Work Study and Ergonomics

This book has been especially written and prepared for undergraduate and post-graduate students of industrial engineering, production engineering, industrial and production engineering, mechanical and industrial engineering or mechanical engineering, pursuing a one semester course on work systems design, work safety and ergonomics, work design and ergonomics, work study and ergonomics, industrial ergonomics, occupational health and ergonomics, or industrial engineering and ergonomics. Normally the course is offered as a single semester course. But in the present text it has been the author's endeavour to cover not only what can be taught in a single semester but also provide some additional material needed by an ergonomist or an occupational safety engineer. The present text is supplemented with the case studies and live examples from the industry. Hence, human factor engineers or occupational safety engineers or work study engineers will benefit from the knowledge on practical applications of Work Study and Ergonomics.

Chapter 1 explains the basic concepts, definitions, scope and importance of productivity, reasons for lower productivity, and methods to improve the same followed by integration of work study and productivity. Chapter 2 describes the role of human factors in work study, and the qualities of a good work study man. Chapter 3 deals with the concepts, definitions and applications of method study, procedural steps to conduct methods' study, different tools and techniques for methods' study; followed by principles of motion economy, therbligs and work simplification. Subsequently Chapter 4 focusses on basic techniques of work measurement, work sampling, and stopwatch time study procedure, equipment and forms for time study, allowances, rating scales, calculation of basic and standard time; followed by some numerical problems. As the standard time calculated through work sampling or stopwatch time study is useful for deciding wage rates and incentives for the workers and employees, hence Chapter 5 is dedicated to various wage and incentives schemes and programmes.

By the end of Chapter 5 the students would have acquired an understanding of work study, its importance and its role in industry. Consequently they will be able to conduct motion studies, time studies, set time standards and apply them in fixing wages and incentives for the employees/workers of an organization. Given this, Chapter 6 of the book will introduce the students to the basic concept of ergonomics, to the historical evolution, scope and objectives of ergonomics, …