What is Ergonomics? - Overview

The term ‘ergonomics’ is composed of two words from Ancient Greek, ‘ergon’ (= work) and ‘nomos’ (= law). Thus, from its original meaning, ergonomics can be defined as the science of work. However, since Wojciech Bogumil Jastrzebowski from Poland created this term in 1857, the discipline has undergone substantial changes, especially with regard to its scope: according to the official definition, adopted by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) in 2000, the field of ergonomics now extends across all aspects of human activity. That is, ergonomics comes into everything which involves people, work as well as volunteering, sports, and leisure. This shift is reflected, i.a., by the fact that now an increasing number of consumer products – cars, mobile phones, or domestic appliances – are labeled as being ergonomic.

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Given this broad scope, ergonomics is primarily a matter of ‘team play’. The key requirement is a comprehensive understanding of the users. Thus, the scientific knowledge about general human characteristics, needs, and limitations as well as individual differences and variability comes from several specialised disciplines – including anthropometry, biomechanics, physiology, as well as individual and social psychology. Consequently, research projects are commonly structured in an interdisciplinary way.

The aspect of team play is even more pronounced in applied projects, in which, in addition, a variety of other professions is involved: production engineers, industrial designers, computer specialists, industrial physicians, health and safety practitioners, and human resources experts. They all share their knowledge and talents to achieve a common goal – to ensure comfortable, safe and efficient living conditions. For this purpose, ‘high-tech’ tools assisting an ergonomic design are now in use, including human modeling software as well as the application of virtual reality technology.

But not only the scope, but also the means for establishing ergonomic living conditions have changed to a considerable extent. Originally, the main approach was of a regulatory nature, to implement ergonomics in national laws. While this is still an important field, it has been supplemented by a service-oriented approach, providing support and advice, for enterprises as well as individual people. This shift reflects the current trend of deregulation and the individualisation of work and lifestyles. Thereby, ergonomics provides an essential ‘humanising’ influence on contemporary social and economical changes, many of them spurred by technological innovations.

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The reflection of these trends makes ergonomics one of the most dynamic scientific disciplines. Not only the fields of application are under constant revision, but also they bring up new questions for more fundamental research. In this context, an interesting set of novel research methods has been adopted, ranging from 3D-body scanning to brain imaging technologies.

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