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Underlying all ergonomics work is careful analysis of human activity. The ergonomist must understand all of the demands being made on the person, and the likely effects of any changes to these ¨C the techniques which enable him to do this come under the portmanteau label of ˇ®job and task analysis'.
The second key ingredient is to understand the users. For example, ˇ®consumer ergonomics' covers applications to the wider contexts of the home and leisure. In these non-work situations the need to allow for human variability as at its greatest ¨C the people involved have a very wide range of capabilities and limitations (including the disabled and elderly), and seldom have any selection or training for the tasks which face them.
This commitment to ˇ®human-centred design' is an essential ˇ®humanizing' influence on contemporary rapid developments in technology, in contexts ranging from the domestic to all types of industry.
David Whitfield and Joe Langford
From Blakemore C and Jennett S (eds) The Oxford Companion to the Body (Oxford University Press, 2001). Reprinted by kind permission of Oxford University Press. For further information about OUP publications, visit www.oup.com .
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