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Abstract
Ergonomics is primarily concerned with improving the performance of man or of man–machine systems. Although many
applications have produced evident improvements, the terms of reference and the results are not often expressed in measures that are
easily converted into financial savings. However, there is a growing demand for cost–benefit data of ergonomic improvements, and
several examples in which the application of ergonomic principles has resulted in tangible benefits, are reviewed.
Cases are cited of increases of productivity resulting from equipment redesign and of savings achieved from the reduction of
accidents, and from improvements in the working environment. It is concluded that there is, as yet, no large body of well-
documented cases of financial savings accruing from the application of ergonomics, due in many cases to the difficulties of costing
actual changes in performance in the work situation. The need for further studies is debated, and it is suggested that the use of
ergonomic data in a design programme should not necessarily be based on the prediction of financial benefits.
r 1970 Pergamon Press
handful of validation trials in the literature at that time, (Gibbs, 1952), it was found that wide variations in
and a more recent extensive review (Slade, 1969) has work undertaken prevented direct comparisons of time
added few more cases. to do the same job. By distinguishing between setting
Not only are examples scarce, but few that have been time and machine cutting time, however, comparisons
published include economic data. This reflects the were made between the performance of four operators
difficulty of converting the usual ergonomic criteria of (two young, two old) using both types of machines over
human performance into costs, for example when a period of eight weeks. Analysis showed that the digital
reducing the incidence of mistakes or accidents made leadscrew indicators gave an 11% increase in machine
by a process operator to a monetary value. Not only utilisation, in terms of minutes cutting per hour of
this, but performance gains shown during comparison operation (Fig. 1).
trials under carefully controlled conditions may be From another company, Slade recently obtained
confused by other effects in actual use or by shop-floor comparative figures between machines with digital and
conditions, or the criteria used during the comparison with conventional drum, leadscrew indicators (Table 1,
trial in a laboratory may prove unsuitable or mean- Fig. 2).
ingless in an industrial situation. Apart from these These figures were taken over several weeks routine
difficulties, the ramifications of industrial bonus systems use. The impressive reduction in operating time repre-
or the results of ‘productivity bargaining’ over proposed sents a financial saving to the company of 9 s. per hour
changes in working methods can obscure potential per machine, allowing for incentive bonus.
savings when put into practice.
lighting levels or other environmental factors have been a year. The results were compared and in the quiet office
discussed (Manning, 1968; Stone, 1968). A major there was
problem is the difficulty of assigning definite costs to * 19% higher production
any particular change in operator performance follow- * 29% less typing errors
ing an improvement in working conditions. The well- * 52% less errors on calculating machines
known Hawthorne experiment in the USA demon- * 37% less sick leave
strated how even adverse changes in environmental and * 47% less staff changes
working conditions can produce an increase in perfor-
mance due to the increase in operatives motivation and This paper also states that in 1960, DM 1 million were
morale when the employers apparently express an paid in compensation for occupational deafness.
interest in their welfare. Another environmental condition that seriously af-
Nevertheless, one researcher (Robinson, 1963) has fects efficiency is heat, which cannot be avoided in
given five examples where significant improvements in industries such as steelmaking, forging, glassmaking,
output, or decreases in spoilt work, absenteeism and etc. In such conditions the only way of improving
accidents, resulted directly from improvements in light- efficiency is by providing protection. There has been
ing. Significantly three of these were inspection tasks, or much recent development of clothing that protects
tasks having a high inspection content, where the against heat, some of which is described by Hellon
improvement in lighting would have enhanced the (1961) and by Crockford (1962, 1963). The results they
differences between good and bad products. In one report of using airfed permeable clothing show that in
case, in the leather stamping department of a leather conditions of heat such that an unprotected person has
working factory in Germany, 12 consistent operatives to leave within a few minutes, a man wearing such a suit
worked for 2 years under 3761 (35 ft-candle) of can work for as much as 2 h. This work obviously has
illumination, and for a further 2 years under great potential for savings in labour costs where, for
1076l (100 ft candle). The average production under example, it enables the manpower required to re-line a
10761 was 107.6% of that under 3761 and the furnace in a given time to be reduced.
annual value of the extra production was 13 times the
total annual cost of the revised lighting installation.
