Month: December 2018

Evaluation of Human Performance in Daily Activities Under Controlled Environment Based on Heart Rate Measurement: A Review

Evaluation of Human Performance in Daily Activities Under Controlled Environment Based on Heart Rate Measurement: A Review
N .K. Khamis1, *, S.Z Ibrahim11

1 Centre for Materials Engineering and Smart Manufacturing (MERCU), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.

Page 17 – 29   |   Vol. 3 No. 2 (2018)   |    Available online on 1 Dec 2018

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Abstract

Performance and efficiency impairment is a critical issue particularly in the workplace. It may lead to undesirable consequences such as injury, accident and profit loss if this issue was not controlled properly in the organisation. Therefore, the three main objectives of this review are: to assess the current status of human performance research by using heart rate (HR) as physiological measures; to find relationship between HR measures and individual performance; and to identify pertinent issues related to human fatigue. A systematic literature search was performed using the following key words and synonyms: Heart rate, human, individual, occupational, worker, performance, and fatigue. Twenty two relevant laboratory studies were discussed in this review paper, chosen from electronic databases. Numerous human performance detection methods and techniques were found in the past studies. Based on this review, HR can assist researchers to determine performance according to a task demand, condition and its complexity. Overall, this review equips interested research groups, occupational health physicians, and employers with an overview of the HR measures to determine human performance in daily work practices. Future studies are needed to deal with performance and efficiency issues in daily work practices should be based on these concerns and factors found in this review.

Keywords

Heart rate, Human, Worker, Performance, Fatigue, Laboratory

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) under grant GUP-2017-094. We would like to express our gratitude to the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FKAB), UKM, Malaysia for the support in this study.

© 2022 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFEM). All rights reserved.

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Human Factors & Ergonomics Journal (HFEJ), eISSN: 2590-3705  is the official Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Malaysia.  The journal is published on a biannual basis. HFEJ aims to address current research in the field of Ergonomics in addition to the broad coverage of cognitive ergonomics, user experience, physical ergonomics and others such as transportation, industrial design and industrial engineering. HFEJ is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), as such we only accept original work.

Sick Building Syndrome and its Associated Factors Among Office Workers in Federal House Kota Kinabalu

Sick Building Syndrome and its Associated Factors Among Office Workers in Federal House Kota Kinabalu
Valentine@Japulee GANTUL1, Jac Fang LIM1, Mohd Yusof SIDEK2, Wan Mohammad ZAHIRUDDIN2, Noraziah BAKRI1, Leonard MASUDAL1, Andrew GITAM1, Simson GUNSALAM1

1 Department of Health, Sabah, Malaysia.

2 Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences University of Science, Malaysi

Page 1 – 11   |   Vol. 3 No. 2 (2018)   |    Available online on 1 Dec 2018

Full text

Abstract

Sick building syndrome is a term that has been described as a complex of non-specific symptoms caused by working in buildings with an adverse indoor environment. This study sought to determine the prevalence and factors associated with sick building syndrome among office workers in Federal House, Kota Kinabalu. A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to July 2010 among 361 office workers in Federal House, Kota Kinabalu. All workers who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study. Respondents were interviewed using questionnaire which was translated to Bahasa Malaysia and validated to identity the socio-demography, work environment and symptoms of sick building syndrome. Indoor air assessment was done to determine the selected chemical and physical parameters. Data were entered and analysed by SPSS 12.0 using descriptive, univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses. The majority of the respondents were female (61.2%) and the staff involved were professional and management group (3.0%), support group I (82.3%) and support group II (14.7%). The mean age was 35.6 (9.22) years and median duration of working at the current workplace was 36 (76.0) months. The prevalence of sick building syndrome was 47.4% (95% CI: 42.2%, 52.5%). Logistic regression analysis showed that significant risk factors associated with sick building syndrome were female (OR: 2.12; 95% CI: 1.34, 3.35; p=0.001), history of allergic (OR: 2.51; 95% CI: 1.30, 4.19; p=0.001) and draught condition in work environment (OR: 2.71; 95% CI: 1.70, 4.32; p=0.001). Physical parameters were above the standard level but concentration of the chemical parameters was within the normal value. The prevalence of sick building syndrome was considered high. Those who had history of allergic, female and exposed to draught condition in work environment were at higher risk of sick building syndrome. Medical follow up should be carried out for the affected worker with regular indoor air monitoring in the workplace.

Keywords

Sick building syndrome, office workers, indoor air assessment, prevalence

Acknowledgement

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© 2022 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFEM). All rights reserved.

Recommended articles

Publish with us

Human Factors & Ergonomics Journal (HFEJ), eISSN: 2590-3705  is the official Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Malaysia.  The journal is published on a biannual basis. HFEJ aims to address current research in the field of Ergonomics in addition to the broad coverage of cognitive ergonomics, user experience, physical ergonomics and others such as transportation, industrial design and industrial engineering. HFEJ is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), as such we only accept original work.