Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting

A postal opinion survey examined several issues related to use of home modifications, bathrooms and bathroom fixtures by 783 adults with disabilities. Key research issues included the following questions:

1.

What are the types of approaches and transfers to bathtubs and toilets made by non-ambulatory people, and how do they differ from the approaches and transfers of those who are semi-ambulatory?

Of those responding to the questionnaire, 60% were older than 50 years of age; so the opinions or experiences expressed may be more reflective of an older population. Of the non-ambulatory respondents, 83% used a manual chair and 17% used an electric wheelchair. Among semi-ambulatory respondents, 28% used a cane or crutches for assistance. Most respondents lived with family, and modifications were made in 69% of these homes to enhance independence in daily activities. Nearly half of the respondents were unsatisfied with their bathroom fixtures. Although there was a relatively wide range of responses depending upon the type of disability impairment of respondents, strong preferences (or dislikes) were noted for fixture designs.

When people have trouble finding their way through office settings, there are costs in terms of poor communication, lost efficiency, time, and stress (Brill, et. al., 1984; O'Neill, 1991; Weisman, 1981; Zimring, 1981). To cope with wayfinding problems, facilities managers often have to resort to partial solutions, like complex signage, color coding schemes, and other methods to guide people. AutoNet is an experimental computer-aided design and planning tool that predicts the paths people will take through a building based on the layout of the space and their level of experience. AutoNet represents environmental information by using an artificial ‘neural network’ simulation. The mechanisms of this simulation are based on the physiology of the brain. Knowledge about the layout of the environment is represented through a network of interconnected processing elements, modeled on the behavior of groups of neurons in the brain. Thus it can create its own rules for predicting worker behavior rather than using predetermined sets of rules that a typical expert system would rely on. This system has great flexibility since there are no rules to rewrite for each setting it evaluates. The predictive validity of this simulation was empirically validated (O'Neill, 1991). This software runs within a popular and commonly available CAD software package in an MS-DOS environment. AutoNet is viewed as a “macro-ergonomic” tool to enhance the office work environment (Hedge & Ellis, 1990).

In two studies spanning approximately twenty years, two investigators employed a nearly identical user assessment instrument (questionnaire) in the evaluation of college lecture halls. The results of both of these studies, although performed approximately twenty years apart, indicate the firm and continuing existence of a strong and statistically significant student preference for lecture halls designed and constructed in accordance with ergonomic guidelines, in addition to standard architectural practices and prevailing building codes, over those designed and constructed in accordance with the architectural standards and prevailing building codes but without observance of ergonomic guidelines. In both studies, an analysis of individual item responses against the physical characteristics of each lecture hall revealed the specific environmental and display system features preferred by the students. Consequently, it is recommended that now and in the future, facility planners and architects make every effort to utilize existing ergonomic guidelines and standards in their educational facility design, construction and remodeling efforts.

In recent years, it has been expected more than before that the indoor environment of control rooms in nuclear power plants will be made more comfortable without inhibiting function. In order to derive the environmental problems of control rooms in nuclear power plants that should be discussed, the design standards and operators' complaints were investigated. As a result, some problems such as unsuitable lighting, noisy acostics and operators' dissatisfaction with thier enclosed circumstances were derived. In order to improve the indoor environments and to establish comprehensive environmental evaluation methodology, experiments on environmental factors such as indoor view, noise level, glare on VDU and shift time-zone that were thought to be related to the above problems were conducted. 6 subjects' psychological, physiological and behavioral responses to thier environments were measured in the environmentally changeable laboratory, which was mocked up like a control room. Subjects were imposed to do 2 kinds of VDU tasks. From Principal Component Analysis of the experimental results, some psychological, physiological and behavioral indices for evaluating indoor environments were obtained. Furthermore, the relationship between these indices and environmental factors was obtained by Multiple Regression Analysis. The multiple correlation values shows that the environmental factors were most reflected in the psychological evaluation indices. However, other indices are also important because psychological comfort does not always mean good physiological conditions or good task performance. The space functions of the room as a control room and operator's physicological condition should be considered for comprehensive environmental evaluation. The result shows that the introduction of darkgreen louver, potted plants/artificial window and noise reduction are desirable in control rooms.