_________
Importance of OHS – digitalization and robotics are on the rise, energy transition, humans are
Designing work and technology on human
terms
motive: creating a long-term, sustainable and successful working life.
- No one should get injured or fall ill from their work
- Work should contribute to well-being and stimulation of human
beings
- Work should be organized in an efficient way
Challenges: working life will become increasingly global and technical
! Over 250 million people globally are injured in work-related accidents each year
! 2 million people die due to work-related accidents and illnesses each year
! 4 % of global GDP attributed to financial compensation and rehabilitation for workplace
accidents
- In some countries even 10% of their GDP
Workplace accidents impose significant costs for society and companies
and individual suffering.
- If not designed on human terms -> cause reduced quality and
efficiency and accidents, unsafety, aches and pains, stress and
frustration, problems collaborating with others
Work environment issues important for:
1. Society – “we need to work for longer the healthier the cheaper and more
effective for society”
2. Individual – “know it is safe to go to work and manage a whole working life”
3. Business – “to be profitable and minimize accidents”
Benefits: Increase hours worked, reduce sick leave which benefits society as a whole, breed
innovation
nature´s most important resource, humans work in environments and deliver the value – crucial to be
designed on human terms for them to be able to work and perform well  this generates value in the
long run.
_________
Often there is a user-interface relation, when not taking the user into account when designing the
interface the system will be inefficient, possibly insecure.
HTO – interaction between humans, organization and technology
- A system approach in order to see the greater whole and interaction in the system
- Design technology and organization iteratively – taking into account human needs,
abilities and limitations
- Not develop technology first, then organization and at last humans compensating for
design limits
- Holistic view – systems view makes it easier to to understand complex systems
Factors causing accidents
- No simple explanation
- Individual
- Design technology in unsafe way
- Management failure to ensure adequate training
- Inadequate traning
- Procedures inadequate
- Organizational change needed with more responsibles
- Lack of communication – personal conflict
Root causes of accidents are most commonly a combination of human, technical and organizational
factors.
Individual motivation and behavior, knowledge and skill, physical and mental traits
Technology Design of technical interfaces and safeguards, Design of workplaces and equipment,
exposure to noise and dangerous substances
Organisation quantity, content and pace of work, roles and workload expecations, social
circumstances (conflicts), handling of risks
 INDIVIDUAL Increased safety and enhances wellbeing Technology industry). Three major interdependent systems, relationship with HFE (human
 Increased confidence – safe design means that individual does Organisation Factors/ergonomics)
not need to worry, fear being injured at work, falling ill in work
environment
 Increased sense of purpose or fewer conflicts – work can feel Human Synonym to Ergonomics
more meaningful/ fulfilling if less monotonous, reduced conflict Factors
if technology and organization are working as they chould
 Reduced physical and mental load – reduced mental and
Human Application of Human factors information to design tools, machines, systems,
physical effort
Factors tasks and environments for safe, comfortable and effective human use
 Increased performance – good tools and workplaces make it
Engineering
easier to perform well, reduce risk of mistakes
 Appreciation and motivation – for employees – increase job
satisfaction Ergonomics Discipline concerned with understanding of interactions among humans and other
elements of a system, to optimize human well-being and overall systems
ORGANISATION  Better quality and fewer mistakes – make it easier for individual
performance. Includes physical, cognitive and organizational ergonomics
to do things right Physical ergonomics – human anatomical, anthropometric, physiological and
 Increased productivity – use strengths of technology and biomechanical characteristics related to physical activity
individuals Cognitive ergonomics – mental processes (perception I Memory I Reasonin I
 Healthier and more satisfied employees motor response) affecting interactions among humans and other elements of a
 Reduced costs and higher revenue – increased productivity, system
fewer mistakes more satisfied employees Organisational ergonomics – optimization of sociotechnical systems, including
 Increased innovation capacity – good work environment in their organizational structures, policies and processes
which harmony of humans, technology and organization is
achieved, promotes innovative thinking  new products and Work Consistent with definition of organizational ergonomics
services Organisation
SOCIETY  Increased competitiveness – produce well-designed products/
services -> grow GDP and country´s productivity
Work All factors and relationships at work: technical, physical, organizational, social,
 Increased tax revenues – more produced goods increase tax
Environment work content: factors that can affect health, well-being and productivity for
revenue – increased innovation capacity and growth of
humans at work
companies
 Lower costs for society – less sick leave, invalidity pensions, ppl.
can continue working and contributing longer while remaining Human- System in which the functions of a human operator and a machine are integrated
Machine
healthy
System
 Improved quality of life – healthier, more joyful working and
private life
Human- How humans interact with machines and user interfaces
Reasons for bad working environments – Machine
 strong economic trameworks for companies Interaction
(HMI)
 short-term thinkings for nearest period
 ignoring long-term consequences
 lack of knowledge on how to set up good work environment OSH, Deals with all aspects of health and safety in workplaces, strong focus on primary
 not realizing complex origins of problems and focusing on wrong one Occupational prevention of hazards
 costly investment of good work environment (invisible outcome) Safety and
Health
Initially developed for improving nuclear power plant safety – acquired wider
application. Interaction between human, technology and organizational Work Consistent with Ergonomics, research field that includes analysis, design and
HTO,
components, related to systems performance and health issues, not only Science development of products, production systems and work organization based on
Human
technological development to improve safety (which was focus in nuclear people´s physiological, psychological and social and cultural conditions
_________

