April 16, 2014

Commentary: Ergonomics and its Relationship with Wellness

Ergoweb's Peter Budnick details his views on the emerging debates surrounding the relationships between ergonomics, a field he believes is fairly well defined, and wellness, a concept that is not well defined, though intuitively appealing. "Ergonomics and wellness complement each other, but they are not one and the same," he concludes.
April 2, 2014

Applied Anthropometry Improves Fit

Anthropometry is a primary consideration in ergonomics, yet is often misunderstood and misapplied in the design of equipment and systems. In this example of why ergonomics is not always "common sense," guest contributor Bruce Bradtmiller, a leading anthropometry expert, explains why it's important to understand the complexity of anthropometry, and provides an explanation of one technique called multivariate accommodation modeling (MAM) using principal component analysis (PCA). Sound complicated? Bradtmiller cuts through the complexity and provides a simplified understanding that will make you appreciate anthropometry in a new way next time you sit in a chair or glance into the cockpit of an airplane as you board. Creating a good fit is not as easy as some might think.