E-Books: Occupational Ergonomics A Practical ApproachHSSE WORLD

Occupational Ergonomics A Practical Approach by Cheryl A. Wilhelmsen. The book contains all the important building blocks of occupational ergonomics it revisits the fundamentals of workplace ergonomics and takes you to step by step through more advanced workplace evaluations. The Book is a collaborative effort that merges engineering principles with practical applications to improve worker health, safety, and morale. It is packed with ergonomic evaluation tools and methods as well as well-crafted case studies to broaden the readers’ understanding of reducing physical risk factor exposure and increasing productivity.

Table of Contents

Ergonomics is a fiel of study that involves the application of knowledge about physiological, psychological, and biomechanical capacities and limitations of the human
(Butterworth, 1974). This knowledge is applied in the planning, design, and evaluation of work environments, jobs, tools, and equipment to enhance worker performance, safety, and health. Ergonomics is essentially fitting the workplace to the worker.
Ergonomics seeks to prevent WMSDs by applying principles to identify, evaluate, and control physical workplace risk factors.
History of Ergonomics
Wojciech Jastrz ¸ebowski, a Polish biologist, coined the word “ergonomics” as the science of work in 1857 in a philosophical narrative “based upon the truths drawn from the Science of Nature.” The term ergonomics – er⋅go⋅nom⋅ics \,ûrg-go-’näm-iks\ – is derived from two Greek words, Ergon meaning work and Nomos meaning principles or laws. Jasterzebowis understood the human and economic impacts of the industrial revolution during a time when a society of farmers traded in their hoes for 14-hour days in factories, growing iron and steel in lieu of wheat and potatoes.

Occupational Ergonomics A Practical Approach Book’s cover

Factories brought people, processes, and power together like never before. A more commonly used definition of ergonomics today, as defined by one of the fathers of modern ergonomics Étienne Grandjean, is “fittin’ the work to the worker.”Ergonomics is an applied science combining various disciplines that cater to the special needs of humans and is a goal-oriented science that seeks to reduce or eliminate injuries and disorders, increase productivity and improve life quality.

Ergonomics, as defined by the Board of Certification for Professional Ergonomists (BCPE), “is a body of knowledge about human abilities, human limitations and human characteristics that are relevant to design. Ergonomic design is the application of this body of knowledge to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for safe, comfortable and effective human use” (Ergonomics).

The Contents of Occupational Ergonomics A Practical Approach