Human factor
Humans are better at some tasks than machines but in other tasks technology
performs better  knowing the differences in abilities
 lack of education/ training
 insufficient information from user interface to operators
 too high/low mental load on operators
 operators sometimes tired due to shift work or low levels of arousal –
missed signals

Applied HTO

[Designing products]
1. Analysing existing problems in interaction between operator and product
2. Proposing ideas to solve identified problems (observation of operators
work activities, measurements of ergonomics risk factors and
performance of time needed for tasks, interviews with employees
3. Analysing official work injuries statistics

Interaction analysis of subsystems of system (example of forklift trucks)

  Productivity (time needed for task, time needed for learning,
variability, disturbances)
 Quality (errors, deficiencies, adjustments, rework, precision,
variability) Safety (accidents, near misses, injuries, unplanned
events)
 Physiological and mental effects (pain, disease, discomfort, effort,
well-being)
 Experiences (comfort, feeling, tiredness, usability)

Ergonomics

Every system involves people who need to interact with products, machines
or colleagues in an environment with a particular culture. If an engineer is
to develop any part of the system, it is incredibly important to know about
people’s potential and limitations – physical, mental and social.

Individual: Increased safety, fewer occupational injuries, reduced risk of

accidents, satisfied and content users, less stress, increased comfort and
increased well-being.

Company/organisation: Increased safety, increased productivity and

quality, increased competitiveness, faster product development, greater
demand for products that are usable and tailored to the right target group,
increased opportunities to sell in other markets, less resource demanding
design processes if evaluations are carried out on a continuous basis.
Society: Increased competitiveness, increased safety, better economy, less
sick leave, improved environment, an international reputation for high
standards of quality, usability and safety, increased exports Ergonomic significance is decided at every stage.
Value chain for good ergonomics
In order to best incorporate ergonomic considerations into the system, and _________
to be able to employ the most appropriate analysis methods, engineers must
be involved from the very inception of a system. This will ensure the
optimum interaction of human and machine within the system.
 Individual
Workplace

Work
organisation
Process

Product

PRODUCT designed and engineered, and the initial conditions are

established for the way in which it will be produced. The choice materials
for a product may, for example, be of great significance to the work
environment on production.

PROCESS The work process is designed by choosing systems and working

methods. The method chosen for combining the various elements, for
example, may be particularly important.

WORK ORGANISATION Combined tasks, distributed over time and

between individuals. Work organisation is all about flexibility, skills, roles,
autonomy and time factors.

WORKPLACE The workplace and its equipment are designed for the
tasks to be carried out, which has a major impact on the workload, working
posture and work movements for the person carrying out the work.

INDIVIDUAL A person who carries out the tasks in the workplace. It is

this individual’s qualities, skills and way of working which ultimately
determine how the work impacts upon the individual.