Virtual environments in machinery safety analysis and participatory ergonomics

Timo Määttä

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    25 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The objective of this work was to evaluate the impact of Virtual Environments (VEs) on safety analysis and participatory ergonomics.
    The developed method Safety Analysis with Virtual Environments (SAVE) is based on Participatory Ergonomics (PE), Task Analysis (TA), Work Safety Analysis (WSA), the standard EN 1050, and three‐dimensional (3‐D) functional modeling of the objects being analyzed.
    The materials of this work comprised machinery systems of six plants in a steel factory, which were implementing ongoing modernization projects. The results indicate that the SAVE method was applicable for safety analysis in the machinery layout design phase.
    According to the results, 58% of all identified hazards in a steel factory could be identified with VEs.
    A common understanding of designs, possibilities of evaluating and developing the system by the workers, and of providing training for operators and maintenance persons were the major contribution when using VEs in a safety analysis and applying a participative ergonomics approach
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)435-443
    JournalHuman Factors and Ergonomics In Manufacturing
    Volume17
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2007
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Keywords

    • machine safety
    • occupational safety
    • safety
    • safety engineering
    • safety of machinery
    • ergonomics
    • virtual environments

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