Revista de Pesquisa em Ergonomia

An Overview of Ergonomics

Snigdha Mishra and Preeti Narendra

The term Ergonomics comes from the Greek word “Ergon” meaning work and “Nomos” means laws. It means the “Science of work”. The work is to be systematically divided into various tasks and it should be aligned with the person who will be doing the work. People should be comfortable in their work setting in order to optimize their wellbeing and over all organizational performance.Ergonomics is often used in relation to the physical aspects of the organization, which consists of designing chairs, tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and work environment for safe, comfortable, and effective human use. It complements the strengths and abilities of people to minimize the effects of their limitations. Hence, an appropriate ergonomics design, training and awareness are essential in order to reduce the ergonomics risk factors such as WRMSD (Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorder) which is one of the most prevalent occupational health problems. Major causes of MSDs arise due to high physical demands such as awkward working postures (e.g. Bending and twisting, kneeling, working with the arms above shoulder height etc.). This paper emphasizes on how various situations like physical, cognitive, and organizational ergonomics can be aligned to suit the people who need to use it rather than forcing them to work in an uncomfortable, stressful and dangerous way. Primary outcome of this study is to enhance and improve safety, physical and mental health of the employees for effective performance and productivity by ergonomicssolutions.