ABSTRACT
Products reflecting poor ergonomics can injure people in immediate or cumulative ways. A product has good ergonomics when its user interface—including all the “touchpoints” —accounts for the intended users’ physical characteristics, capabilities, and potential disabilities. An ergonomic computer workstation incorporates an adjustment mechanism that places the top of the computer’s keyboard at a comfortable height—typically at elbow height when the user is seated with the elbows at 90° or slightly lower, and with the keyboard sloped downward and away from the user. Good ergonomic design is informed by anthropometric data covering various dimensions of the human body, including those such as standing height, sitting elbow height, wrist breadth, and thigh circumference. Ergonomic design is partly a numbers game. In an attempt to accommodate as wide a user population as possible, a manufacturer can design a product to fit persons ranging from the 5th percentile female to the 95th percentile male.
