IET 33520 Final Report

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School

Purdue University *

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Course

33520

Subject

Management

Date

May 16, 2024

Type

pdf

Pages

13

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Ergonomic Analysis & Improvement Recommendations for Librarians By:Luke Walters, Danielle Bardeen, Hyeokjin Oh, Alejandro Ortiz
Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................. 3 Background of the Task .......................................................................................... 4 Task Analysis ........................................................................................................ 5-6 Recommendations .................................................................................................... 7 Recommendation 1 ............................................................................................... 7 Recommendation 2 ............................................................................................... 8 Recommendation 3 ............................................................................................... 9 Cost-Benefit Analysis ............................................................................................. 10 Comparative Analysis ............................................................................................ 11 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 12 References: ............................................................................................................. 13 2
Executive Summary For this project, the team has decided to focus on the job of a librarian. The team has chosen this job because of their poor ergonomic experiences performing similar jobs and tasks in their own life and a desire to provide solutions to these problems. Throughout this report, the team will cover librarians and the ergonomics of being a librarian, the issues seen within the job, and develop recommendations to improve the task using the DAMES approach. Upon completion of the team’s analysis, they will focus on three main recommendations of ergonomic improvements for librarians. These recommendations will be complete with a cost-benefit analysis showing why the recommendations were made and why they are worth it to the company to implement. To further research and analyze ergonomics, we have chosen to investigate the role of a librarian. Librarians are primarily tasked with organizing and cataloging library materials, maintaining library collections, and managing library resources. Their biggest ergonomic risk is within their duty of organizing and maintaining library collections. Ergonomic issues directly related to their role include heavy lifting, awkward postures, repetitive motions, and poor shelving heights.  This project aims to analyze specific ergonomic risks faced by librarians, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. Our goal is to map the frequency and severity of these risks and propose actionable recommendations. These recommendations will focus on mitigating identified ergonomic risks, improving workplace well-being, and enhancing operational efficiency for librarians. 3
Background of the Task Librarians play a key role in the overall organization and accessibility for individuals who may utilize the library resources. As an overview, their main responsibilities are associated with Collection Management and Information Technology Management. One of their key job areas is in Collection Assessment and Development in which they utilize cataloging and classification to organize materials using standardized classification systems. Within these responsibilities, librarians partake in multiple physical activities in order to perform their job. Lifting and moving materials are used to shelve books and transport book carts throughout the library to specific destinations. Librarians spend a significant amount of time on their feet performing multiple tasks, such as lifting and moving materials, prolonged standing, reaching and bending to retrieve materials and also cleaning and repairing when necessary, and also engaging in computer tasks. In addition to physical tasks, they also have kinetic tasks that put them at potential A library has shelves for cataloging, seats for occupants to use, and desks for librarians to perform their administrative duties. 4
Tas k Analysis First, the primary role of a librarian is cataloging, which includes shelving books in their appropriate locations organized by genre and then placed on shelves according to the author’s last name. Shelving books can be described as retrieving books from carts, carrying books to designated shelf areas which includes bending, reaching and stretching motions of the body. However, potential hazards include muscle strain from lifting heavy books and reaching overhead. Also, inadequate spacing between the shelves increases the risk of trips from cluttering or small areas of movement. Another ergonomic risk is static loading. Static load is defined as staying in one position (standing, sitting, kneeling, etc.) for a prolonged period of time. Static loading occurs during the task of shelf handling when the employee has to stand on a ladder/stool for a prolonged amount of time and adopt awkward positions when placing materials on the shelf. Their shoulders and back may be twisting opposite ways as they continuously rotate about the transverse plane and reach up across the sagittal plane. During a reaching movement, wrists are unsupported, which can be seen in the RULA analysis below as one of the major issues of ergonomics. Figure 1- Conducted RULA Analysis 5
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