Preliminary Analysis for Developing a Simulation of the Man-Machine System Associated with Foot-Controlled Machines in Highly Repetitive Tasks

Accident statistics, workplace observations, and a literature review indicate that foot controls are used to operate many different machines in the industrial workplace, and that workers sometimes inadvertently activate those foot controls. Analysis of these data indicates that several factors can interact to cause inadvertent foot control activation. Two primary factors appear to be (a) unmediated hand movements made in response to workpiece or machine problems and (b) out-of-sequence foot control movements produced by the effects of normal task rhythm acting upon the operator.