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Human factors in work, design and production
Books
Human factors in work, design and production J.S. Weiner and H.G. Mau/e (Eds) Taylor & Francis Ltd, 10-14 Macklin St, London WC2B 5NF, pp 156, £7.00
This latest publication from Taylor and Francis provides students of ergonomics with a valuable and welcomed opportunity to read in greater depth than before a number of case studies in ergonomics practice. Although much of the material for the four case studies has been prepared previously in one form or another, the editors have been able to install a common format to the studies in the course of their re-working. The first study, by Sell, covers work into the redesign of crane cabins in the steel industry and involves a close examination into the design of hand controls, foot controls, the workspace with special emphasis on visibility and the inter-relationships of these factors. The study by Crawley, also from the steel industry, deals with the design of the physical environment for workers operating a slab shearing work station. The relationship between poorly designed clothing and "Dogger bank itch" was instrumental in the development of the study by Crockford who investigated the design of protective clothing for trawler fishermen by examining the micro-environment of the workers. In the final study, Fox is concerned with the redesign of a number of aspects considered important in determining the accuracy or quality of coin inspection. They include the display design, the pacing and the design of the immediate.workspace including the lighting. As the editors point out, certain features emerge common to all the studies. They include the multi-disciplinary approach of ergonomics, the importance of defining the objectives of a study in a meaningful and appropriate form and the importance attributed to the knowledge the investigator possesses of previous work in the relevant areas. To some extent the Ergonomics Information Analysis Centre at Brimingham University can ease the problems raised by the last point. Some criticism can be made over the choice of the case studies. Except for the study of Crockford, many readers will be familiar with the research since the studies were completed in the early or mid 1960's, a time when recognised courses in ergonomics were just being established, A more general criticism is that the book as a whole does not give the reader any insight into how an investigator overcomes the general problems associated with the introduction and validation of ergonomics studies in a general environment of conflict between groups of people such as unions and management. That is to say, these studies give one an impression of comparative luxury where a team of ergonomists and people in related disciplines have worked in ideal conditions characterised by an apparent absence of
constraints of time, cost and human conflict. Had some studies from companies such as Lucas, British Leyland, ICI or GKN been presented, there would be some encouragement for industrial ergonomists who do not work for the British Steel Corporation or the Coal Board! E.D. Megaw
The sensible taskmaster C. Heyde
AAPTSAR, 525 Elisabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia, pp 176, Aus ~16.00 (inc airmail P & P) It is much easier for the housewife to use a cookery book than to try to prepare food from books about how the digestive system or taste-senses work. Even books about how many calories man needs for living or how different kinds of ingredients or cooking methods affect the satisfaction and well-being are not very helpful. There is a similarity in the industrial world where engineers are preparing work tasks for other workers. Although there are books on ergonomics, describing how operators function and how different work characteristics affect the wellbeing and performance of the operator, what many a busy engineer looks for is a comprehensive cookery book which tells him exactly what to do step by step to prepare suitable workplaces. Inevitably such a simple ergonomics cookbook is an impossibility. The Sensible Taskmaster does not pretend to be one either, but its approach is clear; it is designed to be a practical handbook for engineers, giving precise guidance on how to arrange a task, which ingredients to mix and which to avoid and how to quantify them, the universal measure for almost all the factors being time. At the same time the author, Mr Heyde, is trying to give the reader a basic understanding of the way man functions at work. The author's basic point of view is that of a work study man, but as a sensible job designer he is not content with the traditional way of arranging tasks. He wants a method based on the operator as a human being, not as a mechanical machine. Mr Heyde has earlier tried to solve this problem by developing an alternative work study principle which was an analysis of work based on what a person did with his body (eg, sit, bend, walk, decide, apply pressure, use eye, put things to destination, etc) instead of the traditional work study elements which observe what is done with the tools and material. He developed a motion-time system called MODAPTS utilising this concept, which was published in 1966 and has been developed further by him since then. This book is a
