NES2008

Martti Launis

European regulations and standards - an opportunity for promoting ergonomic workplace design

(The abstract for the abstract book, including amendments to the first submitted version:)

Ergonomic design is not familiar to the technical specialists who in practice create the workplaces, e.g. designers of layout, construction, automation, work method, and work tools. They need ergonomics criteria, data and guidelines in order to meet the legislative requirements and to create sustainable solutions. The basic requirements on ergonomics are presented in the relevant EU directives and in national regulations. The more detailed requirements and guidelines are presented in the European ergonomics standards, which have a specific relation to the Machine Directive.Many of these ergonomics regulations and associated standards are poorly known among those who are actually responsible for workplace design. Part of the problem are the regulations and standards themselves. The structure and interrelations of the requirements as a whole are not clear (e.g. the so-called New Approach), and the presentation ofrequirements in the ergonomics standards is often very complicated and academic for use in the hurried design work of ordinary engineers. In addition, the ergonomics standardsare comprised of a large set of expensive publications, and are thus not readily accessible in practice. In order to transmit this knowledge to its potential users, mediating means and activity are needed. To achieve this, the Finnish national follow-up grouponthe standardization on ergonomics,in collaboration withthe Finnish Standards Association (SFS), has organized the translation of the essential standards in ergonomics into Finnish and published them as inexpensive standards handbooks. In addition,a bookletentitled the Ergonomics Guide has been published that contains the basic ergonomics guidelines for the design of workplace, work tasks, and work environment. The guide has been published by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and its preparation has been supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Theguide includes practical guidelines following the standards and regulations on ergonomics. To help designers trace the original documents, the guide contains the essential regulations on ergonomics, and references to the relevant ergonomics standards are provided.

European regulations and standards - an opportunity for promoting ergonomic workplace design

Martti Launis

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

Abstract

The European regulations and standards contain requirements, guidelines and methods on ergonomics, but they are not well known to those who are responsible for their application, i.e. designers of the machinery and associated workplaces, work methods and work environment. This knowledge is not always easily accessible or applicable in hurried design processes, and mediating means are needed. This paper describes two effortsto promote the use of this knowledge in everyday workplace design in Finland.

Keywords

ergonomics, regulations, standards, workplace design

Introduction

The incorporation of ergonomic concerns in the engineering design processes has been widely discussed in the few past decades. Ergonomics principles should be an explicit element of the design considerations throughout the design process due to the simple fact that workplaces emerge based on design decisions made in various stages of the process, and any changes or corrections later are costly or impossible. Very often ergonomics comes into the picture only in the implementation phase when fine adjustment and corrective measures are being carried out. The reasons for this unsatisfactory situation are many-fold, and can be located in the tradition and education of engineers, technology-oriented objectives, unclear responsibilities, or lack of the needed knowledge in workplace design (Launis, 1996, Jensen, 2002).

Poor utilization of the available ergonomics guidance is one part of the problem. In practice, workplaces are created by technical specialists, e.g. designers of layout, construction, automation, work method, work tools, etc., who in the present situation are not familiar with ergonomic design. They would need ergonomics criteria and guidance, particularly asa considerable share of legislative responsibilities to achieve safe and healthy working conditions have been allocated to the designers.

The basic requirements on ergonomics workplace design are presented in the relevant EU directivesand in the corresponding national regulations. As an example, in the 'essential safety requirements' of the Machinery Directive (98/37/EC, ANNEX 1)it is stated that 'under the intended conditions of use, the discomfort, fatigue and physical and psychological stress faced by the operator must be reduced to the minimum possible taking ergonomic principles into account'.Other regulations for Finnish workplaces include corresponding requirements on consideration of 'ergonomic principles'.In practice, ergonomic principles remainmostly unclear to the designers, and at workplaces one can see numerous examples of solutions that are clearly not compatible with these principles.The technical designers considerclear measurable limit values (e.g. for environmental factors) and safety measures, whereas multi-factorial and complex ergonomics considerations are left with less attention.

The more detailed requirements and guidelines are presented in the European ergonomics standards, which have a specific relation to the Machinery Directive. By following these standards, the designer will fulfil the essential requirement of the Directive (the so-called New Approach), but this can also be achieved by other means. These ergonomics standards are poorly known among those who are actually responsible formachinery design (Launis 2001). The vague relation to the Directive is one explanation. Other explanations have also been put forward: the standards are comprised of a large set of expensive publications, and are not readily availablein practice.Many of them have also been considered complicated and academic in their content, hindering their use in the hurried design work of ordinary engineers.

Although the European ergonomics standards are purposed mainly for the design of machinery and associated workplaces, they provide useful information to any workplace design. Due to their generic nature and wide scope ranging from small hand tools to large systems, they provide a comprehensive account of ergonomic principles. Actually, the European ergonomics standards havelargely been prepared in aparallel process with the corresponding international ISO ergonomics standards, and are thus identical to a great extent. The ISO standards are, in turn,intended for any design work including e.g. workplaces and the work environment.

In order to transmit this informationto its potential users, mediating means and activity should exist.

Standards handbooks

As an attempt to more effectively disseminate this information in Finland, the Finnish national follow-up groupson thestandardization ofergonomics and the safety of machinery,together with the Finnish Standards Association SFS,has organized translation of the essential standards in ergonomics and in the safety of machinery into Finnish, and published them as nine inexpensive standards handbooks. The series includes two books on ergonomics standards related to machinery design. Five books contain basic standards on the safety of machinery: standards on safeguarding and safety distances, standards dealing with control and measurement of emissions, standards related to means of access used in machinery, and standards dealing with safety of control systems. In addition, one of the books contains the essential legislation concerning machinery safety and related topics. In this way, all the essential regulations and normative guidance on the safety of machinery have been brought together in an effort to make them more easily accessible for the designers.

