MetaTOC stay on top of your field, easily

Development and testing of a new computerized link analysis system

,

Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries

Published online on

Abstract

Link analysis (LA) is a popular ergonomic tool for studying and improving the layout of workspaces. It uses a data (event) recording method to input interactions of human behavior with their environment. The traditional “pen and paper'' method of LA is cumbersome, time consuming, and gives limited outputs. To address these limitations, the computerized link analysis (CLA) system was developed and tested in laboratory and real‐world environments. CLA offers an integrated task analysis tool, including traditional LA functions (layout, event recording) with more detail for operator activities, time‐motion functions, and multioperator data recording. As well as the conventional LA results (link diagrams and link tables), there are additional outputs for time‐event lists (start/end time, duration, chronology, additional notes, importance, and operator ID), and processed link diagrams with the link direction and frequency. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.