Ergonomic justification through improved quantitative output measures

his dissertation examines the justification of ergonomics programs quantitatively. The goal of this dissertation is to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing the economics of ergonomic effectiveness. Daft's [DAFT92] open-systems model is justified, used, extended and quantified through a transformation model.;The transformation model provides a new way of looking at the way ergonomics programs fit into the overall structure of a business. This dissertation demonstrates that the framework of the transformation model can be used for the quantitative and economic assessment of ergonomics programs.;Input and output metrics of the transformation model are developed enabling statistical comparison of changes resulting from ergonomic programs. The use of the input and output metrics provides economic justification to ergonomics programs through a transformation analysis.;Four unique statistical comparison methods are developed and used to test whether changes in ergonomics related injuries are statistically significant. The use of the four methods demonstrates a significant change in the output metric not revealed by traditional methods.;Statistical methods are used to show that dollars spent on ergonomics correlate with a reduction in ergonomic related injuries. Evidence is presented that ergonomic programs within a midwestern manufacturing facility are economically justified. Further evidence indicates that CTD and back-related injuries are decreasing within the case study facilities.;The transformation model contributes to the field of organizational analysis and provides a new way of thinking, understanding, grouping and interpreting an existing organization. The usefulness of the model is demonstrated by estimating the cost per ergonomic injury reduction within a case study industry.;The statistical methodology used to examine time-dependent injury rates contributes to the field of decision analysis. The idea of minimizing the type I error of a hypothesis test by adjusting the point-in-time under evaluation enables comparison of other time-dependent data to find statistical significance. In addition, four methods of comparison are developed and used for the time-dependent data.;Evidence indicates that ergonomics is an effective method of reducing costs. The transformation analysis showed that an ergonomic investment of...