Abstract
Ergonomics focuses on the interaction that people establish or can establish with the other elements of the system in which and with which they carry out their work and daily life activities. Interaction that takes place within a complex system, in which each element affects and modifies others, and of which people are an integral part with their characteristics, skills needs and expectations. The aim of ergonomics is to optimize, that is to improve at the highest possible level, both the well-being of people and the overall performance of the system, through evaluation and design interventions aimed at making compatible environments and systems with people’s needs, abilities and limitations. Ergonomics is therefore a complex approach to assessing and designing the interaction between people and the systems with which they relate, which focuses not on the quality of the system itself, but on the quality actually experienced from the specific group of people who relate to it, depending on their characteristics, abilities, needs, expectations, the activities they perform, and the set of variables (physical, technological, environmental, organizational, cultural) that may affect that relationship on a case-by-case basis. Essential, for the understanding of the relationship between ergonomics and Design and its evolution over time, is the definition of Human-Centred Design, today largely superimposed on the definition of Ergonomics, of which it represents the most recent component and closer to the culture and practice of the project.
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Notes
- 1.
Cfr. IEA, International Ergonomics Association, www.iea.cc/whats/index.html (consulted in March 2018).
The Italian Society of Ergonomics and Human Factors provides a definition of Ergonomics that partially resembles that of the IEA, International Ergonomics Association: “Ergonomics is a corpus of interdisciplinary knowledge capable of analysing, designing and evaluating simple or complex systems, in which the person appears as an operator or as a user. It pursues competence and compatibility between the world around us—objects, services, living and working environments—and psycho-social and social human needs, while also aiming to improve the efficiency and reliability of systems. Its objective is to adapt the environmental, instrumental and organisational conditions in which human activities take place to the needs of the individual, defined on the basis of his physiological, psychological and socio-cultural needs, and those of the tasks he is asked to perform”. Cfr. SIE-Italian Society of Ergonomics and Human Factors, www.societadiergonomia.it (consulted in March 2018).
- 2.
Interaction is the process by which two or more elements act with one another with consequent reciprocal modifications.
A system is defined as any object of study which, despite being made up of different elements that are mutually interconnected and interact with each other or with the external environment, reacts or evolves as a whole.
Cfr. Treccani dictionary online, www.treccani.it/vocabolario (consulted in March 2018).
- 3.
The meaning that the terms used to define the “relationship between the user and the product in a given context” assume derive from the meaning of interaction and its role as a subject of significant interest throughout every area of ergonomics.
In ergonomics, the term user refers to the person—or the group of people—who come into contact with the product with a specific usage context. The use, therefore, is not an indeterminate or generic figure, but a person with specific needs, whose features and skills and the activities he must and can perform with the product in question and, finally, the needs, expectations and desires that they express or can express towards their relationship with said product and all other variable in the usage context must be identified and understood.
The context of use, is defined by regulations as “users, tasks, equipment (hardware, software and materials), and the physical and social environments in which a product is used” (ISO 9241-210:2010 standard), user, that is the collection of conditions, limitations and possibilities within which the interaction between the user and the product take place, along with all other variables for a system in which the user and the product are integrated.
- 4.
The term product aligns, in this sense, with “artefact”, in its currently consolidated meaning as resulting from human creation, that is, the creative capacity of human labour.
- 5.
Cfr. Treccani dictionary online, www.treccani.it/vocabolario (consulted in March 2018).
- 6.
See Sect. 4.2.3, “The needs of people”.
- 7.
Cfr. ISO 9241-210:2010 standard, Ergonomics of human-system interaction—Part 210: Human-Centred Design for interactive systems. The chief definitions contained in ISO 9241-210:2010 standard are outlined in Sect. 5.3, “Usability”.
- 8.
Rubin writes: “UCD represents not only the techniques, processes, methods, and procedures for designing usable products and system, but just as important, the philosophy that places the user at the centre of the process” (1994, p. 10).
- 9.
