Evaluating Human Factors and Ergonomics: A Comprehensive Ergonomic Safety Assessment Model
Subject Areas : Risk Assessment
1 - Department of Engineering Management, Holy Cross College, Sta. Rosa, N.E., Inc. Philippines
Keywords: Physical Ergonomics, Cognitive Ergonomics, Organizational Ergonomics, Hazard Perception, Corrective Actions ,
Abstract :
Continuous developments in technology and the recent pandemic brought organizational changes that threaten the appropriateness of work to the employees. Holy Cross College, Sta. Rosa, NE, Inc. is no exception to these changes that pose ergonomic concerns in the physical, cognitive, and organizational aspects. This study focused on evaluating the human factor/ergonomics domain through a proposed concept of an ergonomic safety assessment model. A descriptive research design was employed and 85 employees of the educational institution participated in the study. Following the concept of an ergonomic safety assessment model, findings suggest that the prevailing cause of ergonomic hazards comes from the unfamiliarity with the work environment and the nature of work. Leading ergonomic concerns perceived are improper posture, fatigue, static loads, pressure points, and work disruptions that require immediate effective adjustments. The corrective actions to these hazards were identified and suggested to be integrated into an ergonomic safety program.
References:
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Alzahrani, N. A. (2019). Workplace ergonomics and academic staff performance in the College of education at Umm Al-Qura university in Makkah. Am. J. Educ. Res, 7, 604-617.
Ansari, S., Nikpay, A., & Varmazyar, S. (2018). Design and development of an ergonomic chair for students in educational settings. Health scope, 7(4).
Castellucci, H. I., Arezes, P. M., Molenbroek, J. F. M., de Bruin, R., & Viviani, C. (2017). The influence of school furniture on students’ performance and physical responses: results of a systematic review. Ergonomics, 60(1), 93-110.
Christy, D., & Duraisamy, D. S. (2020). Ergonomics and employee psychological well being. International Journal of Management, 11(3).
Couffe, C., & Michael, G. A. (2017). Failures due to interruptions or distractions: A review and a new framework. The American journal of psychology, 130(2), 163-181.
Davis, K. G., Kotowski, S. E., Daniel, D., Gerding, T., Naylor, J., & Syck, M. (2020). The home office: Ergonomic lessons from the “new normal”. Ergonomics in design, 28(4), 4-10.
Dennerlein, J. T., Burke, L., Sabbath, E. L., Williams, J. A., Peters, S. E., Wallace, L., ... & Sorensen, G. (2020). An integrative total worker health framework for keeping workers safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Human factors, 62(5), 689-696.
Deshpande, D. (2013). Ergonomics and Its Stress Relating Issues for the Employees Working in Banking Sector in Gujarat. In Journal of National Conference on Paradigm for Sustainable Business: People, Planet and Profit Organized by Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee.
Díaz-López, C., Serrano-Jiménez, A., Verichev, K., & Barrios-Padura, Á. (2022). Passive cooling strategies to optimise sustainability and environmental ergonomics in Mediterranean schools based on a critical review. Building and Environment, 109297.
Duggan, G. B., Johnson, H., & Sørli, P. (2013). Interleaving tasks to improve performance: Users maximise the marginal rate of return. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 71(5), 533-550.
Gaynor, K. M., Brown, J. S., Middleton, A. D., Power, M. E., & Brashares, J. S. (2019). Landscapes of fear: spatial patterns of risk perception and response. Trends in ecology & evolution, 34(4), 355-368.
Gupta, A., Bhat, M., Mohammed, T., Bansal, N., & Gupta, G. (2014). Ergonomics in dentistry. International journal of clinical pediatric dentistry, 7(1), 30.
Haynes, B., Suckley, L., & Nunnington, N. (2017). Workplace productivity and office type: An evaluation of office occupier differences based on age and gender. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 19(2), 111-138.
Hargrave, T. J., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2017). Integrating dialectical and paradox perspectives on managing contradictions in organizations. Organization Studies, 38(3-4), 319-339.
Herath, T., & Herath, H. S. (2020). Coping with the new normal imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for technology management and governance. Information Systems Management, 37(4), 277-283.
Herbig, B., Schneider, A., & Nowak, D. (2016). Does office space occupation matter? The role of the number of persons per enclosed office space, psychosocial work characteristics, and environmental satisfaction in the physical and mental health of employees. Indoor Air, 26(5), 755-767.
