ERGONOMIC DOMAINS OF SPECIALIZATION

Ergonomics Domains of Specialization 

According to  International Ergonomics Association, there are three major domains of ergonomics such as,

• Physical
• Cognitive
• Organizational

Physical Ergonomics 

Physical ergonomics is referred as the human body’s responses to physical and physiological loads which includes manual material handling, workstation layout, job demand, quality management, risk factors. This includes assessment of physical activities such as repetitive movements, postures and human body positions, and manual tasks performed and examining how people use their bodies to work with their equipment, tools, and other people to perform daily tasks. This concept takes human anatomical, anthropometric, physiological and biomechanical characteristics into consideration and mainly, it deals with a number of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Physical ergonomics can be improved through,

• Arranging the workplace by considering the type of work assigned to the specific person
• Continuous trainings and awareness programs
• Encourage exercising
• Continuous monitoring of physical finesses through medical tests

Cognitive Ergonomics

Cognitive ergonomics deals with mental processes, such as perception, memory, thinking, motor response, maintaining, rehearsing, recalling, and transforming information in the human mind and brain as they affect interactions among humans who are working at the observed system. This focusses the aspects including mental effort, decision making, interaction with computers, human reliability and work stress. It’s  important to identify the cognitive functions which are relevant for a specific task or work, and to ensure that the working environment is suitable for these task requirements.

• Sensation and perception refers to sensitivity of stimuli gathered through the senses of the human body such as eye sight, hearing, taste, smell, and/or touch. As an example, the ones who work in Construction field  needs to hear the warning signals and in medical care one needs to be able to detect the symbols on the monitor.
• Attention is the stage where the processing is focused on certain aspects of detected information or processing may be divided between two or several aspects. For example, nurse who worked in a hospital may needs to focus his/her attention on two or more patients at the one time.
• Working memory includes a short term memory storage in which information is available for up to 30 seconds. It also refers to the processes with which information is actively proceed and manipulated in the mind. For example, a telephone operator has to rehearse the name of the desired person until she/he has connected the call
• Long term memory is a permanent storage of information. Semantic memory refers to the storage of knowledge about the world, symbols, and concepts. Episodic memory contains information about events and episodes, whereas events in an individual´s personal history to as autobiographical memories. Procedural memory is knowledge on ‘knowing how’ and skills. For example, machine operator needs to know how to use a machine in a safe way.
• Cognition also includes learning which refers to permanent or long lasting changes in knowledge and/or skills, that is relevant to all occupations. In cognitive science, expertise refers to some superior human ability in a complex cognitive task and can be considered to reflect maximal adaptation to a particular environment.

 

Improving cognitive ergonomics in the work environment needs at least the following measures:

• Interruptions should be curbed. The employer should set a block on pop-ups and alarm sounds as the default setting. Those employees who miss or need such interruptions for some reason can switch them on.
• Frequently used information need to present well and have easy accessibility, it should preferably also be presented in graphic form, and details related to the same topic should be available in the same place.
• Visual ergonomics must be in order. Display screens should be large enough and at an appropriate height, and the contrast of the text should be good. There should be no unnecessary movement in workspaces to attract attention, including people walking past display screens.
• It is important to have the acoustics of spaces without any noise, speech in particular, allowed to carry through the consideration on specific task.
• It should be possible to organize work-related tasks independently, and to complete them from start to finish before moving on to the next task.
• Software and hardware must be chosen in order to focus on the overall management of their tools and ease of work.
• Continuous training and development of each individual based on their knowledge and skills

Organizational Ergonomics

Organizational ergonomics/Macro-ergonomics  is the optimization of social technical systems, including the organizational structures, policies and processes. It includes team work, job shifts, work satisfaction, supervision, schedules and ethics.

A socio-technical system is looking at systems from a broad perspective and “considers requirements spanning hardware, software, personal, and community aspects.” As the Interaction Design Foundation describes, an understanding of the social structures, roles and rights to inform the design of systems that involve communities of people and technology. Emails, blogs, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be taken as examples for socio technical system (Interaction-design,2023)

• Define the Polices and Process with Standard Work sheets or SOPs
• Define the reporting system and working structure by using Top-Down approach
• Middle out approach - it involves analyzing an organization from within to identify how effective the work systems and processes
• Workload balancing
• Involvement of employees with their inputs to identify problems and give solutions
• Continuous follow ups and supervision by leaders
• Improve the skills of being a good team player 

Consideration of the physical, cognitive, and organizational ergonomics right in any workplace doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. But it requires the finding out what employees find helpful and problematic when trying to perform their jobs. Starting with the most obvious problems and working towards solutions with an expert in ergonomics can be helpful to ensure any changes you do make are likely to pay you back in spades.

References

Double black imagine(2022).physical-cognitive-organizational ergonomics [Online].Available at:https://doubleblackimaging.com/2021/12/22/physical-cognitive-organizational-ergonomics/ (Accessed:16 November 2023)

interaction-design (2023).Socio -technical systems [Online].Available at: https://oshwiki.osha.europa.eu/en/themes/cognitive-ergonomics (Accessed:16 November 2023)

physio-pedia (2023).Ergonomics [Online].Available at: https://www.physio-pedia.com/Ergonomics (Accessed:15 November 2023)