logical next step for dramatically improving the cycle time, quality, and cost of producing ergonomically efficient designs" according to Don B. Chaffin.  Being able to use human models, and even better the now digital human model, greatly increases the effectiveness and likeliness of producing a highly successful ergonomic workplace component, such as new chairs or user friendly desks.  Being able to quickly change the digital model size, also reduces the time traditionally needed with live human models to try out prototypes of products, thus resulting in better more effective products reaching the marketplace sooner.  Below is a chart to help visualize the benefits of having an ergonomically designed workplace.

Ergonomics and workplace design are essential elements to a happy workforce and subsequently an enjoyable job with higher productivity.  Although the importance might seem minimal, ergonomics can greatly impact a company. 

The following information was found in/on:

• Discovering Computers and Microsoft Office 2007 by Shelly and Vermatt and is a product of Cengage Learding.

• http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/

• http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:TTxY0nuebHIJ:scholar.google.com/+workplace+design&hl=en&as_sdt=0,44&as_vis=1

The two pictures are from:

• http://worksmartergonomics.com/Why_Ergonomics_.html

• http://eperez17ism3004.blogspot.com/2011/01/tutorial-1-injury-prevention-in.html