Business strive for high production at low cost. T Essay Example For Students

Business strive for high production at low cost. T Essay his would result in the highest profit for a company. To many businesses, this is only a mirage. This is because the low cost of the business usually results in a high cost for the employees. This high cost is lower quality workplace items, lower salaries, less benefits, etc. These costs create an upset workplace environment. Companies understand that the more efficient their workers are, the more productive their business will become. Although this will take lots of money at first, the result will be extreme success. There exist many different things in the workplace that add to stress and injuries. They range from lifting heavy boxes to typing too much on the keyboard. This paper will be focusing on the principals of ergonomics in the computer workstation. According to the Board of Certification for Professional Ergonomists (BCPE), the definition of ergonomics is a body of knowledge about human abilities, human limitations and human characteristics that are relevant to design. Ergonomic design is the application of this body of knowledge to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for safe, comfortable and effective human use.(BCPE, 1993) In the average computer workstation, employees are prone to over a dozen hazards. There exist two factors that can prevent this: forming good work habits and ergonomically designed computer workstations. We will discuss these preventions throughout the paper. First, a few terms may need defining. Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) takes place from the repeated physical movements of certain body parts which results in damage to tendons, nerves, muscles, and other soft body tissues. If these injuries are not taken care of immediately, permanent damage could be done. A few common results of RSIs that were not taken care of right away are injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tendentious, Tenosynovitis, DeQuervains Syndrome, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome etc. All of these are able to be prevented by the use of good working habits and ergonomic engineering.i Usually, ergonomically designing a computer workstation would cost about $1000. This expense could be eliminated by the formation of good work habits. This is essential for the safety of computer terminal employees. There exist a number of precautions that can be taken into consideration when dealing with a computer workstation. We shall discuss six of them. First, the whole body must be relaxed. The correct posture is shown in Figure 1. Notice that the arms and thighs are parallel to the floor and the feet are flat on the floor. Also notice that the wrists are not bent in any way. This is one of the most damaged parts of the body when speaking of (RSI). Figure 1 The wrists, when typing, should not be rested on anything when typing. This would cause someone to stretch their fingers to hit keys. They should also be straight: not bent up, down, or to the side. The correct position is portrayed in figure 2, incorrect in figure 3. Studies show that these steps are easier to perform while the keyboard is not tilted toward the user. When it is tilted, it is natural to rest your wrists on the table. This puts the keyboard at a lower level, creating a more natural position. Another practice that should be taken into consideration is how hard you press on the keys. The user is not supposed to hit the keys. This may cause damage to the tendons and nerves in the fingers. Instead, use a soft touch, not only will your fingers thank you for it, the keyboard will too! Keeping in mind not to stretch your fingers when typing, use two hands to perform double-key operations. For example, you need to capitalize the first letter in every sentence, therefore, you would hold down the shift and press the first letter. Figure 2 Figure 3 This is a double key operation. Instead of stretching two fingers on one hand to do this operation, use both hands. No matter what kind of a pace you are on when doing work, take breaks every ten minutes or so in addition to your hourly breaks. These breaks need only be a few moments at a time. If breaks are not taken at this pace, you may be subjecting yourself to injuries in the back, neck, wrists and fingers. Also, when using the mouse, do not grip it tightly. Most mice that are used in offices today are not designed with human factors in mind. Some mice, like the Microsoft mouse, are designed to fit the contour of your hand. Although this may seem nice, it does not mean that one will be able to use it for hours on end and not feel any discomfort in the hand. Other mice, that will be mentioned later, are designed for comfortable use for extended periods of time. Try to keep your arms and hands warm. Cold muscles are more apt to strain and injury than warm ones. Wearing a sweater or a long-sleeved shirt can be of great importance especially when working in air-conditioned offices. And finally, do not use the computer more than necessary. Your body can handle only so much strain on the neck, shoulders, wrists and fingers. Even with the greatest state-of-the-art ergonomically designed computer workstation, people put themselves at risk. Some people tend to use their break times at work playing video games. This is a good way to ease the mind of everyday pressure (to some extent). This is also a good example of using the computer more than necessary. If a person needs to use a computer for video games, take a break every ten minutes or so, as mentioned above.ii All of these strategies mentioned above are things that can be done to reduce injuries when using a computer for an extended period of time. They do not include any type of ergonomically designed hardware. If employees form these habits, there would be less need to purchase any ergonomic equipment for the office. But, making new habits is not the easiest thing to do for most people. Next, we will take a look at how a computer workstation should be set up. The following data was retrieved by an on-line quiz from the University of Virginia. The first question about computer workstations poses a question about the seat being too high. This would cause strain on the legs of the operator causing them to go to sleep. Basically, the blood flow to the leg and feet will be cut off. Rate of photosynthesis Essay Also, it walks you through a series of videos which portray ways to massage different parts of your hand, neck, and shoulders. With all of this hardware and software available for business and personal use, who would not be interested? Well many people think that it will not happen to them until it does. People should not wait that long. If you use a computer for more than four hours a day, you are prone to RSI. If your company does not have ergonomically engineered hardware, software or furniture, then do something about it. Its your health. 