Ergonomics: A Brief History
Ergonomics plays an important role in our lives, whether we know it or not. The likely way most of us got to know the term is by thinking about an ergonomic mattress or a chair for bad backs. Even those who are yet to acquaint themselves with the concept of Ergonomics are affected by it in their daily lives. Our offices are ruled by Health and Safety regulations; machinery and tools are designed to suit the human shape and movement. Even computers and interfaces adapt to the human who is using them to provide the best experience. Ergonomics is so ingrained in our daily lives that to understand the whole picture we should take a step back.
What is "ergonomic" and when was Ergonomics born?
If we break down the term, we will find that it's formed of two Greek words: ergon = work + nomos = law
Ergonomics is the study of the laws and relations between humans and their environment with the purpose of improving their comfort and efficiency.
Its first use can be traced back to Poland in 1857. World War II, the increase in working hours and the added strain created the conditions for the initiation of interdisciplinary investigations to improve the quality of human activities. The term "ergonomics" was then proposed in 1949 by Prof. Hugh Murrell and its current official definition is: "scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of the interactions among humans and other elements of a system".
In 1952 the Ergonomic Society was born in Great Britain, followed by the Ergonomics Information Analysis Centre in 1969.
In the 60s and 70s, a shift in the value systems of workers in the West led to the need for a new set of sub-disciplines that could target the new requirements.
Tertiary industry and technological developments also led to the study of human-machine interaction, analysing joint performance, communication and feedback between the two.
Ergonomics has developed to cover a variety of fields, from work-related, physical and psycho-social to technological. Objects that form part of our daily lives are heavily influenced by Ergonomics and even though we may not know it, a lot of studies have gone into them. A simple example is the evolution of game consoles:
And computer mice:
From the beginning, there has been a spike in the usage of the term "Ergonomics". This graph by Google shows the visual impact of such a spike:
It is safe to assume that Ergonomics as a discipline will gather more and more important in the future due to the extreme speed at which human activities and technology are changing. Ergonomics help not only to improve the conditions of the human who is carrying out a task but consequently to improve efficiency and prevent dangerous mistakes.
We look forward to seeing what the new innovations will be; in the meantime, if you're wondering about the ergonomics of your office or home, just give us a call.