University of Maryland Baltimore
University of Maryland, Baltimore

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Environmental Health
  and Safety
714 W. Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-706-7055
Fax 410-706-8212

 
Office Ergonomics

Our campus, like any other large organization, requires an ergonomics program. This program responds to requests for analysis and evaluation of the workplace design, accident investigation, preventive measures and training.

Ergonomics is the study of the design of requirements of work in relation to the physical and psychological capabilities and limitations of people: that is, ergonomics seeks to fit the job to the person rather than the person to the job. The aim of the discipline is to prevent the development of occupational disorders and to reduce the potential for fatigue, error, or unsafe acts through the evaluation and design of facilities, environments, jobs, tasks, tools, equipment, processes, and training methods to match the capabilities of specific workers. It is also known as human factors engineering.

Although there is no current OSHA standard for ergonomics, California has come out with their own ergonomics regulation adopted November 14, 1996 by the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. Also the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is working on a comprehensive ergonomics standard which is due for review any day now. With the number of work place injuries rising with ergonomic related causes, increased attention needs to be paid to developing methods to identify causes, adapt the process to the person, and then monitor. For a more indepth view please click on this link to see a general discussion of ergonomics.

Some Ergonomics Web sites are:

For more information on the ergonomics program, please contact EHS at 410.706.3490.

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