ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship

• Ergonomics is the science of work. • Basic ergonomics is often regarded to be merely

ERGONOMICS
• Ergonomic is the application of scientific
information about human beings to the design of
objects, systems and environments intended for
human use.
• Ergonomics involves the application of anatomical,
physiological and psychological knowledge and
Dr. Jane S. Malasador
methodology to evaluate and optimize work
performance and human health, safety, and comfort.
“commonsense”.
• However, whereas commonsense is an individual’s
subjective opinion, based largely on his or her own
personal experiences.
• Ergonomics involves the application of objective
data concerning the range of people expected to use
a certain piece of equipment (user population or
user group).
• An ergonomics approach also encourages
evaluation of designs and avoids the pitfall of
“commonsense solutions” being seen as the only
solutions, with their suitability remaining untested.

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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship

1. Human Characteristics
• Human beings act as power sources and controllers.
• The equipment they operate must be compatible
with the size, strength and senses (eg. Vision,
hearing, etc.) of the user population.
• All these characteristics change during life and may
depart significantly from the norms for a given age,
as a result of disease or malnutrition.
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Body Size
1.1 Body size
• The science of the dimensions of the human body is
called anthropometry.
• Fig.4.1 gives examples of the key major dimensions
and Table 4.1 provides the associates
measurements for German adult males and females.
• In addition to body sizes, the distances that can be
reached by the hands or feet may be important in the
operation of equipment, particularly larger unit, from
the standing or sitting position.
• These distances are called reach envelopes and
depend on both body dimensions and ranges of
movement of the relevant limbs.
Fig. 4.1
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Table 4.1 Measurements indicated in Fig. 4.1
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Table 4.2 Measurements indicated in Fig. 4.2
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
1.1 Body size
• The sizes of different limbs may also be important:
hand size, for example, should be considered in the
design and evaluation of tools, controls or machine
guards.
• The key dimensions of the hand are illustrated in
Fig. 4.2 and associated measurements given in Table
4.2, also for German adults.
ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
1. Human Characteristics
1.1 Body size
• Equipment must be suitable for a range of people,
not just people with average dimensions.
• Anthropometric data are, therefore, usually
presented as means with standard deviations or
percentile values.
• Body dimensions are vary according to the Normal
Distribution. It is customary for a design to attempt
to cater for 90 or 95% of the target population.
• The critical dimensions are then the 5th percentile
and 95 percentile values or the 2.5th and 97.5th
percentile values respectively.
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Fig. 4.2 Indication of measurements listed in Table 4.2
(after Jurgens, 1973, cited by Granddjean, 1980)
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
1. Human Characteristics
1.2 Body strength
• Body strength represents the potential of the body’s
ability to perform mechanical work.
• Mechanical work may be performed in two ways.
• 1) by relative movement between body limbs which
can be effected only by a muscle developing tension
and shortening around a joint (eg. elbow, knee) and
bringing the two adjacent limbs, or segments, closer
together.
• 2) if posture and the task permit, body weight can be
exploited to overcome external forces.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
1.2 Body strength
• The amount of tension that can be developed in
muscles depends on three factors: the cross-
sectional area of the muscle, the degree of which the
muscle has already contracted and the rate at which
the individual muscle fibres can be refueled.
• Furthermore, since motivation plays a significant
role in activating muscle fibres, this should not be
overlooked.
• The apparent strength of the body depends on the
circumstances and is a function of the body’s
posture and musculature.
• Approximate indications of arm strength for various
postures are given in Fig. 4.3 and 4.4.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
2. Energy demands
• In equipment evaluation, the energy demands on the
users exert a very strong influence on the
acceptability of the equipment.
• Work is done by muscular contractions: working
muscles need to be refuelled and waste products
removed. The amount of work (static or dynamic), in
terms of metabolic demand, can be determined
reasonably accurately from measuring the body’s
oxygen consumption.
• 1 liter of oxygen ≈ 20.7 kJ of metabolic energy.
• A less direct for assessing workload is to measure
heart rate.
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Fig.4.3
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
2.1 Static workload
• Generally involves the maintenance of a fixed
posture and would usually include the support of
some (static) external load.
• Although no work is being done in the conventional
mechanical sense (i.e. a force is not being moved
through a distance), a physiological stress is,
nevertheless, imposed.
• This could be observed or measured through
elevations in oxygen uptake or heart rate.
• Many workloads involve both static and dynamic
components should be examined separately.
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Fig.4.4
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
2.1 Static workload
• Many workloads involve both static and dynamic
components should be examined separately.
• A typical example would be the operation of a
knapsack sprayer. One arm experiences a static
workload, whilst the other arm (pumping) and the
legs (walking) experience dynamic workloads.
• Also, the maintenance of any awkward or difficult
posture represents a static workload.
• Supporting a static load, as diagrammatically shown
in Fig. 4.5, is stressful mainly because the muscle’s
opportunity to refuel is inhibited. Dynamically
working muscles are not so seriously affected in this
way because their movements assist the circulation
of nutrients and removal of waste products.
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Fig. 4.5 Static load holding a weight. The tension
in the biceps muscle counteracts the weight in
the hand according to the Principle of Moments
ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
2.2 Dynamic workload
• A dynamic workload is the combined effect of the
magnitude of the effort involved, the rate at which it
is applied and its duration.
• All three factors must be considered in appraising a
workload.
• Power = Energy/time = (Force x distance)/time
• Physical work induces a wide range of physiological
stresses such as changes in breathing rate, oxygen
uptake, heart rate, body temperature, the
concentrations of metabolites in the blood etc. For
simple ergonomics appraisals, heart rate would be
the most appropriate of these variables to monitor.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
• The benefits of measuring heart rate are well
illustrated by a simple time history of the heart rate
changes associated with muscular work (Fig. 4.6).
• If the person has not been physically active for some
time before the start of work, the heart rate will be
around the resting level for that person.
• After work starts the heart rate will rise and should
reach a steady level as work continues.
• If this steady state is not reached, the implication is
that the workload is too high for the person to sustain.
• After the end of work the heart rate decreases until it is
eventually returns to the resting level: this is called
the recovery period.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship Table

