There's been a lot of talk lately about ergonomic product certification, and Peter Budnick takes readers on a tour of the topic, drawing from work he's done on the question over the last 10-15 years. In this article, Part 1 in a series, he shares insightful video of interviews he conducted with consumers on the questions of "what does ergonomics mean" and "what would an 'ergonomically designed' label mean to you?" He also shares examples of how other industries have developed certifications, why industries need credible certification systems, and how that might come about for the field of ergonomics.

Forensics is yet another area of practice through which ergonomists and human factors engineers contribute to making the world a better place. Peter Budnick reviews and highlights several articles from the just released special issue of Ergonomics In Design (a quarterly from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society), which deals entirely with forensics as an applied specialization within the human factors and ergonomics profession.

Current chair testing protocols called for in USA industry standards from BIFMA/ANSI are based on criteria that is decades old, and does not include the effects of modern computer based office work, nor the significant trend of increasing weight among the adult working population. Texas A&M researchers Benden, Fink and Congleton conducted an in situ study of user habits that affect office chair design (in situ -- meaning they tested participants in actual chair use in real office conditions). Based on their results, the authors provide specific recommendations for updating existing testing standards, and for developing new standards specifically for emerging Heavy Duty and Bariatric Office Seating standards.

In work funded by the Office Ergonomics Research Committee (OERC), Canadian researchers Berolo, Wells and Amick performed an epidemiological study to investigate the prevalence of upper body musculoskeletal pain in mobile device users. According to the researchers, "this is the first study to provide empirical evidence of relationships between mobile device use and musculoskeletal symptoms of the upper extremity and neck." Further, "our results show a consistent relationship between mobile device use and pain in the ..."