Ergonomics – science, very important for the modern world. Its efforts are directed to performing work or a product most qualitatively, having spent for it an energy minimum. Questions of comfort, the correct organization of labor and the habitat of the person are questions of ergonomics.
The ergonomics are a scientific discipline which is engaged in studying interaction of the person and various objects which surround it. Its purpose is identification of the principles of design and creation of elements of the environment so that they were most comfortable and adapted for use by the person. Not without reason ergonomics also call "a human factor". The term is formed from two Latin words: ergon (work) and nomos (law, knowledge). It is possible to tell that methods of ergonomics estimate various aspects of human activity on purpose as much as possible to harmonize them with physical capacities, abilities and needs of the person.
This scientific discipline covers all spheres of activity. It allows to consider all processes, including physical, cogitative, public and organizational as a complete system. Therefore the person who is engaged in ergonomics has to be well erudite in all these areas. As a rule, such experts work in the subject domain, for example, their services by production of furniture and home decoration are very important. At the same time they have to consider a set of the factors which do not have a direct bearing on subject domain in the work.
The ergonomics as science have several main ways of development, each of which deeply considers the concrete sphere of human interaction, reveals its features. The main directions of ergonomics are physical, cognitive and organizational today. The physical ergonomics are engaged in studying biomechanical, physiological and anatomic characteristics of the person and also how they affect physical behavior. This industry considers and studies working poses, different types of physical activity, safety of a workplace, the correct configuration of the objects necessary for professional activity and also types of work causing frustration of the motive device. Cognitive, or cogitative, the ergonomics are engaged in various intellectual processes, such as perception, training, reasoning, storing, production of motor reaction and others. Its important task is identification of mechanisms of interaction between cognitive processes. Intellectual loading, the decision-making course, professional types of cogitative tension – all this is studied by this type of ergonomics too. The organizational ergonomics are engaged in the fact that it orders and improve structure of sotsiotekhnichesky systems. The policy, the organization of human society and other similar forms of the organization belongs to them. Questions which sets as an object to solve organizational ergonomics is an optimization of working hours, resource management, establishing such processes as remote organization of labor, effective management of quality.