Work physiology studies how the human body deals with physical stress and work environments, aiming to minimize physical fatigue, eliminate occupational injuries, and increase productivity. Physiologists study body systems such as metabolism, respiration, and circulation, and design workspaces suitable for a variety of people while ensuring safety and efficiency. They also explore questions related to work safety, methodology, rest and work cycles, and varying working conditions.
Work physiology is a term associated with industrial engineering, concerned with how the human body deals with physical stress, work strain, and the work environment. Specialists in this field study the physical toll that work takes on a person, in order to minimize it. Work physiologists apply their understanding to evaluating and designing workspaces that reduce physical fatigue, eliminate occupational injuries, and increase overall productivity. They need to understand how the body behaves under a variety of environmental conditions, the amount of rest it needs and when it is able to work at peak levels.
Metabolism, respiration, and circulation are just a few of the body systems studied by physiologists. They also take into account skeletal, muscular, and cardiovascular activity. Work physiologists are concerned about the metabolic cost of work and try to minimize it by making the workspace as ergonomic as possible. A work physiology laboratory has all the necessary equipment to measure parameters such as heart rate, oxygen consumption and core temperature. This branch of physiology also studies the changes that result in the human body as a result of being exposed to one or several instances of stress at work.
The knowledge gained from the physiology of work is used to design workspaces suitable for a wide variety of people. For example, a designer can design a kitchen counter module that is suitable for a person over five feet tall. Shorter people may find the counter space too high to conveniently cook or chop vegetables. If the product is being designed for a custom order, this is not a problem. If the designer is creating this design for mass production or using it to set up multiple workspaces in a food-related factory, this will pose a huge problem as it will not be convenient to work with in the long run; housewives or workers can develop a number of shoulder or back related health issues if they regularly use this workspace.
The purpose of work physiology is to ensure that the worker performs his task safely as efficiently as possible in the work environment. Human beings come in all sizes and shapes, and this makes it challenging for labor physiologists to design environments that suit all types. Normally, the environment is not controlled – there can be loud noises, flying dust particles and heat, for example, that the body has to deal with. This branch of physiology monitors the amount of energy people expend on their tasks and ensures that they are not pushed beyond the physical capacity to work.
Some of the questions that engineers, researchers and scientists explore in the physiology of work include whether work can be performed safely by workers given the set of tools provided. They investigate methodology, circadian rhythms, and appropriate cycles of rest and work. Safety in varying working conditions, such as working with heavy machinery, temperature drops and varying oxygen levels, is also studied. Jobs can also be classified according to the level of difficulty, based on an understanding of the physiology of the job.
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