ABSTRACT
Benefi ts for Business ........................................................... 27-2 27.4 What Infl uences Offi ce Ergonomics? .............................. 27-2 27.5 Offi ce-Related CTDs ......................................................... 27-3
Th eir Fixes ............................................................................ 27-4 27.7 OSHA Algorithm for Treatment of CTDs ...................... 27-4 27.8 Good Practices of Workspace Design ............................. 27-4
27.9 Organizational Elements ................................................... 27-6 27.10 Ergonomic Evaluation of the Computer
Workstation ......................................................................... 27-6 27.11 Evaluation Methods ........................................................... 27-7 27.12 Evaluation Tools .................................................................. 27-7 27.13 Checklists ............................................................................. 27-7 27.14 Discomfort Questionnaires............................................... 27-8 27.15 Computer Modeling Programs ........................................ 27-9
27.16 Integrated Performance Modeling Environment (IPME) ....................................................... 27-10
27.17 DHM as Design Tool: Advantages and Disadvantages .................................................................... 27-10
References ..................................................................................... 27-11
Like the species itself, human work has also gone through evolutionary change. Work we do today is very diff erent from the work our bodies were biologically designed for. Our distant ancestors once spent a majority of their time hunting, foraging, and constantly moving. Over millennia, the human body adapted to the demanding conditions of this lifestyle as evident in our body structures. Ancient life involved substantial physiological demands-demands that have changed with today’s work requirements. Now, instead of foraging for berries, we sort incoming documents; instead of traveling enormous distances to reach new hunting grounds, we sit for hours in a single location working with man’s greatest achievement since the wheel-the computer. Yes, our lives have changed exponentially since Man 1.0. Our daily jobs now constrain the body that evolution equipped us with and require us to continually adapt to the evolution of human work.