To consult the framework of international contributions in the field of ergonomics, see the main conference sites:
-
IEA, International Ergonomics Association triennial Conference, www.iea.cc;
-
AHFE International, Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics Conference, http://ahfe.org; Please refer to the numerous conferences of the FEES, Federation of European Ergonomics Societies, which can be consulted at the website, ergonomics-fees.eu, and the conferences of the National Ergonomics Society, which can be consulted at the websites of each individual scientific Society. For Italy: SIE Italian Society of Ergonomics and Human Factors www.societadiergonomia.it.
-
- 10.
- 11.
As noted by Wilson (1995), the ability to open Ergonomics up to the new fields of intervention that are continually opened up by innovation overcomes the questions posed by the definition of Ergonomics as a “discipline” or as a “corpus of interdisciplinary knowledge”, as well as its role of “basic research” or “applied research”.
Wilson and Sharples also note that “Although we looked at definitions of ergonomics and human factors earlier in this chapter, it is more important that E/HF should be seen as an approach (or as a philosophy) of taking account of people in the way we design and organise; in other words, as designing for people. In this view, E/HF itself is primarily a process, to an extent a meta-method, which makes the clear understanding and correct utilisation of individual methods and techniques even more important”. Cfr. Wilson and Sharples (2015, pp. 15 ).
- 12.
Cfr. Pheasant and Haslegrave (2006).
- 13.
For the definition of context of use, see the list of definitions contained in the ISO 2041-210:2010 standard reported in par. 5.3.
- 14.
See also: Bandini Buti (2008).
- 15.
For further information about the history of ergonomics, see works by Eastman Kodak Company (1983), Pheasant (1997), Stanton (1998), Chengalur et al (2003), IEA, International Ergonomics Association (2006), Pheasant and Haslegrave (2006), and to the Italian texts of: Re (1995), Attaianese (1997), Bandini Buti (2008).
For the evolution of Ergonomics in Italy, see SIE, Italian Society of Ergonomics and Human Factors, The history of ergonomics, available on www.societadiergonomia.it.
- 16.
Human resources are studied and used by F. W. Taylor for machines in operations. “A trailblazer of ergonomics for his experimental studies on tools and working methods (his studies on the optimal size of the blades for the loading and unloading of cast iron are a classic example of adapting a tool), Taylor is, at the same time, the negation of ergonomics when taken as the adaptation of the machine to the person and to the real conditions in which the work takes place. (…) On the contrary, with Taylor, work becomes very similar to an ‘agonistic’ activity, where time is of little importance and the isolation of the productive moment is theorised from the existential dimension. This dimension is so far removed from ergonomics that Taylor himself underlines that only one worker in seven can be considered skilled and included in the scientific organisation”. See Re (1995, pp. 4–7).
- 17.
On this matter, see Sect. 2.3 “Design for Ergonomics”.
- 18.
See the ICS (International Classification for Standard) classification of ISO, the International Organisation for Standardisation used by international regulatory bodies and also adopted by the UNI, the Italian Standardisation Body. In particular the ICS codes 13.180 “Ergonomics” and 13.110 “Security of machinery”. See note 4, Chap. 5.
- 19.
Cfr. ISO 9241-11:1998 standard, Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs)—Part 11: Guidance on usability.
- 20.
- 21.
In Italy the approval of the Workers’ Statute in 1970 establishes the right for workers to control the application of the regulations for the prevention of accidents and occupational diseases and to promote the research, drafting and implementation of all suitable measures to protect their health and their physical integrity. See Bandini Buti (2008, pp. 18–19).
- 22.
Cfr. Grieco and Bertazzi (1997).
- 23.
- 24.
Cfr. Norman (1988, p. 176).
- 25.
Cfr. UNI EN ISO 9000:2015 standard, Quality-management systems. Foundations and terminology.
- 26.
- 27.
- 28.
These aspects are discussed in Chap. 13 “Cognitive aspects in user experience design: from perception to action” by O. Parlangeli and M. C. Caratozzolo, and in Chap. 5 “The design of ergonomic requirements” regarding the safety in use and the usability of the products, limited to their design usability.
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Tosi, F. (2020). Ergonomics and Design. In: Design for Ergonomics. Springer Series in Design and Innovation , vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33562-5_1
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