ABSTRACT
Rapid development of technology coupled with the accelerating move towards the use of mobile equipment, such as laptops, digital assistants or smart-phones, has provided individuals with the ability to engage in meaningful activities in novel and previously unanticipated ways (Perry et al., 2001). These changes have facilitated a separation of activities from specifically designed workspaces to mobile environments, presenting both users and ergonomists with a unique set of challenges. Many people choose to work while travelling, (e.g. rail transport systems) and the vibration to which passengers are exposed has been shown to affect the performance of such activities (Mansfield, 2005). Survey data (Khan and Sundström, 2007) indicated that 60% of passengers experienced moderate difficulties in task performance while travelling. Consequently, the influence of whole-body vibration (WBV) on performance of mobile equipment has been investigated in many studies (e.g. Mansfield et al., 2007; Lin et al., 2010) in order to quantify human capabilities within vibration environments.
