| 1. |
- Rose, Linda M, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Designing Jobs in Manufacturing : Rest Allowances
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The organization of work along a conventional production line layout has called for the consideration of both human (e.g., rest breaks, work pace) and technical factors, striving for the optimization of ergonomics and production. Linda Rose and Patrick Neumann discuss these issues in relation to muscle fatigue.
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| 2. |
- Rose, Linda M, 1963-
(författare)
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Ergo-IndexEtapp 2 : Vidareutveckling av metod föranalys av produktionsmetoder – sambandmellan belastningsfaktorer, återhämtning, risk och produktionstid
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This report describes the work with refinement of the Ergo-Index model, initially developed in the 1980’s by a group of researchers and practitioners. Ergo-Index is intended to enable comparison of different methods to perform a work task with the aim to support the choice of working methods to satisfy ergonomics requirements as well as requirements on time consumption and production economics. The outputs from the method are assessments of recovery need, production time and load level. The project has been carried out in two parts, of which this report deals with the second part.The objective has been to gain relevant information and to develop the Ergo-Index model further, especially regarding recovery, based on a literature review and an experimental study. In the experimental study maximum exerted forces as well as subjectively assessed Endurance and Resumption times for 15 different loading cases were determined with different load levels and loading times.The results revealed a previously unknown fatigue-load phenomenon, namely that the recovery need was found to be shortest, expressed in relative loading time, for a medium load level (30 % of max), compared to low (10 % of max) and high (50 % of max) load levels. This led to some unexpected difficulties in the project.After several rounds of modeling relations for endurance and recovery need, the new Ergo-Index was developed. This, partly performed by deriving at mathematical relationships via regression analysis and partly by using results from other published studies and also Swedish physical ergonomics legislation recommendations, is described in the report. Seven examples of applications of the model are also given. These form a start of a planned database where applied examples are gathered to facilitate the use of the method. These tasks were also evaluated with subjective methods by the participants, using Borg’s CR10 scale, a body map and interviews and photo- and video-documented. The new model should to be applied and evaluated more than has been done up until now, before it is spread to a large extent. Application and evaluation is planned with a couple of companies.The experimental results have also been used for developing a prediction model of perceived fatigue. Further, also based on the experimental study, where the working task was carried out with one repetition in two subsequent trials, a model for accumulation of fatigue is presented. Both these parts have not been tested or evaluated, but it is suggested to evaluate them in studies with applied repetitive working tasks. These results may also be used to form an enhanced recovery assessment model on occupational tasks for selection of working methods and job design from ergonomics and time perspectives for repetitive work.Issues regarding modeling, such as field of application and accuracy, are discussed. Dissemination of the results, to companies, in educations as well as in the research community, is also described.
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| 3. |
- Rose, Linda M., 1963-
(författare)
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Ergonomics and its Consequences for Businesses
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As ergonomists, for many of us, a driving force is to improve work environments to “do good”: to reduce risks for injury and human suffering, improve working conditions and support human well-being. This motivation is in accordance with the first of the two objectives of ergonomics as in the IEA definition – ‘…to optimize human well-being and overall system performance”. However, ‘doing good’ in this sense can be difficult. A challenging task we face as ergonomists is to motivate work site improvements within a business environment that is focused on the second objective of ergonomics, overall system performance. Thus, the art of ergonomics lies in balancing the two – in addressing individual wellbeing as well as the broader goals of system performance. As part of this balancing act, displaying financial impacts of ergonomics plays an important role and is therefore the focus of this key-note.In all business activity decision makers have to choose between different investment options. For investments that can improve ergonomics, the full economic benefits are often difficult to quantify. Such benefits are associated with reduced costs related to non-optimal work environment. Visible costs, such as direct costs for absenteeism, are quite easily measured while hidden costs, related