4.3
• Determination of strength requirements associated
with particular tasks or tools, subjective assessment
can also be prove useful in the evaluation of the
energy demands.
• Method of subjectively assessing workload, and
relating it to objective measures, is regarded as
reliable is Christensen’s Rating of Perceived Exertion
(RPE).
• Approximate relationships between the subjective
rating, heart rate and other physiological variables are
given in Table 4.3.

Fig. 4.6 Typical variations in heart rate before, during and

after work 24
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
3. Environmental factors
• Environment factors include thermal variables (such
as temperature, humidity), air quality, noise and
vibration.
• The environment can influence the physical
performance of a task either directly or indirectly.
• Heat or humidity may reduce work capacity directly
and air pollution may affect physical performance by
initiating an allergenic reaction which inhibits
breathing.
• Heat could also affect work capacity indirectly
through dehydration.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
3.2 Air quality
• Aerial pollutants may be particulate matter (organic
or inorganic) or gaseous (emissions from internal
combustion engines.
• Particulate matter is generally undesirable because
of its harmful effects on the respiratory system.
• There may be an immediate effect on work capacity
through restriction to breathing rate or a longer-term
effect through lung damage.
• In both cases work capacity is affected by reducing
the body’s access to oxygen.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
3.1 Thermal stress
• Human beings are homothermous and their internal
organs can tolerate only small changes of
temperature – the general accepted range being
between 36 and 39 °C.
• One unit of mechanical work involves the generation
of at least three units of metabolic heat energy.
• To avoid heat stress this heat must be lost.
• Main methods of heat loss are through convection
and evaporation(of sweat) which become less
effective with increase in air temperature and
relative humidity respectively.
• In humid environment sweat can not evaporate so
easily and the cooling effect is diminished. 26
ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
3.3 Noise
• The source of noise in agriculture is associated
mainly with the use of engine power and with static
power driven machines.
• Exposure to an average noise level exceeding 80
dBA over an 8 hour working day can damage
hearing.
• Recommended level for all equipment should be
designed to have noise levels below 80 dBA at all
times.
• If the noise level cannot be reduced at source, some
type of protection should be provided for the
operator and various types of ear protectors are
available. 29
ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
3.1 Thermal stress
• This potentially more serious than the deminished
convective loss and the body can quickly overheat
to the point of heat stroke (collapse, loss of
consciousness).
• In less severe condition, the limited capacity of the
sweat glands may be the dominant factor and, in the
longer term, dehydration can develop.
• Other factors which affect human heat exchanges
are mean (infra-red) radiation levels, especially solar
radiation and clothing insulation (which may be
particularly important in the case of protective
clothing).
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
3.4 Vibration
• Source of vibration are mainly associated with
power driven implements and machines.
• There is a distinction between whole-body vibration
and that affecting limbs such as hands and arms.
• Whole-body can be experienced when driving
tractors.
• The effects of exposure to vibration vary according
to the frequency (Hz), acceleration (m/s2 ) and
exposure duration. They vary from nausea at low
frequencies to joint and bone disorders produced by
long exposure to high frequencies.
• Prevention at the design stage, through reducing the
