Loughborough University
Browse
1-s2.0-S2351978915007775-main.pdf (554.4 kB)

Anthropometric study to understand body size and shape for plus size people at work

Download (554.4 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2015-11-16, 12:21 authored by Annabel Masson, Sue HignettSue Hignett, Diane GyiDiane Gyi
Over 60% of the adult population in the United Kingdom is now overweight/obese or classed as ‘plus size’ and as the incidence of being plus size rises the demographics of the working population have also changed. A first stage scoping study [1] found that fit (equipment, tools, furniture, uniforms and personal protective equipment) and space (circulation and shared spaces within the working environment) were issues of concern to plus size people. This suggests that aspects of the current design of the workplace are not suitable and may exclude plus size people and a better understanding of the anthropometric requirements of plus size workers is needed. This paper will present the findings of an Anthropometric Measurement Validation Study to establish if self-measured anthropometric data (including novel measures such as knee splay) in a plus size working age population is feasible as the data collection method for a larger scale survey. A sample of 20 plus size working participants (10 male and 10 female) aged 18 years and over were recruited. Data were collected for weight and stature, and 12 anthropometric measurements recorded via self-measurement and researcher measurement for comparison. Self-measurement was completed by participants following instructions in a self-measurement guide. Data analysis using t-tests found that the two methods of measurement (self and researcher) agreed sufficiently closely for 11 of the 14 measurements. This resulted in the self-measurement method being utilised for data collection in an ongoing larger scale anthropometric study to understand the body size and shape for plus size people at work.

History

School

  • Design

Published in

Procedia Manufacturing

Volume

2015

Citation

MASSON, A.E., HIGNETT, S. and GYI, D.E., 2015. Anthropometric study to understand body size and shape for plus size people at work. Procedia Manufacturing, 3, pp. 5647-5654.

Publisher

© Elsevier B.V.

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2015

Notes

This paper was presented at The 6th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2015) and the Affiliated Conferences, AHFE 2015 and was then published by Elsevier as an Open Access article in the journal Procedia Manufacturing. It is distributed under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.

ISSN

2351-9789

Language

  • en

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC