Francesca Tosi

The growing complexity of instruments for health care and of medical devices for personal use has led to an intensification of the risks related to bad functioning and failure to function or misunderstanding how to use the interface, control and adjustment elements etc. Besides, the general tendency to reduce hospitalization to the minimum by transferring many of the patient’s care stages at home has led to the involvement of “non experts”. It follows that radical rethinking is required of the subjects involved, who will actually use the medical devices to care for and assist the patient. Ergonomics in Design and Design strategies to orientate the design of new products and to satisfy the needs of the plurality of user profiles involved in home care. This article presents part of the results of the research and experimentation performed by Florence University Laboratory of Ergonomics and Design.

Italian companies that base their value on excellence in craftsmanship and traditional skills consider human resources to be a valuable asset that must be protected. This is the case with Brunello Cucinelli, a well-known manufacturer operating in the high-end clothing sector, for which the research project described in this article was developed. The project focused on the ergonomic assessment and redesign of workstations in the prototyping department, with the aim of optimising the well-being and mental and physical health of operators by optimising workstations and preventing musculoskeletal disorders. The research was based on the scientific and methodological approach of Ergonomics for Design and its theoretical and operational tools, aimed at assessing the levels of usability and safety of the workstations, and the conditions of well-being or discomfort actually perceived by the operators, and the subsequent redesign of both the workstations and the organisation of the work activities related to their use. The results that emerged during the assessment phase highlighted critical issues relating to both the postural aspects and the usability aspects of the workstations analysed, as well as the overall quality of the interaction between the operator and the machine and between the operator and the accessories necessary to perform the task. The results of the analysis phase formed the starting point for the development of the design phase.

Ergonomics for design and sustainability play a key role in the development of innovative research strategies within the design framework. In turn, the close relation between the two research areas provides a more accurate solution with respect to the one human-centred. In the present work, with the aim of finding new pathways, either for theoretical and applied research, as well as for suggesting new training lines, the main research issues and current trends existing nowadays between Ergonomics, sustainability and design are presented.

The work is focused on the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for learning and is aimed at analysing, thanks to the contribution coming from the sector of Ergonomics in Design, what are the main features involved for the development of inclusive learning platforms. To date, among the ICT for learning, assistive technologies are usually used to allow anyone to work in a healthy, effective and with equal access to the technology, regardless of any impairment or disability. However, people can not be able always to perform predetermined tasks and activities, as many limitation to accessibility can be encountered. To overcome such drawbacks, computer systems that follow universal access rules should be created, thus allowing to all people to access information, regardless of their physical or cognitive impairments, as well as hardware and software tools used. In other words, it is strictly necessary to design for accessibility. Whithin this frame, the present work treats design and regulatory aspects that affect the Educational Technology research area, putting in evidence the relationship between Universal Design for Learning, collaborative learning and accessibility standards in the field of inclusive learning.

This paper discusses: Ergonomics in Design and design-oriented strategies for innovation, like Design Thinking and Human Centered Design, to orient the design of new products in order to satisfy the needs of the plurality of user profiles involved in home care. Social innovation and appropriate intervention strategies, to guarantee the adequacy of care and to increase the independence and participation of the frail in an active life, are some of the themes of social policy and research in the international context. The role of design is essential as a strategic instrument of innovation able to respond to the needs of man and, in this specific case, of persons with reduced independence. Design helps to orientate the planning of home care products by taking safety and ease of use into special consideration. This paper presents part of the research performed by the Florence University Laboratory of Ergonomics in Design (LED).