1 A copy of the survey is attached to the end of this paper. The correct answer is bolded. i URL address : http://webreference.com/rsi.html#whatis ii URL address : http://www.engr. unl.edu/ee/eeshop/rsi.html iii URL address : http://www.micronite. com/ Glossary CGI Common Gateway Interface. A standard protocol which allows HTML based forms to send field contents to a program on the Internet for processing. It also allows the receiving program to respond by sending an HTML response document. Email Electronic Mail. An electronic document similar to a piece of mail in that it is sent from one person to another using addresses, and contains information. Email commonly contains information such as: sender name and computer address, list of recipient names and computer addresses, message subject, date and time composed, and message content. Sometimes, an Email message can have attached computer files such as pictures, programs, and data files. Firewall A program or device which serves as an intelligent and secure router of network data packets. These mechanisms are configured to restrict the flow of packets in different directions (i.e. to and from the Internet) based on the system addresses (a.k. a. IP addresses) of the connected computers. FTP File Transfer Protocol. A program or feature popularly used over the Internet to transfer files between computers. Hacker A person who deliberately breaks into computer systems for entertainment, gain, or spite. The most sophisticated hackers spend all of their time breaking into computers. The risk that these people pose is that they often steal or damage software systems and information. Home Page A Web Page which is at the root of all Web Pages for a particular Web Site. A Home Page should portray the image that the company wants to project. Usually, these pages resemble marketing slicks, but with an interactive slant. This front page of a Web Site then provides hypertext links to the rest of the Web Sites content and possibly to Home Pages for other related Web Sites. HTML HyperText Markup Language. A standardized programming language used to create hypertext documents. Used to create all Web Pages on the Internet. Also allows definition of data forms which communicate with CGI compatible programs on the Internet. HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol. A communications protocol used by Internet Web Service software to send Web Pages to Web Browser software over the Internet. HyperText A type of text document which contains embedded hotspots which point to other sections of text or other documents. Any piece of text or graphic can be defined as a hotspot which points elsewhere. Internet (a. k.a. The Information Superhighway). A world-wide interconnection between thousands of computer networks on many different platforms, with over 10 million end users (and growing). The telecommunications backbone of the Internet is based on a network of U.S. government owned, national T3 lines. A growing number of Internet Providers are adding their own backbones. Internet Providers A community of competing businesses which provide on-ramps to the Internet. The largest of these companies connect directly into the Internet backbone, or provide their own national or international backbones. Examples of true Internet Providers: Netcom, UUNet, CERFNet, SprintNet, and Spry. Examples of partial Internet Providers partial Information Service Providers: CompuServe, Prodigy, and America On-Line. IRC Internet Relay Chat. A program or feature popularly used on the Internet by individuals to chat with others, by typing and watching text-based dialog. Many topic specific IRC channels have been created on the Internet by users. These channels form a sort of forum for conference room discussion. Newsgroups A collection of forums which gather Email from Internet users about a specific subject. The collected Email entries (known as news articles) can then be perused by all Internet users. Some are simply for recreational discussions, while others may allow people to form self-supporting user groups. PGP Pretty Good Privacy encryption. A protocol for using private and public key encryption to secure Email and other Internet transactions. TCP/IP Transfer Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. The network communication protocol used by all Internet computers. Similar in function to NetBIOS, SNA, or Novell Netwares IPX/SPX. Telnet A program or feature popularly used on the Internet by individuals to log into, and take control of other computers on the Internet. VRML Virtual Reality Markup Language A new emerging language becoming supported by the World Wide Web, for programming virtual reality content on the Internet. Web Browser A type of program used by individuals which reads HTML files on the Internet and presents them to the user in a friendly way and interactive way. Many such programs exist for many platforms. For UNIX several GUI browsers are popular. For those UNIX based terminals or DOS based PCs, Lynx provides a text interface to browse Web Pages. All Web Browsers allow the user to interactively jump from place to place by selecting hotspots (highlighted text or graphics). Some browsers allow the user to print page contents. Web Page or Web Document A single viewable unit of Web information. Often be comprised of an HTML file with several referenced graphics files. Generally, each Web Page has hypertext links to other Web Pages. Web Site A collection of Web Pages built for or by a single company or individual. Usually provides one theme of content. A Web Site is not to be confused with a single physical location where a Web Server exists. It is a Cyber-Location. Web Server A combination of computer hardware, telecomm. lines, and HTTP server software. World Wide Web, WWW, or The Web An intricate and vast web of information, tied together by hypertext links between multimedia documents residing on thousands of Internet computers around the globe.