Psychology 552
Ergonomics and Biomechanics Syllabus

Psychology Department

Last Updated February 1, 2006

University of Idaho

Ergonomics and Biomechanics
Psychology 552

Instructor: Curt Braun, Ph.D.
Office: Student Health 219
Phone: (208) 885-2540
Internet: cbraun@uidaho.edu

Required Textbooks:

Chaffin, D. B., Andersson, G. B. J., Martin, B. J. (1999). Occupational biomechanics. 3rd ed. John Wiley & Sons.

National Research Council (2001). Musculoskeletal disorders and the workplace: Low back and upper extremities. National Academy of Sciences: Washington, D.C. View

Bernard B. P, & Fine L. J. (Eds.). (1997). Musculoskeletal disorders and workplace factors: A critical review of epidemiological evidence for work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, upper extremity, and low back. US Department of Health and Human Services.  View

Cohen, A. L., Gjessing, C. C., Fine, L. J., Bernard, B. P., & McGlothlin, J. D. (1997). Elements of ergonomics programs: A primer based on workplace evaluations of musculoskeletal disorders. US Department of Health and Human Services: NIOSH  View

Krawczyk, S. (1996). Psychophysical methodology and the evaluation of manual materials handling and upper extremity intensive work. In A. Bhattacharya & J. E. McGolthlin (Eds.), Occupational ergonomics: Theory and applications. New York: Marcel Deckker, Inc. View

Waters, Putz-Anderson, Garg, A., Fine, L. J. (1993) Revised NIOSH equation for the design and evaluation of manual lifting tasks.  Ergonomics, 36(7), 749-776.  View

Waters, T. R., Putz-Anderson, V., & Garg, A. (1994). Applications manual for the revised NIOSH lifting equation. (NIOSH Publication No. 94-110). Washington DC: . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  View

Course Description:
This course provides you with an overview of ergonomics applied to the workplace. Students will have the opportunity to apply both techniques in laboratory and worksite locations. Students are encouraged to view this course as an introduction to this material.

Only a portion of the material is available in the textbook. Given the design of the class, no one textbook was appropriate. A large portion of the material will be given during class lectures. Attendance is strongly encouraged!

Course Requirements:
There will no exams. Instead, students will be required to respond to 5 assignments based upon the material covered in class and assigned readings. Additionally, there will be a muscle anatomy and physiology quiz which well be equally weighted to the 5 assignments. Lastly, students will be required to complete a course project. The project will involve an analysis of multiple job-site tasks using the methods presented in class. Based upon these evaluations, task modifications will be recommended and evaluated. Further instructions will be provided during future classes.

Course Grading:
Your assignments and project will be straight graded using the standard percentage grading convention (i.e., 70-80% = C; 80-90% = B; 90-100% = A). The five assignments plus the muscle quiz will count for 50% of the final grade. The project will account for the other 50% of the final grade

NOTE:
Changes in the syllabus and/or schedule may be made at any time during the term by announcement of the instructor.

Course Outline

These dates reflect when the class was taped

Week	Lecture No.	Date	Description	Readings
1	1	1/13	Overview Approaches Origins & History	Chaffin, Chapter 1 Chaffin, Chapter 2 NRC, Chapter 1 NRC, Chapter 2
2	2	1/18 1/20	No Class Musculoskeletal system	Chaffin, Chapter 1 Chaffin, Chapter 2 NRC, Chapter 1 NRC, Chapter 2
3	3, 4	1/25 1/28	Musculoskeletal system (cont) Upper limb anatomy	NRC, Chapter 5
4	5, 6	2/1 2/3	Anthropometry Work-Capacity Measurement	Chaffin, Chapter 3 Chaffin, Chapter 4
5	7, 8	2/8 2/10	Measurement methods	Chaffin, Chapter 5
6	9, 10	2/15 2/17	Biomechanical models	Chaffin, Chapter 6 NRC, Chapter 6
7	11, 12	2/22 2/24	Biomechanical models (cont)	Chaffin, Chapter 6 NRC, Chapter 6
8	13, 14	3/1 3/3	Psychophysical methods Physiological methods	Krawczyk, S. (1996). Waters et al. 1993
9	15, 16	3/8 3/10	Physiological methods	Waters et al. 1993
10		3/15 3/17	No Class, Spring Break No Class, Spring Break
11	17, 18	3/22 3/24	Classifying Work Manual material handling Preliminary Exercise	Chaffin, Chapter 8 Chaffin, Chapter 9 Waters et al. 1994
12	19, 20	3/29 3/31	Field Trip
13	21, 22	4/5 4/7	Seated work & Workplace design	Chaffin, Chapter 9 Chaffin, Chapter 10
14	23, 24	4/12 4/14	MSD conditions and prevalence	Bernard & Fine Chapters 1-7
15	25, 26	4/19 4/21	MSD surveillance	Hagberg et. (1995) Chapter 5
16	27, 28	4/26 4/28	MSD Interventions	Cohen et al. (1997) Chapter 5 NRC, Chapter 8
17	29, 30	5/3 5/5	MSD Interventions	Cohen et al. (1997) Chapter 5 NRC, Chapter 8

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