Undertake a review of literature relevant to Human Factors application of a workplace with which you are familiar

Literature Review (1,500 words – excluding References) Undertake a review of literature relevant to Human Factors application of a workplace with which you are familiar

You are expected to read as widely as you can on the topic and cite evidence from relevant human factors literature in scientific journals (for example from Ergonomics and Applied Ergonomics, journal of medical informatics (JMIR), BMJ quality and safety, etc). Your citing style should be Harvard. Your review should show evidence of critical analysis of the literature 

Characteristics of a good literature review report:

 • Clear structure and presentation layout

• Clear statement of focus

 • Comprehensive summary of key issues discussed in the literature related to Human Factors application of your chosen workplace context

• Critical analysis of the findings reported in the literature

• Accurate referencing of source material

 • Evidence of reading beyond the course content

• the aims and context (i.e. what research question you aim to address)

• Summarises (only includes what is necessary to inform reader)
• Synthesises (organises literature into a coherent argument)
• Analyses (points out the strengths and weaknesses of previous work) 
• Authorises (provides your voice)

The topic about Ergonomics in Dental Clinic.

You have to apply the onion model in this essay

• Title page
• Executive summary
• Table of contents
• Introduction (provide the onion model figure)
• Method(s) wider workspace (with figures ), physical environment ,work organization and job design.
• Findings / Results
• Conclusions and recommendations
• References
• Appendices

This section just explains the report structure :

Executive summary

– Maximum length 2 sides A4

– Contain important parts from each section

The executive summary should be written last of all, even though it is at the beginning of the report.  It should not exceed two sides of A4 paper and needs to contain the most important parts from each section of the report.

• Introduction section can contain:

– Background information e.g. consequences of poor workplace design

• Background into the risk factors for the development of MSDs that may be found in the workplace

– Ergonomic guidance for the workplace

• Guidance on best practice

– Aims of the work

– General information

• Where
• When
• Why
• Specific considerations (what was observed, what was not observed)

 The introduction section of the report should contain (using a physical ergonomics workplace assessment as an example):

The consequences of poor workplace design.

Include background information on anatomical, physiological considerations as to why/how problems can occur, i.e. musculoskeletal disorders,, WRULDs, stress etc. You must REFERENCE what you are saying.

Ergonomic guidance for the workplace – Background information relating to recommendations on posture, work place design, environment, i.e. sustained postures, repetition, reach distance. Again you must reference what you are saying.

Aims

Here you should outline the aims of work and what will be reported on.

General information about the work you have done

Including where and when the assessment took place along with the motivation behind the need for the assessment.

Specific considerations 

Here you should include any specific populations to be considered as experiencing greater problems. For example whether people whose height falls outside the 5^th to 95^th percentile range of the working population. Undertake a review of literature relevant to Human Factors application of a workplace with which you are familiar

Any specific limitations of the work realised at this stage

For example there were many staff on holiday, or the production line was only working at half the normal rate due to low demand.

Methods section:

• Outline the areas covered by the assessment e.g.

– Work organisation

– Work environment

– Protective clothing

– Tasks (postures, repetition)

– Process/systems

– Population /workforce

• Detail the methods you have used

The next section should include the methods used and the areas covered by the assessment

You should describe the methods you have used for each specific analysis. These may include interviews, observations, checklists expert analysis of work stations

Provide documentation examples/workings and you can put examples of working sheets e.g. OWAS or RULA, in the appendix to the report.

Diagrams of the workplace with measurements where necessary can clarify findings

A good photograph is usually very descriptive and a well recognised method for saving words. However don’t put too many in and make sure they are correctly titled.

Findings / Results section :

• Summarise findings from assessment

- Demographic information

- Choose how you categorise your findings

- Briefly summarise the method(s) used

- Include appropriate level of detail

- Use tables / graphs where appropriate.

Normally include demographic information first of all in this section e.g. age / gender etc of participants in the study.  Then follow with the results of your assessments 

Findings can be presented under heading of task, process or operator or as a whole section.  Alternatively you may want to categorise your findings based on the methods used

You may find referring to the ‘Onion’ model useful to make sure that you have considered all aspects from organisational through to the individual

You should briefly summarise the method used for each set of findings you are reporting

Use tables or graphs to help summarise information and again make sure they are all labelled correctly.

Findings – 2:

• Provide ‘evidence’ for your findings

   “Supplying the machine required the operator (3^rd percentile female, for stature) to adopt a shoulder position of full abduction and internal rotation.  This is considered to be an awkward and hazardous position of the shoulder joint and a risk factor for the development of WMSDs (Evanoff & Rempel 1999).  An evaluation of this working posture using RULA was undertaken and the details of this are given Appendix 3”

You must provide evidence for your findings.

An example is:

“Supplying the machine required the operator (3^rd percentile female, for stature) to adopt a shoulder position of full abduction and internal rotation. This is considered to be an awkward and hazardous position of the shoulder joint and a risk factor for the development of WMSDs (Evanoff & Rempel 1999). An evaluation of this working posture using RULA was undertaken and the details of this are given Appendix 3”.

You need to show that, in this example, there is evidence for the risk factors you are identifying.

By the way – full abduction refers to the arm being held away from the midline of the body at 90 degrees – shoulder height, and internal rotation refers to the shoulder being rotated so the palm is held downwards. Undertake a review of literature relevant to Human Factors application of a workplace with which you are familiar

Conclusions and recommendations:

• Based on your findings
• Discuss general issues
• Recommendations based on findings
• Reference your recommendations where possible
• Reflect on whether the report answers the research questions
• Remember often only this section will be read

You need to base your conclusions on the results/findings from your investigations.  Also you need to discuss any general issues to be included e.g. whether anything helped/hindered your work, what are the limitations of the report.

Your recommendations need to be based on your conclusions and also on published literature where appropriate.  Again, don’t forget to reference.

Reflect on the assessment and the report – does it answer the question(s) set out to be answered?

Be aware that often only the conclusions will be read.