to business key parameters, such as productivity and quality issues, are often complex, contextually dependent and difficult to estimate. However, these issues are vital for organizations and such costs, which directly affect the company’s competitiveness, are often many times greater than the visible costs. If decision makers only are aware of the direct financial impact of investments they may prioritize solutions that are not optimal neither for organizational performance and business results nor for the work environment and health of the employees. In extreme cases this can jeopardize the company’s future.So, what is needed for informed decision-making? First, awareness that ergonomics also influences core business parameters and organizational performance is needed. Second, there is a need for user-friendly assessment tools to estimate the financial effects associated with workplace ergonomics. In the presentation a survey of existing assessment tools and methods is presented. Reasons why these tools aren’t more widely used are discussed. There is an increased call from companies for assessment tools that companies can use in their operational management to motivate and carry out ergonomic improvements. This is partly due to the need to form business cases to motivate investments. There is also an increased awareness from company management, who recognize that improved working environments also lead to other positive effects for the company. Increasingly managers seek knowledge for informed decision making, for example when prioritizing between work environment improvements and strategic corporate decisions. The assessment tools can be used i) proactively in the design of production systems, which leads to advantages for the staff as well as for the company’s performance, ii) reactively to evaluate different scenarios to reduce work environment, productivity and quality problems and iii) strategically for promoting the company.So, what actions are needed to improve these assessment tools, increase their use of and make them a natural part in the company operational processes? In this presentation some research and development suggestions are given. These involve tool as well as organizational and process development.In summary, working towards improved tools and their usage in striving towards the twofold ergonomics objective involves many challenges, but strengthens the possibilities to be successful in “doing good”, for individuals and organizations, as well as for societies.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Rose, Linda M., 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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On the IEA Strategy : Mapping HFE Performance Knowledge
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings 11th International Symposium on Human Factors in Organistional Design and management. 46th Annual Nordic Ergonomics Society Conference. Volume 1. ; , s. 273-274
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In order to support the implementation of the IEA strategy of Human Factors/Ergonomics (HFE) the objective of this pilot-project is to map the current awareness, knowledge and strategies regarding how HFE can be used in optimizing system performance and how and to what extent such strategies are applied in organisations today. The methodology used is that each board member of the Nordic Ergonomics Society´s national boards has a talk with a key stakeholder, using a semi-structured question area guide during the spring 2014. The gist of the results from each talk regarding four core areas will be summarised and analysed and will be presented at the ODAM-NES 2014 conference.
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| 6. |
- Rose, Linda M., 1963-
(författare)
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Organizational and individual effects of poor working environments at companies : methods, examples, and why we should care
- 2013
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health: conference abstracts. ; , s. 77-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A poor working environment can result in negative consequences at the individual, organizational, as well as societal level, for instance as a negative financial consequence. The driving force for many who are working within the occupational safety and health (OSH) field is to achieve improvements in the working environment, but it can be challenging to motivate investments in this area. It is fairly easy to calculate the direct, visible costs of a poor working environment, but difficult to estimate the hidden costs and the benefits of improvements. This presentation will give examples of visible and hidden effects and types of costs due to a poor working environment and will provide a survey of methods available for estimating financial effects. The demographic changes societies face lead both to challenges and opportunities. One of the challenges is how to design jobs so that even an ageing population can remain healthy and productive at work. The presentation will also give some examples on the state of the art of what we know in the area of an ageing workforce and where some of the knowledge gaps are that require research and development to meet the two objectives of ergonomics: human well-being and overall system performance.
