Ergonomics and Design Analysis and Application in Work Footwear

摘要

In everyday life footwear is indispensable. Technological advances contribute every day to its development by introducing, new materials and different proposals for form which bring about new designs and machinery necessary for its production thus promoting the expansion of topics which improve welfare and safety for the user. Every day new and diverse forms of footwear are being developed in order to respond to specific needs: sports footwear, domestic footwear, work footwear, footwear for special occasions, fashion footwear, among others. In the work environment, footwear occupies an important position since, in Colombia as in other countries, it constitutes part of the basic protection gear and thus is included in legislation which states that it is the employers obligation to supply its staff with regulatory gear, footwear included, required in order to carry out a given activity in its occupational context. In Colombia the footwear sector is made up of companies which produce, import, commercialize, and export different types of footwear. In order for these companies to be competitive in a national and international market they must comply with established technical standards based on criteria oriented towards safety according to the different activities carried out in specific environments and conditions related to production, and the materials used in order for them to be viable for exportation. The technical regulations define, formal details, requirements for the materials, establish guidelines for dimensions and labeling, institute methods used to establish resistance, permeability, among others, but the foundation of these regulations, in many cases, are based on international criteria (investigations and tests carried out in other countries) which limit our ability to acknowledge the reality of our users and/or specific conditions of use which will guarantee, not only the users safety but also his/her welfare. This article's main goal is to describe the project which has been developed by the Ergonomics Research Group of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and the footwear company Kóndor. This Company manufactures footwear oriented towards industrial use for diverse sectors, both on a national and international level. The project's methodology is based on the application and theory of ergonomics and product design which value a systemic approach, in other words the characteristics and requirements identified in the User-Product-Context relationship. It is also presented as a formative process for students of the UPB's Faculty of Industrial design; investigation projects and thesis were carried out as well as internships in work footwear company. The project's results are intended to take part in a collective aimed towards the creation of a culture on Ergonomics and footwear design, in this way a company's sales support professionals include, among their arguments, conditions which may optimize conditions related to work footwear, thus when a client chooses the product required they are conscious of its properties and the benefits provided by its use.