Analysis of needs for the implementation of ergonomic designs in companies and educational contexts with special reference to disability

Abstract

During the last years the INFAD Association in collaboration with the Association Union for Innovation G21 has been focusing part of its efforts on the enhancement of Ergonomics as a scientific discipline, and in a very specific way those applications that touch closely the field of disability offering strategies that generate elements of social inclusion and useful tools to build accessible environments that will contribute to the integral development of the person with disability.                                                                                          In this context we present the results of the work on identification of needs, attitudes and challenges of the different agents involved in the Ergonomics approach. The objectives of this analysis are to inform the current situation of the companies regarding the real level of implementation of Accessible and Universal Designs, as well as the identification of attitudes and challenges, always considering the main parties involved in this process.  The on-line questionnaire was the basic instrument used for the investigation. To this end, the main variables on which information was needed were generated, generating specific questions capable of eliciting reliable, valid and susceptible responses to be quantified.  The survey was distributed through the main social networks that operate with INFAD, prioritizing business, university and educational contexts.                                                A total of 100 people participated, whose profile corresponds to the main actors that interact in the process of implementing ergonomic designs in educational and business contexts: employers, employers, managers, business managers, workers and workers with some type of disability.