The two ergonomics standards handbooks include the essential standards under the following headings(full details are available at national standardization associations):

  • Ergonomic basic principles(EN ISO 6385, EN 13861, EN 614-1 and 2)
  • Anthropometric dimensioning (EN ISO 7250, EN 547-1, 2, and 3, EN ISO 2860, EN ISO 3411, EN ISO 14738, EN ISO 15535)
  • Determination of force requirements for machinery operations (EN 1005-1, 2 and 3)
  • Control actuators and displays (EN 894-1, 2 and 3)
  • Signalling devices (EN 457-1, 2 and 3)
  • Speech communication (EN ISO 9921)
  • Mental work load (EN ISO 10075-1, 2 and 3)
  • Thermal environment (EN ISO 11399)
  • Surface temperatures (EN 563, EN 563/A1+AC, EN 13202)

Most of the standards have been translated into Finnish, but the English version is always presented on the next page, to help the interpretation in case the translation is in conflict with the original English version. In some cases (speech communication,mental load, thermal environment) only the English version is presented. The books also contain introduction and overview on their topic, and general guidance on their use.

In addition to the above eight books on machinery safety related standards,most of the standards of the VDU standard series ISO 9241 "Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display units" have also been published as one book.

Ergonomics Guide

To further improve knowledge of the standards on ergonomics, a bookletentitled Ergonomics Guide containing the basic ergonomics guidelines on the workplace, work tasks and work environment has been published. This guide has been published by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and its preparation has been supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The booklet contains practical guidelines that follow the standards and regulations on ergonomics. In order to help designers trace the original documents, the essential regulations concerning ergonomics have been collected into this guide, and references to relevant ergonomics standards are included.

This guide was initially prepared to support the use of the Finnish regulation on the acquisition, safe use and inspection of the machinery and other work equipment, based on the corresponding EU directive (95/63/EC, amendedby 95/63/EEC). The aim of the booklet was to providean account of the 'ergonomic principles'that'must be taken fully into account by the employer when applying minimum health and safety requirements'. The ergonomic standards of both the European Committee for Standardization(CEN) and corresponding international organization ISO were chosen as references for many reasons, partly due to their common basis explained above. In addition, these documents are the most widely approved ergonomics guidelines in the world, and provide a well-established point of departure for both determining the concept of ergonomics and for the detailed content of the guidelines. In addition, the overall contents of the guidelines intended for the designers of the machinery and for persons in charge of the operating of the machineryshould be reasonably similar in content. The user organization will also be in the position of the designer when the systems are constructed from separate machinery components.

The guidelines in the ErgonomicsGuide are, however, not identical to those presented in the standards, but simplified in order to be more easily understandable and usable. For example, the complicated stepwise processes for determining the maximum force limits or the maximum weight of the loads that require calculations have been simplified to one table (for forces) and one graphical presentation (for loads), providing roughly the same determinations. In some cases where comparable standard guidelines are lacking (as an example, the determination of the working height, or, features of the working object) national guidelines and good practices are also presented.

Content of the Ergonomics Guide

In the introduction of the Guide, the principles of European legislation and standardization have been described. Thereafter, the definition and overall description of the concept of ergonomics have been presented. The guidelines are divided into eleven chapters:

  1. Process and procedure in the acquisition of work equipment
  2. The work content (task design, job design)
  3. Work spaces and spaces for moving (e.g. lay-out and passage ways)
  4. Dimensioning of the workplaces and guidelines for stationary working postures
  5. Repetitive working movements, deviating working postures and the choice of hand tools (e.g. acceptable forces)
  6. Materials handling (acceptable limits for manual lifting, principles for mechanical handling and transport)
  7. Physically demanding work (limits of energetic load)
  8. Controlof the use work equipment (basic cognitive ergonomics)
  9. Signal and control devices
  10. Environmental factors (lighting, noise, thermal factors)
  11. Features of the objects of work (manual handling, manufacturability, maintainability)

The annexes of the Guide include

  • a list of national laws and other regulations related to ergonomics
  • graphical presentation of the two dimensional man-models for evaluation of the workplace drawings
  • ergonomics check-list with references to the contents of the Guide
  • extracts of the chapters related to ergonomics in the Occupational Safety and Health Act

Associated activity

In the ergonomics training of the designers of the workplaces, the above two means have been succesfully applied. The Ergonomics Guide has been used as central course material, and it also serves as the general body of knowledge of ergonomics and as guidance to help the designers to identify and meet the legislative requirements. The role of the standards handbook will then be to serve as a collection of the mandatory references, when the plans are outlined and the design is reaching its completion.

The above means can also support collaboration between occupational health personnel and the designers of the workplaces. For example, for physiologically-oriented physiotherapists it provides a more comprehensive and a more technical view of ergonomics, hence strengthening their capabilitiesto serve the workplace design and act in collaboration with the designers.

References

Jensen, P. L. 2002. Human factors and ergonomics in the planning of production. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 29, 121-131.

Launis, M., Vuori, M. and Lehtelä, J. 1996. Who is the workplace designer? International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 17, 331-341.

Launis, M. and Kiviluoma, M. 2001. Consideration of ergonomics in the designing of manufacturing machinery. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Congress of the Nordic Ergonomics Society 2-5. September 2001, Tampere, Finland, 70-73.