1.

What Is Ergonomics
1.1. Definition
 The word Ergonomics comes from the Greek word “Ergon” which means
work and “Nomos” which means laws. It’s essentially the “laws of work” or
“science of work”. Good ergonomic design removes incompatibilities
between the work and the worker and creates the optimal work
environment. Ergonomics is sometimes known as human factors
engineering.
1.2. What is the main purpose of ergonomics ?
 The goal is to optimize the "fit" between each worker and his or her work
environment to optimize performance and reduce the risk of repetitive strain
injuries.
 Another goal of ergonomics is to reduce your exposure to work hazards. A
hazard is defined as a physical factor within your work environment that can
harm your body. Ergonomic hazards include working in awkward or
uncomfortable postures and using excessive force or high repetition to complete
a task.
1.3. Types of Ergonomics
1.3.1. Physical ergonomics
 Is the human body is responses to physical and physiological workloads.
Repetitive strain injuries from repetition, vibration, force, and posture fall into
this category.
1.3.2. Cognitive ergonomics
 Deals with the mental processes and capacities of humans when at work. Mental
strain from workload, decision making, human error, and training fall in to this
category.
1.3.3. Organizational ergonomics
 deals with the organizational structures, policies and processes in the work
environment, such as shift work, scheduling, job satisfaction, motivation,
supervision, teamwork, telecommuting, and ethics.
 1.4. How does ergonomics work?
 Ergonomics is a relatively new branch of science which celebrated its 50th
anniversary in 1999, but relies on research carried out in many other older,
established scientific areas, such as engineering, physiology and psychology.
 To achieve best practice design, Ergonomists use the data and techniques of
several disciplines:
Anthropometry: body sizes, shapes; populations and variations
Biomechanics: muscles, levers, forces, strength
Environmental Physics: noise, light, heat, cold, radiation, vibration body
systems: hearing, vision, sensations
Applied Psychology: skill, learning, errors, differences
Social Psychology: groups, communication, learning, behaviors.
1.5. Why Computer Ergonomics? 
 Many people spend hours a day in front of a computer without thinking about
the impact on their bodies. They physically stress their bodies daily without
realizing it by extending their wrists; slouching, sitting without foot support and
straining to look at poorly placed monitors.
 These practices can lead to cumulative trauma disorders or repetitive stress
injuries, which create a life-long impact on health. Symptoms may include pain,
muscle fatigue, loss of sensation, tingling and reduced performance.
 Ergonomics is a field of study that attempts to reduce strain, fatigue, and injuries
by improving product design and workspace arrangement. The goal is a
comfortable, relaxed posture.
1.6. How Does Ergonomics Affect A Worker?
 An uncomfortable work environment can affect productivity and increase the
likelihood of work-related muscle strains and eyestrain.
 Incorporating ergonomics in the workplace of your small business can remedy
an uncomfortable atmosphere. These simple changes help decrease stress levels
and improve employee performance.
 1.7. Advantage and Disadvantage of Ergonomics
1.7.1. Advantage of Ergonomics
 Here are five of the proven Advantage of a strong workplace ergonomics process:
1) Ergonomics reduces costs
 By systematically reducing ergonomic risk factors, you can prevent costly MSDs.

