Page 309 - CITS - Dress Making - TT - 2024

DRESS MAKING - CITS

LESSON 51 (4) : Ergonomics

Objectives

At the end of this lesson you shall be able to
• know about ergonomics and its aspects
• understand the importance of ergonomics in garment industry.

Definition of ergonomics

Ergonomics (Greek: Ergon = work + Nomos = custom, law) is an interdisciplinary scientific approach to problems
of adjusting work to humans, aiming to increase productivity, i.e. working efficiency, work safety, and humanization
of human labor.

The goal of ergonomics is to be studied and adapted to conditions of work, means of work, work process, and
the product as a result of human work from the psychological, physiological and anatomical aspects, instead of
adjusting a worker to the needs of a job.
Adaptation of work to humans has the following three aspects:
i Adjustment of machines and tools, which should be designed, constructed and shaped, thus respecting
human anatomical, physiological, psycho-physiological, and psychosocial characteristics, i.e. capabilities and
limitations.
ii Adjustment of working methods with respect to body positions and movements, allocation of work, i.e. work
operations and their arrangement, organization of resources for work (work objects and tools) and, work
organization (machine layout and synchronization of transport) so that the selected method of work with the
least stress and fatigue should give the maximum effect.
iii Adjustment of working environment, with regard to objective physical conditions, using their optimum
arrangement, to provide a sense of comfort while performing work that affects the work efficiency.
Ergonomic design of workplace in garment industry
If the work environments in the garment manufacturing industry are unhealthy and unsafe for workers, it might
result in several health problems. Therefore, it is important to analyze each workplace in the production of
garments and find a way on how to reduce the health problems of workers to a minimum with maximum increase
of productivity.

Ergonomics in the storage of textile materials
Warehouse is the space for the storage of textile materials where they can be taken in and saved from various
physical and atmospheric influences until they are delivered into production or a cutting room. The storage of
textile materials is a very responsible operation because improper storage, weather conditions, negligence or
improper manipulation all lead to ruining and destroying supplies. Textile materials are large investments for
garment manufacturers and bad storage might result in big losses.
Ergonomic workplaces in garment manufacture preparation
The task of preparing the production is to determine all the circumstances of production so the process can be
carried out normally, with no improvisation. Preparation of production includes constructional, technological and
operational preparation.
Technological preparation includes determining the technological process, the selection of machines, tools and
determining the material quality.
Operational preparations include developing plans for individual production facilities, determining the amount of
material, determining the time of manufacture, the production of necessary documents and so on.
Ergonomics in cutting room
In the technological process of clothes cutting, lifting, transferring and putting of textile bundles on the cutting
tables or on the machine for laying of cutting layers are considered to be the most difficult physical tasks.

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