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Kalakoski, V., Selinheimo, S., Valtonen, T., Turunen, J., Käpykangas, S., Ylisassi, H., ... & Paajanen, T. (2020). Effects of a cognitive ergonomics workplace intervention (CogErg) on cognitive strain and well-being: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. A study protocol. BMC psychology, 8(1), 1-16.
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Kaya, Ö., & Romanescu, L. S. C. (2020). Ergonomics In Design Education: The Case Of Romania And Turkey. Ergonomics, 3(2), 74-81.
Kibria, M., & Rafiquzzaman, M. (2019). Ergonomic Computer Workstation Design for University Teachers in Bangladesh. Jordan Journal of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, 13(2).
Kingsley, A. (2013). The impact of office ergonomics on employee performance; a case study of the ghana national petroleum corporation (gnpc). Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University, 51-56.
Komarek, A. M., De Pinto, A., & Smith, V. H. (2020). A review of types of risks in agriculture: What we know and what we need to know. Agricultural Systems, 178, 102738.
Lauri, L., & Virkus, S. (2019). Information overload of academic staff in higher education institutions in Estonia. In Information Literacy in Everyday Life: 6th European Conference, ECIL 2018, Oulu, Finland, September 24–27, 2018, Revised Selected Papers 6 (pp. 347-356). Springer International Publishing.
Machado, R. A., Bonan, P. R. F., Perez, D. E. D. C., & Martelli Júnior, H. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on dental education: discussing current and future perspectives. Brazilian oral research, 34.
MacLeod, D. (2018). Principles of Ergonomics. Iegūts no: http://www. danmacleod. com/ErgoForYou/10_principles_of_ergonomics. htm[skat. 01.06. 2018.].
Muljadi, C., Idawati, L., & Ardi, A. (2022). Developing Leadership Skills in Administrative Staff Through Professional Development Program at School Pelita Harapan. JIIP-Jurnal Ilmiah Ilmu Pendidikan, 5(7), 2547-2553.
Naji, G. M. A., Isha, A. S. N., Mohyaldinn, M. E., Leka, S., Saleem, M. S., Rahman, S. M. N. B. S. A., & Alzoraiki, M. (2021). Impact of safety culture on safety performance; mediating role of psychosocial hazard: an integrated modelling approach. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(16), 8568.
Nassaji, H. (2015). Qualitative and descriptive research: Data type versus data analysis. Language teaching research, 19(2), 129-132.
Onyema, E. M., Eucheria, N. C., Obafemi, F. A., Sen, S., Atonye, F. G., Sharma, A., & Alsayed, A. O. (2020). Impact of Coronavirus pandemic on education. Journal of Education and Practice, 11(13), 108-121.
Pawar, P. Y., & Khedkar, E. B. (2016). Review of Ergonomics practices in difference Sectors. STUDIES, 2(9).
Rafique, G. M., Mahmood, K., Warraich, N. F., & Rehman, S. U. (2021). Readiness for Online Learning during COVID-19 pandemic: A survey of Pakistani LIS students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(3), 102346.
Siedlecki, S. L. (2020). Understanding descriptive research designs and methods. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 34(1), 8-12.
Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach’s alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in science education, 48(6), 1273-1296.
Tams, S., Ahuja, M., Thatcher, J., & Grover, V. (2020). Worker stress in the age of mobile technology: The combined effects of perceived interruption overload and worker control. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 29(1), 101595.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (2022). Hierarchy of Controls. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hierarchy/ default.html
Too, E. G., & Weaver, P. (2014). The management of project management: A conceptual framework for project governance. International journal of project management, 32(8), 1382-1394.
Vasilyev, A. S., Zemlyak, V. L., & Boychin, R. E. (2022, February). Taking into account the requirements of ergonomics as an important factor in creating a comfortable environment in an educational institution. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 988, No. 5, p. 052016). IOP Publishing.
Woo, E. H. C., White, P., & Lai, C. W. K. (2016). Ergonomics standards and guidelines for computer workstation design and the impact on users’ health–a review. Ergonomics, 59(3), 464-475.
World Economic Forum. (2018). Women are more productive than men, according to New Research. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/women-are-more-productive-than-men-at-work-these-days
Xiao, Y., Becerik-Gerber, B., Lucas, G., & Roll, S. C. (2021). Impacts of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office workstation users. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 63(3), 181.
Zare, M., Croq, M., Hossein‐Arabi, F., Brunet, R., & Roquelaure, Y. (2016). Does ergonomics improve product quality and reduce costs? A review article. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 26(2), 205-223.