Applied Ergonomics December 1977
235
Human factors in work, design and production J.S. Weiner and H.G. Mau/e (Eds) Taylor & Francis Ltd, 10-14 Macklin St, London WC2B 5NF, pp 156, £7.00
This latest publication from Taylor and Francis provides students of ergonomics with a valuable and welcomed opportunity to read in greater depth than before a number of case studies in ergonomics practice. Although much of the material for the four case studies has been prepared previously in one form or another, the editors have been able to install a common format to the studies in the course of their re-working. The first study, by Sell, covers work into the redesign of crane cabins in the steel industry and involves a close examination into the design of hand controls, foot controls, the workspace with special emphasis on visibility and the inter-relationships of these factors. The study by Crawley, also from the steel industry, deals with the design of the physical environment for workers operating a slab shearing work station. The relationship between poorly designed clothing and "Dogger bank itch" was instrumental in the development of the study by Crockford who investigated the design of protective clothing for trawler fishermen by examining the micro-environment of the workers. In the final study, Fox is concerned with the redesign of a number of aspects considered important in determining the accuracy or quality of coin inspection. They include the display design, the pacing and the design of the immediate.workspace including the lighting. As the editors point out, certain features emerge common to all the studies. They include the multi-disciplinary approach of ergonomics, the importance of defining the objectives of a study in a meaningful and appropriate form and the importance attributed to the knowledge the investigator possesses of previous work in the relevant areas. To some extent the Ergonomics Information Analysis Centre at Brimingham University can ease the problems raised by the last point. Some criticism can be made over the choice of the case studies. Except for the study of Crockford, many readers will be familiar with the research since the studies were completed in the early or mid 1960's, a time when recognised courses in ergonomics were just being established, A more general criticism is that the book as a whole does not give the reader any insight into how an investigator overcomes the general problems associated with the introduction and validation of ergonomics studies in a general environment of conflict between groups of people such as unions and management. That is to say, these studies give one an impression of comparative luxury where a team of ergonomists and people in related disciplines have worked in ideal conditions characterised by an apparent absence of
constraints of time, cost and human conflict. Had some studies from companies such as Lucas, British Leyland, ICI or GKN been presented, there would be some encouragement for industrial ergonomists who do not work for the British Steel Corporation or the Coal Board! E.D. Megaw
The sensible taskmaster C. Heyde
AAPTSAR, 525 Elisabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia, pp 176, Aus ~16.00 (inc airmail P & P) It is much easier for the housewife to use a cookery book than to try to prepare food from books about how the digestive system or taste-senses work. Even books about how many calories man needs for living or how different kinds of ingredients or cooking methods affect the satisfaction and well-being are not very helpful. There is a similarity in the industrial world where engineers are preparing work tasks for other workers. Although there are books on ergonomics, describing how operators function and how different work characteristics affect the wellbeing and performance of the operator, what many a busy engineer looks for is a comprehensive cookery book which tells him exactly what to do step by step to prepare suitable workplaces. Inevitably such a simple ergonomics cookbook is an impossibility. The Sensible Taskmaster does not pretend to be one either, but its approach is clear; it is designed to be a practical handbook for engineers, giving precise guidance on how to arrange a task, which ingredients to mix and which to avoid and how to quantify them, the universal measure for almost all the factors being time. At the same time the author, Mr Heyde, is trying to give the reader a basic understanding of the way man functions at work. The author's basic point of view is that of a work study man, but as a sensible job designer he is not content with the traditional way of arranging tasks. He wants a method based on the operator as a human being, not as a mechanical machine. Mr Heyde has earlier tried to solve this problem by developing an alternative work study principle which was an analysis of work based on what a person did with his body (eg, sit, bend, walk, decide, apply pressure, use eye, put things to destination, etc) instead of the traditional work study elements which observe what is done with the tools and material. He developed a motion-time system called MODAPTS utilising this concept, which was published in 1966 and has been developed further by him since then. This book is a
Applied Ergonomics December 1977
235