Investigating the relationship between ergonomic principles and stress in Shahroud Gas Company

Dissertation for receiving the master degree "MsC."

Treatment: Human Resource Management

Abstract

The objectives of this research include identifying the relationship between ergonomic principles and stress in Shahroud Gas Company, which includes 4 sub-goals as follows

1- Identifying the relationship between occupational biomechanics and stress 2- Identifying the relationship between engineering psychology and stress 3- Identifying the relationship between anthropometry and stress 4- Identifying the relationship between physiology and stress

The research method has been qualitative in terms of practical purpose and in terms of the type of data, which examines the research data using descriptive-survey analysis such as correlation analysis, considering that in this research we seek to collect information about the relationship between stress and ergonomic principles, therefore, the descriptive method is used to collect the research data.

The results of this research are as follows

1- There is no relationship between occupational biomechanics and stress in Shahrood Gas Company

2- There is no relationship between engineering psychology and stress in Shahrood Gas Company

3- There is no relationship between anthropometry and stress in Shahrood Gas Company

4- There is no relationship between physiology and stress in Shahrood Gas Company

Also The main hypothesis was rejected and the result is as follows.

No significant relationship was found between ergonomic principles and stress in Shahroud Gas Company.

Investigating the relationship between stress and ergonomics in Shahrood gas company

Introduction

In this chapter, the problem is first discussed and the necessity and importance of the research is explained. After that, the objectives of the research, which include the main objectives and sub-objectives, are mentioned, and the research questions, which include the main and sub-questions, and the research hypotheses, which include the main and sub-hypotheses, are stated.

Also, the primary analytical model of the research and definitions of concepts and variables are mentioned. At the end of the chapter, the process model of the research is drawn. It has solved most of people's problems in various work systems. In this regard, there are sciences and techniques that examine and analyze human health and efficiency from different angles, one of these sciences is ergonomics or human factors engineering.

Ergonomics operates in four branches: occupational biomechanics, engineering psychology, anthropometry, and work physiology. Some common problems in industries include improper design of the workplace, incompatibility of worker capabilities and job requirements, the existence of harmful work environments and jobs, improper design of the human system, machines and poor management programs. These problems lead to the creation of risks in the workplace, poor health of workers, injuries caused by working with equipment, disabilities, and instead reduce worker productivity and production quality and increase costs. To establish job needs, this science has a wide scope in the field of work design, tools, equipment, machines, workstations, systems in various industrial, educational, sports and other cases.  includes The goal of ergonomics is to consider the physical and mental needs and characteristics of humans in the design of work tools and technical and production systems in the design of the work environment, so that while achieving an increase in production efficiency, the health, hygiene, and comfort of humans are also given maximum attention. Ergonomics has goals such as improving productivity, health, safety and comfort of people and increasing the mutual efficiency of man-machine-environment systems.

On the other hand, the word stress is used in every language today as if stress is a universal and epidemic problem affecting man today and the main characteristic of his life. It is close to the physical or engineering concept of stress. The concept of stress has been discussed for almost a hundred years, but the first studies of stress were carried out in the field of medical knowledge.The concept of stress has been discussed and investigated for almost a hundred years, but the first studies of stress have been carried out in the field of medical knowledge. This concept has now become an interdisciplinary topic in human sciences, medicine and related fields. The stress caused by a job is the stress that a certain person undergoes on a certain job. There are several points hidden in this definition: the amount of experience the employee has (experienced and new), what is his strength and weakness compared to the existing conditions, and what kind of personality he shows in the work environment.

Since there is a relationship between ergonomics and stress, observing the principles of ergonomics can reduce the stress of employees. And since most of the gas companies have the necessary ergonomic devices, but the employees do not know how to use them correctly, the researcher is trying to investigate this issue in the Semnan Gas Company, Shahrood city, and address the issue of what is the relationship between stress and ergonomics in the Shahrood Gas Company.

Are the ergonomic devices and principles fully established in the Shahrood Gas Company, the level of awareness of the personnel about how To what extent is the correct use of tools and how much is the level of occupational stress of employees in relation to non-observance of ergonomic principles. 

1-2) Necessity and importance of research:

Emergence of social organizations and their ever-increasing expansion is a distinct feature of human civilization, so that according to various spatial and temporal factors and the specific characteristics and needs of different societies, all kinds of social organizations emerge and expand every day and their number increases. A nation is known by its citizens and an organization by its employees. The progress of an organization is determined by the health and well-being of employees. According to the statistics of the International Labor Organization, 250 million accidents occur in the world every year, in which 335,000 people lose their lives. (Family and driving accidents are not included in these statistics). Also, 160 million occupational diseases are seen in the world every year, which leads to the death of 1,100,000 people. Also, 4% of the gross national product in the world is wasted due to these accidents and diseases. Ignoring occupational health and safety causes significant economic losses that have serious effects on productivity. The incidence of occupational accidents leading to death in developing countries is 3 to 4 times that of developed countries. And these incidents are usually unintentional. About 14,000 occupational accidents occur in our country every year.

During the Second World War, the main emphasis of behavioral science scientists was on using tests to select the right people for each job and inventing better training solutions. The focus of attention was on personal adaptation to the work of the human factors profession in the post-war era. In 1949, the Ergonomics Research Association, which is now called the Ergonomics Association, was founded in England, and the first book on the human factor was called the experimental psychology of work. Human factors in engineering design was published in 1959. The International Institute of Ergonomics was established with the aim of establishing communication between several human factors and ergonomics associations in different countries of the world. The 20-year period between 1960 and 1980 witnessed the rapid growth and expansion of human factors. Considering that more than thousands of organizations and companies continue to exist in our society, and experience shows that this number will increase day by day, the issue of lack of necessary dynamism It has an importance beyond a purely theoretical issue and has very wide dimensions in economy, culture and industry. If this issue is not properly analyzed, a huge number of industries and service providers will have problems in their progress and will not get the necessary benefits for their system. On the other hand, in case of correct understanding of ergonomic factors affecting these experiences and acting on it, it can be expected that a significant percentage of organizations will step in the right direction and at the right speed. Next, what explains the necessity of conducting the present research is that the use of ergonomic considerations and the use of safety devices and equipment play a significant role in the productivity of people and reducing their occupational injuries in the organization.

The effective use of ergonomics in the design of the work system can establish a balance between worker characteristics and job needs.