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| 7. |
- Rose, Linda M, 1963-
(författare)
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RAMP: Ett nytt riskhanteringsverktyg – Risk Assessment and Management tool for manual handling Proactively – : Slutrapport i projektet ”Utveckling, implementering och spridning av belastningsergonomiskt bedömningsverktyg och åtgärdsprocess” (Dnr 090168)
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I denna rapport beskrivs riskhanteringsmetoden RAMP – Risk Assessment and Management tool for manual handling Proactively – och dess utveckling som gjorts i projektet ”Utveckling, implementering och spridning av belastningsergonomiskt bedömningsverktyg och åtgärds-process”. Projektets mål har varit att utveckla en fritt tillgänglig metod för riskhantering för arbete med manuell hantering. Metoden ska kunna användas för att bedöma risken att utveckla belastningsbesvär och stötta det systematiska arbetsmiljöarbetet genom att ge en struktur för förbättringsåtgärder och utarbetande av handlingsplaner. Syftet är att användningen av verktyget ska bidra att arbetsmiljöförbättrande åtgärder genomförs, vilket förväntas leda till positiva hälsoeffekter.Projektet har genomförts som ett samarbetsprojekt med interaktiv metodologisk ansats mellan forskare vid KTH Skolan för Teknik och hälsa, Enheten för Ergonomi, och personer som aktivt deltagit i projektet i egenskap av professionella yrkesverksamma med olika roller på de medverkande företagen Arla Foods, Scania CV AB, Svenskt Butikskött AB och Mikael Loods Åkeri AB – exempelvis operatör, logistiker, chef, VD, skyddsombud, produktionstekniker, ergonom, och global arbetsmiljösmordnare. Till projektet har en referensgrupp och en expertgrupp varit knutna. Projektet har finansierats av i huvudsak Afa Försäkring och de medverkande företagen.Bland metoderna om används i projektet finns litteraturgenomgång, iterativ prototyp-utveckling, användartester och utvärdering av prototyper, work-shops, intervjuer och enkäter. RAMP baseras på vetenskapliga studier, svensk arbetsmiljölagstiftning, ergonomistandarder, andra bedömningsmetoder, expertbedömningar av projektets expertgrupp, erfarenheter och expertbedömningar från personer verksamma i industrin inom bland annat företagshälsovård, ledning och produktion, användartester samt referensgruppens feed-back.I rapporten presenteras RAMP-verktyget som består av fyra moduler: RAMP I - en checklista för screening av belastningsergonomiska riskfaktorer; RAMP II – som möjliggör en fördjupad analys; en Resultatmodul där resultatet kan presenteras på olika detaljnivå och med olika omfattning och en Åtgärdsmodul som ger stöd för det systematiska arbetsmiljöarbetet med bland annat åtgärdsförslag och en mall för att utforma handlingsplaner för att minska riskerna.En prototyp av RAMP har utvärderades i ett examensarbete genom validitets- och reliabilitets- och användbarhetsstudier. Utvärderingen visar på hög repeterbarhet av bedömningar genomförda av icke-experter samt att överensstämmelsen var hög mellan experter och icke-experter. Användbarhetsstudien visade att RAMP uppleveds som ganska lätt att använda och tidseffektiv.Digitaliseringen av RAMP förväntas bli klar under hösten 2014. RAMP kommer därefter att göras fritt tillgänglig via KTH STHs hemsida och en implementeringsstudie av metoden sker på de medverkande företagen. Metoden kommer att spridas enligt projektets kommunikationsplan som beskrivs i rapporten.
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| 8. |
- Rose, Linda M, 1963-
(författare)
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Recovery need in manual work : Development and application of an assessment tool.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Book ocf abstracts. - Stockholm : KTH. - 9789163711497 ; , s. 16-16
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- IntroductionIncomplete recovery is considered as one of the main causes for developing MSDs. This paper describes the further development and application of an assessment tool, Ergo-Index, which can be used to analyse different ways to perform a work task considering load ergonomics as well as time aspects. It can support decision making when choosing production methods and help reduce the physical load and the risk of MSDs in combination with good production economics. ObjectivesThe objectives were to further develop the existing Ergo-Index by i) gaining data to understand how load level and loading time affect recovery need ii) modelling the recovery need, iii) refining the existing Ergo-Index model iv) testing and implementing the model and gathering examples in a database and v) disseminating the results. MethodsAn experimental study was carried out with 10 participants. over 16 sessions, each participant pushed a handle, in which static force and time were altered between the sessions. Subjectively rated Endurance time (ET) and Resumption time (Tres), defined as the time period needed after loading until the participant would resume the task if it was his job, was noted, as well as other parameters. Based on experimental data mathematical relationships were established, using regression analysis. A new version of the Ergo-Index was developed based on the results and results from literature. The new tool was coded as a simple Excel-program and applied to 10 typical work tasks in industry and evaluated using biomechanical and subjective methods.ResultsThe main results were data for ET, Tres and Rating of perceived discomfort/fatigue and a new Ergo-Index model, which is described briefly in the conference paper. Some applied examples are illustrated in the presentation. DiscussionDifferent types of fatigue and models are discussed, as well as issues when trying to model the complex phenomena of fatigue. ConclusionsIt is concluded that the recovery time can be modelled as a relationship between load level and loading time, and that the method has to be further used and validated.
