Two new ISO International Standards will help make products, signs and displays more accessible to older persons and those with disabilities

Guest contributor Shane Sidebottom explains the valuable role Rapid Prototyping (RP) can play for ergonomists in any industry. RP is a fast developing technology that allows engineers, designers and ergonomists to quickly identify design improvement opportunities early in the design process, while changes are still feasible. He provides a real world example of how he's used it in his role as ergonomist, and gives a concise overview of the technology so you can be prepared to work with designers and make RP another important tool in promoting human centered design.

Learn what University of Waterloo researchers conducted a study to investigate the effects of glove flexibility, glove thickness, finger posture/geometry and loss of tactile sensitivity on power grip force and effort.

Intuitively, we all know that cold temperatures affect hand and finger dexterity, but by how much? This research exposed 26 participants to cold temperatures to see how gross and fine dexterity are affected, finding as much as a 55% performance reduction after forearm and hand exposure to 11 degree C (52 degree F) temperatures.

If you need to establish an economic case for ergonomics and safe patient handling, this article provides a blue print for doing so. Guest contributor Lynda Enos, courtesy of the Oregon Nurses Association, gives a detailed overview of how to make an effective business case that will result in fully funded and sustainable safety and ergonomics programs in health care facilities.

In this research review, reprinted from The Ergonomics Report Archives, researchers Straker, Levine and Campbell tested experimental subjects while performing keyboard and mouse tasks and found they performed slower and with more errors while walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bicycle than they did while sitting or standing.

Combining ergonomics with rehabilitation engineering can change lives and provide disabled individuals with a means to do things that may otherwise seem impossible. This article highlights a few examples, including designs that help a young paraplegic auto mechanic, a multi-finger amputee mechanic, and even allow a quadriplegic to fish.

The State of Washington and NIOSH share the results of a symposium that brought together private insurance carriers, insurance associations, self-insured corporations, academic institutions and government agencies. The participants learned how Workers Compensation data can be used to estimate injury magnitude, severity, cost, frequency, and trends, which can then be used to prioritize prevention.

Researchers tested safe patient handling training methods, including classroom and contextual (hands-on) training in both emergency and non-emergency situations. Not surprisingly, they found that contextual training is more effective than classroom training, but what are the implications for ergonomists?