Printing Room Ergonomics Issues - Essay Example

Part c Printing room This is a room where everybody in the company takes work for printing and typesetting. In this room we have secretaries who use computers to typeset the work. The rooms have to be well ventilated and lit. Sits which are adjustable to enable to have a clear view of the machines are provided in the room. The keyboards keys should also be light enough to allow for easier pressing by the workers to avoid them hurting their fingers. The office need to be well spaced to allow for easier movement of the worker from one end to the other in the office. Workplace scenario Picture showing two people working with machines one with a computer and the other one with a printer. According to ergonomics while a person is working from a machine they should have a good sitting posture. This is advised to prevent back aches and putting a lot pressure on the backbone. The first person according to ergonomics is well seated because her back is upright. The eye position of the person working on the computer should be above the monitor screen or just below the top of the monitor screen. This is portrayed by the worker using the computer. The hands of the person are placed on the wrap so that the person can use the key board directly in front. This reduces the amount of force the muscles of the hand have to do with and also the person will not get fatigued easily. The shoulder of the worker is relaxed to allow for good working condition and also the seat has a back to lean on. Theworker has her feats flat on the floor to allow for the relaxation of the legs. The posture maintained by the worker will allow for good blood circulation in the body. Consequences of changing the process and functioning of a machine and the changes in the decision-making required of the operator. The consequence of changing the functioning of a machine might be negative or positive towards the organization. This comes into place if change has been made to make the working of the machine more comfortable to the workers or uncomfortable. These changes can be to reduce the number of controls on a machine with automation of some of the activities that were carried manually. This leads to less interaction between the machine and the user while understandability becomes easier for those people who used the machine before. Change can also lead to decrease in production and comfort ability of workers at the work place. This can be if change leads to more complexity in machine or addition of more controls. People might tend to overlook some of this controls leading to accidents at the work place or breakdown of the machine. Changes that the operator is supposed to take is first to read the manual on the new working of the machine. The operator is supposed also to study the physical changes brought upon the machine so that it can function differently. This will make the operator to avoid hurtinghim or causing strain on the machine. These changes in decision making might first affect the productivity or comfort ability of the worker negatively because it might require him or her to make a lot of body movement leading to straining of the muscles and becoming fatigued quickly. Cost of installing a machine of poor ergonomics and one with good ergonomics problem Cost incurred due to wrong ergonomics per worker Cost when there is right ergonomics per worker eyes $40 $160 Back ache problems $20 $200 Fingers problems Less than $ 30 More than $50 Poor lighting in computers lead to the light from CRT causing eye problems on the workers. This would to the organization incurring a cost on the treatment of eye relate problems due to lack of it being careful on lighting of the monitors. So when an organization provides workers with seats that do not have a back to lean on workers might suffer Musculoskeletal & Neurovascular Disorders due to pressure due to buildup of pressure in the back bone. This eventually leads to the organization paying for the bills on the behalf of the workers. Part H 1. Orientation of control and displays in machine –human system is done on the way display present information to the human. The layout of displays is also considered so that there can be ease in locating information without strain by the humans. Displays have also to be put in a logical layout to allow for quick response if need be. All this leads to effect of design and displays on the machine-human system. 2 principles of design associated with optimizing and integration of display and control factors within human-machine System. While designing control it is always good to take consideration of universally used control marks because people will be able to understand your controls easily. The universally used control should also be used to serve the same purpose in your design and not trying to teach people on another purpose for the control they have been using to do something. Controls also should have different form of resistant according to the use they are used for example the control button used to open the emergency door should be easier to turn than the other locking the money safe in the same office. In designing display the designer should look carefully on usage of colors where red is used to represent a danger message or something that is urgent. Also in display the designer should reduce complexity where a person will not have to follow a complex procedure in achieving the intended purpose or to obtain a message. 3. Merits of using digital versus analogue displays. The digital displays provide more accurate information than the analogue displays. This happens because the digital display is designed to allow a very low precision of error. In case of a calculation it might display the result with even 20 decimal points for accuracy purposes while the analogue system will display in two decimal places or three reducing the accuracy of the result. 4. HP laser jet printer control in the office The control and display of HP printer Pros 1. Buttons the size big enough for the comfortability of pressing by user with the fingers. 2. Ease in reading due to use of visible letters in the display. 3. Allows for manual operating of the printer when not connected to the computer. This leads to ease in diagnosis of the printer on its own. Cons 1. The easiness of use of the control makes it easy for misuse of the printing machine by the junior workers 2. In case of breakdown of the controls there is total failure of the printer. This is because without the controls one cannot schedule jobs using the printer. 5. Incident that may result from the defects in the design of display controls- Printing of unwanted pages or job can occur in case there is a breakdown in the display and controls. This is where if someone issue a print command by mistake and would like to cancel the command if the controls do not work well the job will be executed. Also printing of the wrong colors of papers where a person is not able to choose the correct color due to defect of display. So a person can print colored paper instead of black and white or vice versa. 6 improvements recommendation The displays should be enlarged to allow for those people who got eye sight problem to read easily. This is because most of the time people end up giving the wrong command because they cannot read the control correctly. There is also need of reduction of the complexity of steps followed to achieve some activities like printing the test page during diagnosis. The accounting office The accounting office workers are supposed to record details in the computers about the day’s expenses. The office is four walled and has one side made of glasses to allow for lighting from the sun. The room has also some seats and tables which are designed of the same height for all the workers. Apart from that there is a fan for cooling the office placed in a corner directly opposite to the door. Anthropometric of workers in the office Measurement Sex Measurement Average Height male 5.3 feet Female 5.0 feet Average Body weight male 68 kilograms Female 70 kilograms Average Width male 0.32 meters Female 0.4 meters Age male 40 years Female 35 years Improvements that need to be done 1. The office needs some improvement on the types of seat used. There is need of introduction of adjustable seats to allow those short people or tall can adjust the seats according to their heights. 2. There is also need to have some curtains on the walls this is due to the direct sunlight that keeps affecting workers in the evening when the sun is setting. 3. There is also need to improve on the ventilation. This to allow circulation of natural air in the office by having some openings. 4. The tables in the office need some improvement by making sure they are purchased in different heights to allow workers to choose the table that fits their height. Read More