Industrial Ergonomics case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Industrial Ergonomics - Case Study Example NIOSH conducted a qualitative field study. It began by asking the employees who used snowmobiles regularly—the only ones that were a part of this study-- about their jobs, their medical history and their job-related health problems. They made measurements of the seat, handle bars, and throttle control of snowmobiles to see if they could be adjusted to better fit people. They measured how much and how often workers are jolted when they ride snowmobiles on the bumpy roads. They also tested workers’ hands for nerve functions by administering a vibrotactile sensitivity test because disturbance of the vibrotactile sense can indicate early signs of vibration-induced injury. However, outside of testing workers’ hands for nerve functions and coordination, the other areas of complaints were not tested. Furthermore the researchers had only the workers’ word about their health prior to beginning to work for the National Park Service. Also, there was no control group. Admittedly, the researchers tried to approximate as best they could the scientific approach to determine how much of the employee complaints were due to travelling to the bumpy roads by attaching saver units to the snowmobiles to measure, record and store acceleration data on all three channels after being triggered by a shock or jolt that exceeded 1 g. These units could store 1346 separate events, but were filled after four hours! Secondly, some of the workers had hand tremor and decreased hand coordination related to snowmobile use. Another finding was that the grips on the handle bars were too narrow and not close enough to the rider to be safe and comfortable. Consequently, NIOSH stated that the most important feature to adjust was the steering bar, which if moved closer to the body with grips oriented to provide for neutral wrist positions would reduce grip forces and improve shoulder