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Virtual environments in machinery safety analysis and participatory ergonomics
Author(s) -
Määttä Timo J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
human factors and ergonomics in manufacturing and service industries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.408
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1520-6564
pISSN - 1090-8471
DOI - 10.1002/hfm.20084
Subject(s) - participatory ergonomics , factory (object oriented programming) , hum , human factors and ergonomics , work (physics) , task (project management) , engineering , citizen journalism , task analysis , computer science , manufacturing engineering , engineering management , risk analysis (engineering) , process management , systems engineering , poison control , business , mechanical engineering , medicine , art , environmental health , performance art , world wide web , art history , programming language
The objective of this work was to evaluate the impact of Virtual Environments (VEs) on safety analysis and participatory ergonomics. The developed method Safety Analysis with Virtual Environments (SAVE) is based on Participatory Ergonomics (PE), Task Analysis (TA), Work Safety Analysis (WSA), the standard EN 1050, and three‐dimensional (3‐D) functional modeling of the objects being analyzed. The materials of this work comprised machinery systems of six plants in a steel factory, which were implementing ongoing modernization projects. The results indicate that the SAVE method was applicable for safety analysis in the machinery layout design phase. According to the results, 58% of all identified hazards in a steel factory could be identified with VEs. A common understanding of designs, possibilities of evaluating and developing the system by the workers, and of providing training for operators and maintenance persons were the major contribution when using VEs in a safety analysis and applying a participative ergonomics approach. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 17: 435–443, 2007.