Design and ergonomics. methods for integrating ergonomics at hand tool design stage

Abstract

As a marked increase in the number of musculoskeletal disorders was noted in many industrialized countries and more specifically in companies that require the use of hand tools, the French National Research and Safety Institute (INRS) launched in 1999 a research project on the topic of integrating ergonomics into hand tool design, and more particularly to a design of a boning knife. After a brief recall of the difficulties of integrating ergonomics at the design stage, the present paper shows how 3 design methodological tools—Functional Analysis, Quality Function Deployment and TRIZ—have been applied to the design of a boning knife. Implementation of these tools enabled us to demonstrate the extent to which they are capable ofresponding to the difficulties ofintegrating ergonomics into product design. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.