Since the figures were obtained over a 2 year period, 5. Costs and contribution of the ergonomics team
before and after changing the lighting, the ‘Hawthorne
effect’ should not have confounded the comparison In some applications, particularly those where ergono-
significantly, although some doubt must remain as with mists are involved in the design of a new piece of
most of these examples. equipment from the start, it is not possible to show real or
In a study carefully designed to compensate for any potential reductions in errors or improvements in produc-
such effects (Broadbent and Little, 1960), performance tion. Thus when validating the redesign of the EMIdec
in accoustically treated and untreated rooms of a cine! 2400 digital computer (Whitfield, 1964) it was found that
film processing plant was compared over four 6 week the improvements to the design had not resulted in a
periods, both before and after reducing the ambient reduction in errors, although it is possible that a
noise level in one of the rooms from 99 dB to 89 dB comparative trial run over a longer period might have
[(above the usual zero of 0.02 m N/m2 (0.0002 dyne/ done so. Significantly, improvements were found in the
sq cm)]. Although finding an increase in work rate for all operating times for some tasks on the new computer, and
rooms following the treatment, apparently due to an these were taken as indicating improvements in the relative
improvement in morale, they did find other improve- ease of operation. However, the speed with which a
ments in performance related to the reduction of noise particular task is performed is not an important con-
alone. Film breakages attributed to the operator error sideration in this case, given the comparative contributions
were significantly reduced (by a ratio of 1:15); shut- of man and machine to the data processing task.
downs of the equipment attributed to the operator also Thus we find instances where ergonomics may
decreased, although not by a statistically significant improve the product—subjectively the redesigned com-
amount. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to puter was ‘better’ than the original—without any
convert these savings into monetary figures. demonstrable financial advantage. Utilising ergonomics
Further illustrations of improved performance result- data in the design of a chair is a very basic example. Few
ing from reduced noise levels are given in a study carried would think of attempting a cost-benefit analysis for
out at Dresden (Hartig, 1962). One case compares such an application. All that can be said is that the
two otherwise identical offices, one of which was design is better than it might have been, — that the
quietened by being fitted with a ‘‘sound swallowing design is ‘right’ — and that ultimately its sales should
ceiling and wall-clothing material’’, and in both of benefit from this fact. It is a question of qualitative
which everything they could measure was measured for rather than quantitative advantages.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
D. Beevis, I.M. Slade / Applied Ergonomics 34 (2003) 413–418 417
Given that there may be no immediate financial ergonomics study would have reduced the plant
advantage to the user between products designed with throughput by half when handling cartons, which
and without ergonomic advice, the only remaining constituted 30% of the total goods passed through the
question is whether the design costs are greater or not. system. In terms of direct labour costs, therefore, the
It is often argued by project managers that they cannot study, which cost d7 000, including equipment costs, can
afford to employ extra staff such as ergonomists. be claimed to have made available a potential saving of
Equally it is argued that it costs no more to design a d500 for every full week of operation.
product properly than to design it badly. This is borne In a more recent and elaborate investigation (Lewis,
out by experience during the design of the above- 1969), it was found that for some navigation tasks in
mentioned computer. It was found (Shackel, 1962) that helicopters flying very near the ground, the navigator
as a result of preparing full sketches of panel layouts and using a hand-held map has generally better performance
console details, about 1 month’s work in the drawing than a very sophisticated and expensive automatic
office was saved because difficult and time-consuming navigation system. Although the important criterion in
decisions had already been made. The cost of all the this case was accuracy of navigation, i.e. a performance
ergonomic work, which included a study of the measure, rather than cost-effectiveness of alternative
anthropometry of the operators’ work station, involving systems, it does illustrate the contribution that a
trials using a mock-up, was of the same order. thorough study of human performance can make to
the development of complex and costly systems.
