Chapter one

Introduction

The International Labor Organization estimates that each year around 2.78 million workers die as
a result of occupational accidents and work-related diseases (ILO, 2019). Occupational injury is
a global public health burden in terms of disability adjusted life year which contributed to 1.5%
of all causes with estimated economic loss of 5% - 10% GDP (Nyguyent, 2009).
Ergonomics can be defined as the branch of science that aims at achieving an optimal fitting of
the working environment and job activities to the worker, the work environment can affect a
workers performance in many different ways by damaging health therefore the scope of
ergonomics include physical work load, posture at work, lifting and carrying, machine-human
system interaction, and also lighting, thermal comfort and noise (Ana suarez,2014).
Ergonomics can also be defined as a study of people and their interaction with the elements of
their job or task including equipment, tools, facilities, processes, and environment. It is a
multidisciplinary field of study integrating industrial psychology, engineering, medicine, and
design (Ferreira, Elvis et al, 2015 ).