transmission to the operator through the use of
damping materials, or by reducing exposure time.30
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
4. Safety and comfort
• All equipment should be designed to be safe and
comfortable for the intended users.
• Safety, however, is not only a matter of design, it
depends on how the equipment is used.l
• Powered equipment, in particular, can be dangerous
and the design should be appraised for the
possibility of misuse.
• “Users trials” allow the observer to determine
whether the equipment is actually used as it was
intended and expected to be used.
• Exposed moving parts should be accompanied with
safety guards.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
5. Effect of climate and machine or tool induced stress
on operator performance
5.1 Ill effects on the health of the operator
(pathological spine deformation)
• For many farming operation it is not feasible or even
possible to shield the worker from the environment
with a cab or similar enclosure.
• It is usually not possible to lose the work heat from
moderate to heavy work in a warm enviroment,
especially if the humidity is high.
• In hot weather, work load must be reduced to the
level that the heat generated can be lost.
• The machine imposes heavy stress on operator.
• The need to keep the body in unhealthy posture for
long periods of time.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
4. Safety and comfort
• Problems of postural discomfort can be reasonably
well assessed on a subjective basis by use of a
“body map” (Fig.4.7).
• The human body, or parts of it, is divided into
sections and the users of the equipment under test
are asked to indicate which segments are sources of
pain or discomfort. Fig.4.7 Body map
• This can be elaborated by introducing a rating scale used for evaluating
(eg. 0 to 5 for no discomfort to severe discomfort) or Body Part Discomfort
a ranking scale and collecting assessments over with women
periods of time. agricultural workers in
Zimbabwe
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship Table 4.4
• If a machine requires too much human energy to
operate, its effectiveness will be severely limited.
• Vibration and shock up and down direction
transmitted to the operator.
- internal organs i.e. stomach, lungs, kidneys etc.
natural frequency 3-5 Hz
- the main frequency of vibration transmitted from
ground (in dry conditions is in the range of 3-5 Hz)
- thus balance must be found between ergonomics
requirements and economic and technical
considerations Since spine deformation increases with age, the relative
- coincides between main frequency of tractor with position of tractor drivers composed to the other
natural frequency of the human body’s internal occupations becomes even worse. Tractor drivers are also
organs and joints found to suffer more from such things or stomach
complaints compared to other occupations.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
5.2 Reduction of effect
• The machine should be ergonomically well-
designed.
• If an agricultural four wheel tractor had a
suspension system similar to a motor car. In
suspension system, cushions are mounted to a
resilent spring/damper/linkage mechanism. The
purpose of the suspension is to reduce (attenuate)
the level of machine vibrations transmitted to the
operator, especially in low frequencies (2 to 5 Hz)
range. The reason why this suspension system is
not fitted to a tractor is because of fear of such
system interfering with the tractors implement
control system.
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ERGONOMICS Man-Machine Relationship
• Maintain vibration levels within health and safety
limits.
• Improve the comfort in cost-competitive manner.
• Reduce mechanical shocks and vibration
transmitted to the operator.
• Position the operator to perform easy and non-
fatiguing access to machine controls
Thank you…
• Provide enough safety to operator during collision
or roll over of the machine
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