Fewer Steps
The American Heritage Dictionary defines ergonomics as "the applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort." The Wikipedia entry
defines three "domains" for ergonomics: physical, cognitive and organizational. And the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a "four-pronged"
approach to address musculoskeletal disorders: guidelines, enforcement, assistance and a national advisory committee.
As a lab tech for over 30 years, I define ergonomics as fewer steps.
Generally, the less energy and effort I expend doing one thing saves energy and effort I can use doing something else. Whether it be walking between a refrigerator and a bench, retrieving specimens, loading an analyzer, typing on a keyboard or writing something down, the more efficient process is intuitively the one with fewer steps. Less steps are easier to remember, easier to control and easier to measure.
Vendors may market modular lab furniture, streamlined safety needles or test kits as all having fewer steps. And what is a "maintenance free" analyzer but one with fewer steps? Less work is nearly always better, especially for an industry judged by its turnaround time. Quality is speed--face it--and we all strive to balance that perception with our efforts at accuracy and precision.
So why are so many laboratories cluttered? Why are instruments jammed together on countertops, thrust into walkways or placed twenty paces away from where reagents are stored? Why are work surfaces covered with paper, bins of pipettes and boxes of gloves? If we all see the value of and desperately want fewer steps, why do we seem to continuously create an environment filled with obstacles?
Last summer we reorganized our laboratory, ripping out and cutting down walls, moving plumbing and wiring, and eliminating entire workstations. Most of our counter space was reclaimed (check out the KVM switch for a cheap consolidation gadget). All in a few days, for a few hundred dollars. I wish I knew what the catalyst was. Maybe junk just isn't ergonomic.