Introduction
Human factor analysis has 2 major components antropometry and ergonomics. Antropometry is about the physical aspect of human being such as average height of Australian, average palm width of ANU students. Ergonomics is about the study of poeople and how they operate equipment in the home, in commerce, in factories and in governmental activites. Ergonomists design jobs. Specifically, they design methods and tools for perfomring task, machine adaptations for handicapped personel, etc to improve the working condition of the people. (Lehto 2013)
Human factor analysis has 2 major components antropometry and ergonomics. Antropometry is about the physical aspect of human being such as average height of Australian, average palm width of ANU students. Ergonomics is about the study of poeople and how they operate equipment in the home, in commerce, in factories and in governmental activites. Ergonomists design jobs. Specifically, they design methods and tools for perfomring task, machine adaptations for handicapped personel, etc to improve the working condition of the people. (Lehto 2013)
Application
The available published antropoemtric data for young adults Australians male and female are shown in table 1 and 2 respectively. This data is taken from the Kamel & Samuel (2001)'s journal article in which he made comprasion of antropometirc data between Australian elderly and young Australian of Bullock et al (1975) survey. All the dimensions in the table are in millimeter. The definition of dimensions measured is illustrated in figure 6. Based on these data, the furniture at the libraries should be comply with this data in order to make students fell comfortable to study and using library furniture. SEAT The height of the chair should be greater than 522+45=567 mm (0.567 m) and not more than 570+45=615 mm(0.615 m) so that it will make both male and female Australia to be able to sit comfortably. The addition of 45 mm is for shoe heel height which is recommended by Kamel & Samuel (2001).The seat need to be an adjustable height seat in order to accommodate the people with different popliteal height and different types of shoes. The seat depth should be no larger than the buttock-popliteal height. Bullock & Steinberg data does not have this dimension. So, we will assume thigh thickness of 103 mm for male and 95 mm for female and subtract these number from the Buttok-knee length of Bullock & Steinberg (1975) data. So, we will get 511 mm of Buttok-popliteal length for male and 488 mm for female. Thus, the seat depth should be 511 mm(0.511 m) for maximum so that both Australian male and female students can sit properly. The width of the seat should be determined from the hip breath. Again, Bullock & Steinberg lack of this dimension and thus we will take hip breath of elderly Australian data from Kamel & Samuel (2001) data as shown in table 3 and 4. Thus, the seat width should be at least as wide as 336 mm(0.336m) so that all Australian male and female can sit down comfortably. The definition seat terminology is illustrated in figure 7. If people are using computers at library, the screen should be tilt about 10 to 20 degree so that the tip of the screen is at the same level with sitting eye height so that people get sufficient indirect lightning and prevent glaring. |
Table
For the table in library the height of the table should not be higher than the sitting elbow height. Bullock et al (1975) data does not have the sitting elbow height. We will use Kamel & Samuel (2001) data of sitting elbow height of Australian elderly which is show in table 3 and 4. Kamel & Samuel (2001) antropometric data is obtained from a total of 171 participants in which 33 are male and 138 are females. Based on that data, the height of sitting elbow from the ground is 232+416+45= 693mm for male and 212+379+45=636mm for female. This means that the height of the table should be lower than 636 mm(0.636 m) and higher than 615 mm(0.615 m) so that both Australian male and female can rest their elbow comfortably on the table and they can place their leg comfortably below the table. |
Consideration for wheelchair users
According to the UN enable, the eye sight of the wheel chair user is from the range of 1.16 m to 1.33 m and the sitting elbow height is from 0.55 to 0.59 m. Figure 8 illustrated the antropometeric measure of a standard wheel chair user. When considering the suitable study table or computer table for wheel chair user, the height of the table should be around 0.55 m so that wheel chair users can rest their arm comfortably on the table. The computer monitor should be allowed to be titled to appropriate angle so that users has appropriate viewing angle to the monitor.
According to the UN enable, the eye sight of the wheel chair user is from the range of 1.16 m to 1.33 m and the sitting elbow height is from 0.55 to 0.59 m. Figure 8 illustrated the antropometeric measure of a standard wheel chair user. When considering the suitable study table or computer table for wheel chair user, the height of the table should be around 0.55 m so that wheel chair users can rest their arm comfortably on the table. The computer monitor should be allowed to be titled to appropriate angle so that users has appropriate viewing angle to the monitor.
What we did and what we need to do next
We have got all the required anthropometric data of Australians. We need to create an ergonomic designs as suggested above required for table and chair. The ergonomic design will make sure people not only to be comfortable but also to be prevented from potential illness, pain and injuries. The idea of human factor is to understand how people work, get anthropometric data and create an ergonomic design which will upgrade the standard of living.
We have got all the required anthropometric data of Australians. We need to create an ergonomic designs as suggested above required for table and chair. The ergonomic design will make sure people not only to be comfortable but also to be prevented from potential illness, pain and injuries. The idea of human factor is to understand how people work, get anthropometric data and create an ergonomic design which will upgrade the standard of living.