Bretby Maintainability Index Overview Bretby Maintainability Index Details Maintainability and Operability General

Case Studies Ergonomics and Human Factors Safety Culture, Light Rail Operations Manual Handling Projects

Design and Operability

Plant Equipment - Designer Handbook

Steve Mason produced what we believe to be the first handbook for designers of commercial equipment, which provided information showing the decrement in performance as certain design aspects moved progressively away from the ergonomic ideal. This gave the designer much better information to allow him to make sensible trade-offs between ergonomic requirements and other competing economic and performance requirements. The other military handbooks essentially only give 'optimum' data, leaving the designer in the dark if they have to be outside this remit. They don't know if the results would be marginal or catastrophic. This work was later summarised in a chapter of a UK ergonomics publication "The ergonomics of workspaces and machines"

A number of design handbooks were prepared for mining machinery, each having their ergonomics / engineering trade-offs made to suit their specific applications and risks. These handbooks were developed by Mason S (HSEC's Principal Human Factors Consultant) & other British Coal Corporation Ergonomists for:

• Combined drilling and loading machines
• Continuous miners
• Underground locomotives
• Free-Steered Vehicles (FSV)

Later research was directed towards producing designer information to cater for improving existing equipment through cost- effective targeted retrofit modifications. For example:

• Improvement to the ergonomics and safety aspects of FSV driver cabs by retrofit, Eastwood, British Coal Corporation Operations Dept, Report. (Final report on CEC Contract no. 7250/12/048
• The influence of ergonomic design of trackless mining vehicles on the health and safety of operators, drivers and workers, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy symposium, SIMRAC Safety Mines Research Advisory Committee, 1998

Design & Selection - Operability Index

While our detailed ergonomic handbooks provide designers with comprehensive and context specific information, it is recognised that, in practice, designers often have to make compromises that adversely affect the overall ergonomics of a piece of equipment. An Operability Index was therefore developed (prototype index published in Applied Ergonomics - see below) to enable designers to quantify the overall 'user friendliness' of a machine at the design stage. Any problem areas identified can then be addressed, and the benefits from alternative designs quantified and costed prior to implementation. The Index has been successfully used by Purchasing Departments to set minimum standards of ergonomics when purchasing new equipment. The Index has also been used by engineers to address cost-effective improvements for existing machinery through retrofit modifications.