With approximately $1 out of every $3 in workers compensation costs attributed

to MSDs, this represents an opportunity for significant cost savings. Also, don’t
forget that indirect costs can be up to twenty times the direct cost of an injury.
2) Ergonomics improves productivity
 The best ergonomic solutions will often improve. By designing a job to allow for
good posture, less exertion, fewer motions and better heights and reaches, the
workstation becomes more efficient.
3) Ergonomics improves quality
 Poor ergonomics leads to frustrated and fatigued workers that don’t do their
best work. When the job task is too physically taxing on the worker, they may not
perform their job like they were trained.
4) Ergonomics improves employee engagement
 Employees notice when the company is putting forth their best efforts to ensure
their health and safety. If an employee does not experience fatigue and
discomfort during their workday, it can reduce turnover, decrease absenteeism,
improve morale and increase employee involvement.
5) Ergonomics creates a better safety culture
 Ergonomics shows your company’s commitment to safety and health as a core
value. The cumulative effect of the previous four benefits of ergonomics is a
stronger safety culture for your company. Healthy employees are your most
valuable asset; creating and fostering the safety & health culture at your
company will lead to better human performance for your organization.
 1.7.2. Disadvantage of Ergonomics
 Here are five of the proven Disadvantage of a strong workplace ergonomics
process:
1) without headrest
 In regular, the height of the ergonomic computer chair is considered to be low, so
even if the chair has backrest. If the work is for longtime, people will inevitably
want to sleep by the chair, but this computer chair is no head pillow, so the chair
is no protective effect to the human body's cervical spine. Therefore the idea of
relying on a chair to sleep is not feasible.
2) Without adjustment
 Comparing Ergonomic computer chair to other computer chairs, there is an
obvious drawback is that this computer is not the adjustment function of up and
down. But in fact a lot of computer chairs do not have this function. Without this
feature, in the using of the computer chair always feel that is not particularly
convenient.
3) Adaptability
 The adaptability ergonomic chair is not particularly good, so sedentary or will
produce a sense of fatigue.
This below picture shows Good Ergonomics and Bad Ergonomics.
 2. What is corrective maintenance?
2.1. Definition
 Corrective maintenance is defined as any maintenance performed to return
equipment to proper working order. Depending on the context of its use it may
refer to maintenance due to a breakdown, or maintenance identified through a
condition monitoring program.
 Corrective maintenance is the process of fixing things that are broken or not
performing well. It is often compared to preventive, the process of fixing things
before they break.
2.2. When is corrective maintenance suitable ?
 Corrective maintenance performed due to a breakdown could fall under one of
two categories: Planned or unplanned.
2.2.1. Planned corrective maintenance
 Planned corrective maintenance likely the result of a run-to-failure maintenance
plan. In this case, the maintenance team has decided that certain equipment will
be serviced when it breaks down. An example would be planning to replace a
light bulb once it burns out.
2.2.2. Unplanned corrective maintenance
 Unplanned corrective maintenance is usually the result of an unexpected
breakdown.
 An example here would be a piece of machinery breaking down due to a
replacement part failing after being replaced during a routine PM. Corrective
maintenance will need to be performed to get the machinery back in working
order.
2.3. Example of corrective maintenance?
 Three (3) examples of corrective maintenance are:
2.3.1. Repair maintenance due to equipment failure.
 This is a probably the most common type of repair maintenance. An example could be a
conveyor in a manufacturing maintenance environment fails. This results in unexpected
downtime and immediate repairs to restore production capability. Alternatively, using
the above example if this is a portable conveyor an replacement conveyor could be used
while the failed conveyor is being repaired. This situation would still likely result in
unexpected downtime; however the downtime may be lessened.
2.3.2. Compliance maintenance repair of upgrade.
 In this example, consider a food-processing environment where oil is dripping into a
product zone. The equipment is still running and product is being manufactured,
however Performance is limited due to contaminated product being discarded. In this
case immediate corrective maintenance must be performed.
 2.3.3. Repair or upgrade of equipment due to inadequate operation of
the equipment.
 This example is similar to the previous example in that capacity is limited. In this case,
the equipment is not capable of running at its Ideal Cycle Time. Consider a commercial
bakery that generates 200 loaves of bread per minute, however due to a faulty drive a
particular conveyor is not running fast enough to accept 200 loaves /minute.
2.4. Advantage and disadvantage of corrective maintenance
2.4.1. Advantages of corrective maintenance
 When corrective maintenance is planned as part of a maintenance strategy, it
allows those responsible for reliability to focus on other endeavors until a
breakdown or condition trigger occurs.
 Since corrective maintenance is performed “just in time,” the main benefit is
reduced emergency maintenance orders as well as increased employee safety.
Corrective maintenance work orders are scheduled and prioritized in a CMMS
that helps maintenance teams resolve problems before delays in production or
service interruptions occur.
 Corrective maintenance, coupled with good preventive maintenance, helps a
business extend the lifetime of its assets, reduce employee injury, and optimize
resource planning. Corrective maintenance work orders are often less expensive
to implement than emergency maintenance work orders may need to be
completed during overtime hours.
2.4.2. Disadvantages of corrective maintenance
 When corrective maintenance is unplanned, it can cause many disadvantages. If
the cost of downtime in a given facility is very high, technicians will be racing
against the clock to complete corrective maintenance, which could mean that
work is carried out improperly or unsafely. It can also cause backlog if the
maintenance team has to address corrective repairs rather than their usual
planned PMs.
Corrective maintenance workflow