Züger, M., Corley, C., Meyer, A. N., Li, B., Fritz, T., Shepherd, D., ... & Snipes, W. (2017, May). Reducing interruptions at work: A large-scale field study of flowlight. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 61-72).
Al Horr, Y., Arif, M., Kaushik, A., Mazroei, A., Katafygiotou, M., & Elsarrag, E. (2016). Occupant productivity and office indoor environment quality: A review of the literature. Building and environment, 105, 369-389.
Alzahrani, N. A. (2019). Workplace ergonomics and academic staff performance in the College of education at Umm Al-Qura university in Makkah. Am. J. Educ. Res, 7, 604-617.
Ansari, S., Nikpay, A., & Varmazyar, S. (2018). Design and development of an ergonomic chair for students in educational settings. Health scope, 7(4).
Castellucci, H. I., Arezes, P. M., Molenbroek, J. F. M., de Bruin, R., & Viviani, C. (2017). The influence of school furniture on students’ performance and physical responses: results of a systematic review. Ergonomics, 60(1), 93-110.
Christy, D., & Duraisamy, D. S. (2020). Ergonomics and employee psychological well being. International Journal of Management, 11(3).
Couffe, C., & Michael, G. A. (2017). Failures due to interruptions or distractions: A review and a new framework. The American journal of psychology, 130(2), 163-181.
Davis, K. G., Kotowski, S. E., Daniel, D., Gerding, T., Naylor, J., & Syck, M. (2020). The home office: Ergonomic lessons from the “new normal”. Ergonomics in design, 28(4), 4-10.
Dennerlein, J. T., Burke, L., Sabbath, E. L., Williams, J. A., Peters, S. E., Wallace, L., ... & Sorensen, G. (2020). An integrative total worker health framework for keeping workers safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Human factors, 62(5), 689-696.
Deshpande, D. (2013). Ergonomics and Its Stress Relating Issues for the Employees Working in Banking Sector in Gujarat. In Journal of National Conference on Paradigm for Sustainable Business: People, Planet and Profit Organized by Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee.
Díaz-López, C., Serrano-Jiménez, A., Verichev, K., & Barrios-Padura, Á. (2022). Passive cooling strategies to optimise sustainability and environmental ergonomics in Mediterranean schools based on a critical review. Building and Environment, 109297.
Duggan, G. B., Johnson, H., & Sørli, P. (2013). Interleaving tasks to improve performance: Users maximise the marginal rate of return. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 71(5), 533-550.
Gaynor, K. M., Brown, J. S., Middleton, A. D., Power, M. E., & Brashares, J. S. (2019). Landscapes of fear: spatial patterns of risk perception and response. Trends in ecology & evolution, 34(4), 355-368.
Gupta, A., Bhat, M., Mohammed, T., Bansal, N., & Gupta, G. (2014). Ergonomics in dentistry. International journal of clinical pediatric dentistry, 7(1), 30.
Haynes, B., Suckley, L., & Nunnington, N. (2017). Workplace productivity and office type: An evaluation of office occupier differences based on age and gender. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 19(2), 111-138.
Hargrave, T. J., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2017). Integrating dialectical and paradox perspectives on managing contradictions in organizations. Organization Studies, 38(3-4), 319-339.
Herath, T., & Herath, H. S. (2020). Coping with the new normal imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for technology management and governance. Information Systems Management, 37(4), 277-283.
Herbig, B., Schneider, A., & Nowak, D. (2016). Does office space occupation matter? The role of the number of persons per enclosed office space, psychosocial work characteristics, and environmental satisfaction in the physical and mental health of employees. Indoor Air, 26(5), 755-767.
International Ergonomics Association. (2020). What Is Ergonomics (HFE)?. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://iea.cc/what-is-ergonomics/
Jabeen, R., & Hussain, N. (2022). Teachers’ awareness and practices on school ergonomics in Karachi, Pakistan. Journal of Humanities, Social and Management Sciences (JHSMS), 3(1), 366-381.
Johnsen, S. O., Kilskar, S. S., & Fossum, K. R. (2017). Missing focus on Human Factors–organizational and cognitive ergonomics–in the safety management for the petroleum industry. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part O: Journal of risk and reliability, 231(4), 400-410.
Kalakoski, V., Selinheimo, S., Valtonen, T., Turunen, J., Käpykangas, S., Ylisassi, H., ... & Paajanen, T. (2020). Effects of a cognitive ergonomics workplace intervention (CogErg) on cognitive strain and well-being: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. A study protocol. BMC psychology, 8(1), 1-16.
