Ergonomics - The science of being Human

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci

Prelude

Leonardo da Vinci created Vitruvian man in 1490,  inspired by the preachings of architect Vitruvious. Few centuries later, Le Corbusier created Modulor.

Ergonomics

The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as

“Ergonomics is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance”



Modulor by Le Corbusier

It starts from one’s own bedroom. The mattress & pillow is carefully chosen to sleep comfortably after day’s hard work. While we don’t want to compromise on ergonomics at our home, are we compromising our human aspects at our workplace where we work hard and spend most of our conscious time.

The Challenge

Ergonomics gets a blind spot in front of topline & bottom-line and don’t even get a mention in RFP documents. But whenever applied, it miraculously transforms the product or workplace into a success.

IPhone is a classic example. The size of IPhone is apt for most human palms (males, females, teenagers, senior citizen etc.). It fits well and is easy to operate with the thumb of same hand, leaving the other hand completely free. The geniuses of Apple’s design team in collaboration with economic masters created a product for humans as target customers. Their competitors with a huge product line are still far behind in sales. They are definitely different but not ergonomic.

Typical 9 AM – 6 PM job also demands spending 9 hrs in stressful work environment and even more in most cases. The physical workplace should work uncompromisingly to provide maximum comfort for human robots.

Ergonomics at Workplace

Workplace innovators are humans first and they play a defining role to innovate for humans instead of expecting that anything & everything works.

Understand: Be it a shop floor of the manufacturing unit or the most sophisticated cabin of the MD or simply a workplace with a maze of monitors & keyboards, the users are all humans. Observe human behavior, study working styles, analyze potential injury risks and most important of all quantify the physical impact on humans. If it involves working with social anthropologists or psychologists or orthopedics, engage them.

Innovate: Is that chair in your office can be ergonomically adjusted to provide maximum posture comfort to most users; is it possible to adjust the height of monitor screen to ergonomically suit most users; is the height of worktable on shop floor just right to minimize injuries & fatigue; is the layout promoting shortest path in case of emergency; is the lux level correct for the task; ... the list is endless

Educate: How many of the users even know that the chair they are using has many more adjustments other than height & backrest lock and probably the most important is the spring tension of backrest. Display graphics, conduct awareness campaigns, educate users on the merits of the workplace innovated by you.

Endnote

In most cases the pressures of cost gives a blind spot to the very science of being human first. While we strive to get the best for ourselves, we forget or ignore the basic facts about human anatomy while designing for our customers and fellow associates. Lowest price product might not be the best for humans, yet we sign on the dotted line knowingly or unknowingly. Perhaps, in our bid to save cost in short term, we actually end up spending much more on medical consultations in long run