Ergonomics for beginners

Book reviews Ergonomics for BegiMerS J. Dull and B. Weerdmeister Taylor & Francis London (1993) 133pp f9.95 paperback ISBN 0 7484 0079 6 Although a grateful reader of the many ‘ . . . for beginners’ books that appeared in the radical and political field in the 198os, the reviewer approached this beginner’s guide to ergonomics with some trepidation. Nobody likes to think that their own specialist discipline can be distilled down into a very slim volume. This is perhaps especially true for ergonomics, where a criticism is often that it attempts to include almost every aspect of human characteristics and human behaviour within its remit. This volume is a translation from a Dutch book that was originally published in 1%3, entirely revised and updated in 1991 and now translated into English. The authors say that they are pitching the text at an introductory level, and attempt to cover the subject in six chapters. Following a basic introduction to what ergonomics is, they then cover in Chapters 2-5, posture and movement, information and operation, environmental factors, and tasks and jobs. They then include a valuable little chapter on the ergonomic approach, largely covering project management issues. It is pointless to complain about any omissions in this book, as there will obviously be some and they will be different for every individual reader according to their own expectations and interests. If the book is looked at from the point of view of, ‘What would we attempt to put over in a first 20 hour introductory course in ergonomics?’ then the book does appear like a very useful resource. There are three particular criticisms of the book, however. First, the authors take a fairly catholic view in their introductory chapter of who might be ‘justified in calling themselves ergonomists’, a particularly relevant topic given the battles over certification etc. at the moment. Related to this criticism, at the close of each of Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5, and in overall summary at the end of Chapter 6, are included summary

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checklists. These are written almost as if they can be filled in and used to carry out ergonomics assessments by the reader, with no additional training. It cannot be stated too strongly that this is not so and that a non-ergonomist could not carry out suitable ergonomics interventions solely on the basis of having read this book and applying its checklists. Third, and despite the inclusion of Chapter 6 on project management, the book is written more as a compendium of ergonomics advice, recommendations and data than as guidance on the practical application of ergonomics. Despite the reservations above, the book is still a very good buy at the price and suitable for introductory courses on but alongside recomergonomics, mended other readings and texts. John R. Wilson

A Guide to Task Analysis B. Kirwan and L.K. Ainsworth (eds) Taylor & Francis London (1992) 427pp f18.00 paperback A review of this book has been delayed, as it has been in active use since it arrived on the reviewer’s desk; this is a fairly good indication that it has filled a gap in the market. Task analysis is one of the most confused and misunderstood topic areas within ergonomics. It is seen sometimes as an approach and sometimes as a method, and reactions and opinions vary from ‘this is the start and key part of any ergonomics initiative’ to ‘So what - isn’t this only stating the obvious?’ to ‘Isn’t it just method study?‘. Certainly it is difficult to give any coherent form to task analysis, when to begin with ergonomics has borrowed so heavily (in form if not utilization) from methods study, but then in the last few years some in the NC1 community have blithely assumed that they have ‘invented’ the notion. Also, there is the old chestnut of what is task description and what is task analysis. In the 1950s Miller carefully distinguished task description as being a precursor to carrying out a task analysis; many ergonomists since have not been quite so

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and we can find several examples in the literature of task descriptions masquerading as task analyses. The editors of this book make a very good job of collating and explaining all the various techniques and methods available in carrying out task analysis, although the reader gets a slight shudder on page 1 when they say that ‘Task analysis covers a range of techniques . . . to describe, and in some cases the human-machine and evaluate, human-human interactions in systems. Task analysis can be defined as the study of what an operator. . . is required to do . . . to achieve a system goal.’ There is a good argument that task analysis will always be used to evaluate, otherwise what we are providing is only a task description; furthermore, task analysis can be applied to more than human-machine and human-human interactions - there are interactions of the worker with physical or mental tasks but for which there is no ‘machine’. Following an introductory chapter to the task analysis process the editors describe 25 different task analysis techniques, grouped as: task data collection techniques; task description techniques; task simulation methods; task behaviour assessment methods; and task requirement evaluation methods. In doing this they run into a general problem with classification of ergonomics methodology, in that at least some of the techniques or methods could appear under more than one of these headings. In Part 3 of the book there are ten case studies ranging from control panel interface design to maintenance training to inspection tasks. Although interesting in part, these case studies do not add a tremendous amount to what appears in the earlier part of the book, and in fact it might have been better to have extended the earlier description of techniques and included case studies within them. In fairness to the authors

careful,

this would be difficult at times, as many

cases use more than one method or technique. Despite some problems with the index and sometimes with finding all information needed on techniques

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