Kates, R. W. (1971). Natural hazard in human ecological perspective: hypotheses and models. Economic Geography, 47(3), 438-451.
Kaya, Ö., & Romanescu, L. S. C. (2020). Ergonomics In Design Education: The Case Of Romania And Turkey. Ergonomics, 3(2), 74-81.
Kibria, M., & Rafiquzzaman, M. (2019). Ergonomic Computer Workstation Design for University Teachers in Bangladesh. Jordan Journal of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, 13(2).
Kingsley, A. (2013). The impact of office ergonomics on employee performance; a case study of the ghana national petroleum corporation (gnpc). Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University, 51-56.
Komarek, A. M., De Pinto, A., & Smith, V. H. (2020). A review of types of risks in agriculture: What we know and what we need to know. Agricultural Systems, 178, 102738.
Lauri, L., & Virkus, S. (2019). Information overload of academic staff in higher education institutions in Estonia. In Information Literacy in Everyday Life: 6th European Conference, ECIL 2018, Oulu, Finland, September 24–27, 2018, Revised Selected Papers 6 (pp. 347-356). Springer International Publishing.
Machado, R. A., Bonan, P. R. F., Perez, D. E. D. C., & Martelli Júnior, H. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on dental education: discussing current and future perspectives. Brazilian oral research, 34.
MacLeod, D. (2018). Principles of Ergonomics. Iegūts no: http://www. danmacleod. com/ErgoForYou/10_principles_of_ergonomics. htm[skat. 01.06. 2018.].
Muljadi, C., Idawati, L., & Ardi, A. (2022). Developing Leadership Skills in Administrative Staff Through Professional Development Program at School Pelita Harapan. JIIP-Jurnal Ilmiah Ilmu Pendidikan, 5(7), 2547-2553.
Naji, G. M. A., Isha, A. S. N., Mohyaldinn, M. E., Leka, S., Saleem, M. S., Rahman, S. M. N. B. S. A., & Alzoraiki, M. (2021). Impact of safety culture on safety performance; mediating role of psychosocial hazard: an integrated modelling approach. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(16), 8568.
Nassaji, H. (2015). Qualitative and descriptive research: Data type versus data analysis. Language teaching research, 19(2), 129-132.
Onyema, E. M., Eucheria, N. C., Obafemi, F. A., Sen, S., Atonye, F. G., Sharma, A., & Alsayed, A. O. (2020). Impact of Coronavirus pandemic on education. Journal of Education and Practice, 11(13), 108-121.
Pawar, P. Y., & Khedkar, E. B. (2016). Review of Ergonomics practices in difference Sectors. STUDIES, 2(9).
Rafique, G. M., Mahmood, K., Warraich, N. F., & Rehman, S. U. (2021). Readiness for Online Learning during COVID-19 pandemic: A survey of Pakistani LIS students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(3), 102346.
Siedlecki, S. L. (2020). Understanding descriptive research designs and methods. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 34(1), 8-12.
Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach’s alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in science education, 48(6), 1273-1296.
Tams, S., Ahuja, M., Thatcher, J., & Grover, V. (2020). Worker stress in the age of mobile technology: The combined effects of perceived interruption overload and worker control. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 29(1), 101595.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (2022). Hierarchy of Controls. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hierarchy/ default.html
Too, E. G., & Weaver, P. (2014). The management of project management: A conceptual framework for project governance. International journal of project management, 32(8), 1382-1394.
Vasilyev, A. S., Zemlyak, V. L., & Boychin, R. E. (2022, February). Taking into account the requirements of ergonomics as an important factor in creating a comfortable environment in an educational institution. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 988, No. 5, p. 052016). IOP Publishing.
Woo, E. H. C., White, P., & Lai, C. W. K. (2016). Ergonomics standards and guidelines for computer workstation design and the impact on users’ health–a review. Ergonomics, 59(3), 464-475.
World Economic Forum. (2018). Women are more productive than men, according to New Research. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/women-are-more-productive-than-men-at-work-these-days
Xiao, Y., Becerik-Gerber, B., Lucas, G., & Roll, S. C. (2021). Impacts of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office workstation users. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 63(3), 181.
Zare, M., Croq, M., Hossein‐Arabi, F., Brunet, R., & Roquelaure, Y. (2016). Does ergonomics improve product quality and reduce costs? A review article. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 26(2), 205-223.
Züger, M., Corley, C., Meyer, A. N., Li, B., Fritz, T., Shepherd, D., ... & Snipes, W. (2017, May). Reducing interruptions at work: A large-scale field study of flowlight. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 61-72).