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| 9. |
- Rose, Linda M., 1963-
(författare)
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Risk management project for work with precast concrete shells
- 2012
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Ingår i: Work. - : IOS Press. - 1051-9815 .- 1875-9270. ; 41:1, s. 4157-4162
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper describes a project with the aim of reducing the risk of injury when using precast concrete shells in the Swedish construction industry by identifying injury risks, developing and implementing solutions. An interactive research approach was used. Three major injury risks were identified and a system consisting of three tools and a handbook was developed, evaluated, and implemented at one company and made available to the construction industry.
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| 10. |
- Rose, Linda M., 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Work Environment and the Bottom Line : Survey of Tools Relating Work Environment to Business Results
- 2013
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Ingår i: Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1090-8471 .- 1520-6564. ; 23:5, s. 368-381
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Insufficient knowledge of how the working environment (WE) impacts company performance leads to a poor basis for managerial decision making. The objective of this study was to survey and evaluate available tools relating WE to business results. Nine tools were identified and qualitatively evaluated using 11 criteria. The tools were clustered into three categories, ranging from analysis of WE risks as well as calculation of their economic impact to solely investment analysis. Shortcomings in the tools include insufficient attention to quality and productivity issues and insufficient guidance for users. Although further methodological development is indicated, researchers should also attend to the factors affecting tool uptake and application as well as the potential to integrate such analysis into companies' regular accounting systems.
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| 11. |
- Rose, Linda M., 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Workshop : Human Factors And The Bottom Line – Quantifying The Benefits Of Healthy Workplaces
- 2014
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Ingår i: 11th International Symposium on Human Factors in Organisational Design and Management (ODAM 2014)and 46th Annual Nordic Ergonomics Society, Technical University of Denmark.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the workshopThe workshop gives opportunities to learn about how to banish the phantom of unexpected costs and poor operating performance that comes from ergonomics / Human Factors problems in the workplace. The objectives are to foster a broad discussion on the economics of ergonomics including aspects such as 1) How Human Factors can affect company’s bottom line , 2) Why companies underestimate Ergonomics/Human Factors costs and benefits, 3) What economic assessment tools and approaches can be used to help companies realise the financial benefits of good working environments. The format of the workshopParticipants are invited to join this interactive workshop on quantifying the financial costs and benefits of workplace improvements. The workshop will take an interactive approach. First the hosts will share their experiences, and will be examining a range of economic assessment techniques and discuss case studies in from both Swedish and Canadian industry, of how attending the human factors and ergonomics can improve a company’s productivity and quality performance. Thereafter an open plenary discussion will follow.Work environment effects are often difficult to assess, especially since many of them are hidden. Moreover, the economic impact of these hidden effects is often many times larger than that from visible effects, such as costs from absenteeism. Hidden effects often play a larger role on business parameters than visible ones do. Without adequate measurement or assessment tools, hidden effects remain obscured. As a result, they may be overlooked, which can have significant business consequences, particularly when making investment decisions related to work environment issues. Ergonomics/Human Factors gains from quality and productivity are usually much greater than for reduced compensation costs. Companies that underestimate the financial impact of human aspects of their systems can find their anticipated profits vanish – so called ‘phantom profits’.
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| 12. |
- Österman, Cecilia, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring Maritime Ergonomics from a Bottom Line Perspective
- 2010
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Ingår i: WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs (JoMA). - : Springer. - 1651-436X .- 1654-1642. ; 9:2, s. 153-168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present paper reports a study composed of three research activities exploring theeconomics of ergonomics in a shipping context. First, a literature study aimed to reviewprevious studies on the economics of ergonomics in general and within the maritimedomain in particular; and moreover, to ascertain the key ergonomic factors addressedin contemporary maritime ergonomic research. Second, the concept of ergonomics wasprobed from a stakeholder perspective through nine semi-structured qualitative interviews.Third, structured interviews were held with representatives of ten Swedish shippingcompanies to investigate if the shipowners are aware of and calculate the economiceffects of ergonomics.The results show that severalmodels and methods have been developed to estimate costsand benefits of ergonomics in other industries, but no studies were found from the shippingindustry.Whether these methods can be readily adapted to the shipping industry hasto be investigated further. While contemporary maritime ergonomic literature showed afocus on physical ergonomic and health and safety issues, the results of the stakeholderinterviews indicated a focus on organizational ergonomics. The Swedish shipownerscalculate the costs of sick-leave, but do not estimate the economic effects of ergonomicson a regular basis.
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