1 IE 486 Work Analysis & Design II Instructor: Vincent Duffy, Ph.D. School of Industrial Eng. & Ag.& Bio Eng. Lecture 12 – Workspace Design & Anthropometry Tuesday, February 27, 2007

2 IE Lecture 12 - QOTD Q.1. Is it reasonable to expect that the ‘whole’ is equivalent to the ‘sum of the parts’? Yes or No. Q.2. What is a 5 th percentile female? A 95 th percentile male? What is the significance of these? Q.3. What are the general principles for workspace design.

3 Anthropometry & workspace design Anthropometry is the study of human body dimensions. –This data is used to develop design guidelines for heights, clearances, grips and reaches of workplaces and equipment for accommodating body dimensions of the potential workforce –Used in design of seated work, standing work, prodcution machinery design, supermarket checkout counters, aisles and corridors –The workforce includes men and women who are tall or short, large or small, strong or weak and some handicap that may limit their physical capacity.

4 Anthropometry & workspace design Displays located so that stool or ladder is needed can create performance problems or injury/safety risk –A problem in some power & chemical-processing plants Platforms are used –For some auto assembly to accommodate reach & biomechanical constraints In some cockpits of Navy aircraft, –10% of controls were not reachable by tallest aviators –70% were beyond the reach of the shortest

5 Human variability Body dimensions are usually considered to be distributed (Normal) Percentiles X = M + F x s For example, if X is the percentile being accommodated, M is the mean (50% value), s is the std. dev. That can be determined (or used). F is the multiplying factor using Table 10.1 (eg. For 75 th percentile, F= (25 th percentile, F=-0.674)

6 Structural (static) and Functional (dynamic) data in workspace design Anthropometry data can be classified into two types: –Structural data are measurements of the body dimensions in standard still (static) positions –Functional data are obtained when body adopts various working postures

7 Consider Fig on anthropometric measures: standing and sitting (p.253)

8 Engineering Anthropometry & Human Variability Q.1. Is it reasonable to expect that the ‘whole’ is equivalent to the ‘sum of the parts’? Yes/No?

9 Engineering Anthropometry & Human Variability Q.1. Is it reasonable to expect that the ‘whole’ is equivalent to the ‘sum of the parts’? –A tall person may have short arms. A person with long torso may have short legs. –You can not measure one body part and extrapolate to know the remainder re: fit.