Do we need an optimisation of ergonomic characteristics of products considering older employees?
In the field of technical products, there is a trend to insert as many features in only one single product as possible (regardless whether these are useful or not). This tendency, in combination with non-ergonomic design (e.g. minimisation of keys) increases the cognitive demands of the operators. Besides, the demographic developments lead to the fact that the percentage of older people in the society and also of older employees increases. Therefore, the question of this study was: Do we need an optimisation of ergonomic characteristics of products considering older employees? To examine this question, a survey was carried out and a sample of more than 500 people including all age groups was asked about problems during operating different products. For this, a standardised questionnaire was developed. On the basis of the results and the improved questionnaire, user tests with different products have been carried out with different user groups in part two of the study. The ability to use certain technical products is correlated with the age of the user, but the most explaining factors are the background of technical experience on one hand and the interest of the user in the respective products or product groups on the other hand. Particularly, problems appear if the products are complex and provide a lot of functions. These are products where the interaction is to be operated by using a keyboard and/or a display (e.g. touch screen). Satisfaction with a product occurs, if on the one hand the user-level (determined by the self-assessment of the user considering her/his technical abilities and experiences) and, on the other hand, the complexity-level of the product is more or less in agreement. The ability of operating products is not primarily a question of the users age. Whether a product is optimal for a user should be individually decided, by comparing her/his own technical user-level and the complexity-level of the product. According to this, a labelling concerning the complexity-level of the products could be useful.
André Klussmann Hansjürgen Gebhardt Inna Levchuck Martin Topel Heiner W. Müller-Arnecke
Institute of Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics e.V. (ASER), Germany Industrial Design, University of Wuppertal, Germany Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Germany
国际会议
17th World Congress on Ergonomics(第十七届国际人类工效学大会)
北京
英文
1-4
2009-08-09（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）