Holiday Ergonomics – Experience of Practitioners
Holiday ergonomics – experiences of practitioners on vacation
Martin Maguire, Colette Nicolle, Suzanne Lockyer
Magdelan Galley, Victoria Haines, Edward Elton, Zaheer Osman
Ergonomics and Safety Research Institute (ESRI)
Loughborough University, Holywell Building
Holywell Way, Loughborough, Leics, LE11 3UZ, UK.
A group of practitioners collaborated reporting ergonomic issues experienced during their holidays. While poor ergonomics made a big impression on the vacationers, good well-designed aspects of their holidays demonstrate the benefits that ergonomics can bring.
Introduction
When on holiday, ergonomists sometimes find it difficult to “switch off”. Since ergonomics is concerned with designing tools, products, equipment and systems to be fit for human use, this can apply as much to being on vacation is being at home or at work. What is distinctive about ergonomics applied to vacations? Firstly hopes and expectations when going on holiday are usually high so encountering difficulties cause greater disappointment. Also people try to relax on holiday so are more easily caught out by poorly designed equipment. Furthermore, holidaymakers are often novice users of equipment, unaware that a deckchair is hazardous or that a beach umbrella will easily turn inside out. The paper describes recent experiences, both positive and negative, for a group of ergonomics practitioners at Loughborough University.
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