Review of Recent Developments in Ergonomic Design and Digital Human Models

Background: Ergonomic interventions and ergonomic redesign are researched upon today in the realms of 'Prevention through Design' towards addressing the occupational health and safety concerns of the industry. Objective: To review the developments over the past ten years relating to computer aided ergonomic design, and propose an ergonomic intervention framework for manufacturing systems. Methods: The literature was selected from ergonomics journals indexed in the SCOPUS bibliographic database, by filtering abstracts and titles using select words such as 'ergonomic design', 'ergonomic evaluation', 'ergonomic intervention', 'virtual reality' and 'digital human model'. Results: The three areas reviewed include: Ergonomic interventions and Ergonomic Design, Ergonomic analysis and tools, and Digital human model (DHM) and Virtual Ergonomics. The DHM modeling approach is favored by designers towards ergonomic redesign of products and systems. DHM software is being integrated with ergonomic analysis tools and human features. A DHM based intervention framework is proposed that attempts to integrate human and machine performance metrics in making interventions, thereby making a sustainable human compatible system. Conclusions: The review has emphasized on design focus in intervention strategy. An ergonomic intervention framework has been proposed. Participative ergonomic approach with multiple stakeholders is suggested for implementation of interventions.