It is worthwhile considering whether this is Chapanis, A., 1965. Man–Machine Engineering, Tavistock Publica-
important, and whether further evidence is really tions Ltd., London.
necessary despite the paucity of data. When matching Crockford, G.W., 1962. Air fed clothing for work in hot conditions.
Ind. Safety 8 (9), 483–485.
men to machines, or machines to men, the criteria used Crockford, G.W., 1963. New developments in heat protective clothing
are those of performance—information processing for industry. Trans. Assoc. Ind. Med. Off., 12–15.
rate, speed of response, accuracy, tolerance to external Gibbs, C.B., 1952. A new indicator of machine tool travel. Occup.
interference, overload capacity and so on; indeed, the Psychol. 26 (4), 234–243.
final specifications of many systems are written in Hartig, H., 1962. L.armbek.ambfung in der industrie. Dresden Inst.
Arbeitsdkomomic Arbeitsschufzforschungt 15, 139.
these terms also. Should the American practice of Hellon, R.F., 1961. Working in heat. Safety 14, 36–38.
‘Parametric Evaluation’ (NAVWEPS O.D. 27070 Laner, S., 1957. The cost of accidents. BISRA Report OR/3/57.
1963) be adopted on a wide scale for industrial pro- Lewis, R.E.F., 1969. Evaluation of an automatic navigation system
jects, the ergonomist will probably become involved for use in helicopters. Proceedings of the International Sym-
posium on Man–Machine Systems IEEE Conference Record no.
in the preparation of very detailed performance speci-
69C58-MMS.
fications. Lederer, J., Miller, C.O., Schmitt, C.T., 1963. Economics of safety in
It seems unnecessary that the value to a design team civil aviation. technical Report. ADS-7, Cornell–Guggenheim
of a specialist in human performance should be International Center. Pub. by Fed. AV. Agency, Washington.
evaluated on a financial basis when the advice of D.C. as Rep FAA-ADS-7, December 1963.
specialists in electrical, mechanical, metallurgical or Manning, P., 1986. Lighting in relation to other components of
the total environment. Trans. Illum. Eng. Soc. (London): 33 (4),
dynamic performance is accepted as natural in order to 159–168.
achieve a given specification. The education of designers Murrell, K.F.H., Edwards, E., 1963. Field studies of an indicator of
and engineers to think of seeking the advice of an machine tool travel with special reference to the aging worker.
ergonomist as naturally as they would that of a specialist Occup. Psychol. 37 (4), 267–275.
in an engineering discipline would do much to change NAVWEPS Ordnance Data 27070. 1963. Preparation instructions for
parameters documents. Department of Navy, Special Projects
current attitudes and would do away with the defensive Office, Washington DC.
approach implicit in talk of the financial justification of Robinson, W., 1963. Lighting and the production engineer —the 1962
ergonomic recommendations. Sir Alfred Herbert paper to the institution of production engineers.
The onus does not lie solely with the engineers, Prod. Eng. 42 (3), 123–146.
however. As Kraft stated (Ergonomics 1958 1, 306-6) Shackel, B., 1962. Ergonomics in the design of a large digital computer
console. Ergonomics 5 (1), 229–241.
‘‘I wholeheartedly support the statement made Shackel, B., Beevis, D., Anderson, D.M., 1967. Ergonomics in the
recently by an executive of a large company, that less automation of meat handling in the London docks. Ergonomics 10
time should be devoted to defending human engineering, (2), 250–265.
and more should be spent in producing results which are Singleton, W.T., 1960. An experimental investigation of speed controls
understandable and so obviously worthwhile to engi- for sewing machines. Ergonomics 3 (4), 365–375.
Slade, I. M., 1969. Economics advantages of ergonomic improvements.
neers that they speak for themselves’’. Paper to the ERS Annual Conference 1969.
Stone, P.T., 1968. Ergonomics of the environment. Trans. Illum. Eng.
Soc. (London) 33 (4), 150–158.
Suleck, E.A., 1965. Eye safety: how and how much? Safety
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