Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Today’s Quote
Friday, May 7, 2010
On the hooks…
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Today’s Quote
“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”
– Alan Alda (B. 1936)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
चलते रहो ....चलते रहो..डगर साफ कर कर.. के आगे बढो ...आगे बढो...
Excelsior
Excelsior
The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!
Excelsior is a brief poem written and published in. 1841by Henry wads worth Longfellow The famous Sam Loyd chess problem, Excelsior, was named after this poem. The poem describes a young man passing through a town bearing the banner "Excelsior" (translated from Latin as "ever higher", also loosely but more widely as "onward and upward"), ignoring all warnings, climbing higher until inevitably, "lifeless, but beautiful" he is found by the "faithful hound" half-buried in the snow, "still clasping in his hands of ice that banner with the strange device, Excelsior!"
Excelsior
The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!
Excelsior is a brief poem written and published in. 1841by Henry wads worth Longfellow The famous Sam Loyd chess problem, Excelsior, was named after this poem. The poem describes a young man passing through a town bearing the banner "Excelsior" (translated from Latin as "ever higher", also loosely but more widely as "onward and upward"), ignoring all warnings, climbing higher until inevitably, "lifeless, but beautiful" he is found by the "faithful hound" half-buried in the snow, "still clasping in his hands of ice that banner with the strange device, Excelsior!"
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
हरियाणा में गेहूं की कटाई खेतिहर महिलाएं पुरानी द्रातीयों से करती हैं , यहाँ उन्हें उन्नत द्रतियों का उपयोग सिखाया गया.
HARVESTING WHEAT MANUALLY BY HARYANA FARMWOMEN
In India wheat harvesting is mainly a manual operation carried by farmwomen. Although the use of different types of harvesters are a practice for large land holders, a large majority of small and marginal farmers are still dependent on sickles due to limitations of power supply, availability of human labour and the tools locally available, simple in design and operation of sickles. Earlier studies conducted by the research team of All India Co-Ordinated Research Project of ICAR have featured the design evaluation for fodder harvesting. The relative performance evaluation of sickles for wheat crop harvesting was felt as important in order to reduce the drudgery of heavy harvesting activity. Hence the study was undertaken to fulfill the following objectives.
To study the physical characteristics of the women involved in wheat harvesting.
To assess the physiological and biomechanical workload of the women using existing and improved sickles.
METHOD USED
The study was carried out in the month of April-May on 20 women subjects for half an hou.r Wheat harvesting activity was carried on by the selected subjects with one conventional (So) and three improved sickles viz., falcon plastic handle (S1), falcon wooden handle (S2) and naveen sickle (S3). To maintain uniformity in the experimental data, subject having normal basic physiological parameters. The experiment was started at 8.00 a.m. in wheat fields. Harvesting of wheat was done for 30 minutes with each sickle. Output parameters and other ergonomic parameters were measured.
Assessment of Ergonomic stress
Physiological Stress. Heart rate is an indicator of cardiac stress due to physical workload. Heart rate was recorded after every minute for five minutes during experiment using polar heart rate monitor. From the average value of heart rate, energy expenditure, total cardiac cost of work (TCCW) and physiological cost of work (PCW) for wheat harvesting was calculated with the help of formulae given by Varghese et al. (1995) as below:
Energy expenditure (KJ/min.) =0.159xAHR – 8.72
TCCW = Cardiac Cost of Work (CCW) + Cardiac Cost of Recovery (CCR)
CCW = Average Heart rate (AHR) x Duration of Activity
AHR = Average Working Heart Rate – Average Resting Heart Rate
CCR = (Average recovery heart rate–Average resting heart rate) x Duration of Activity
PCW = TCCW/Total Time of Activity
Biomechanical Stress. Biomechanical stress includes grip fatigue and postural stress.
Grip fatigue: Grip dynamometer was used to measure grip strength at rest (Sr) and after the work (Sw) separately for the right and left hand. Grip fatigue was calculated as under:
Grip fatigue (%) = Sr – Sw/Sr x 100
Musculo-skeletal Problems. A human body map was used to identify incidences of musculo-skeletal problems in different parts of the body. Five-point scale ranging from very severe pain (5) to very mild pain (1) was used to quantify the stress on muscles used in work and then mean scores were calculated.
FINDINGS
Physical characteristics
The results of the study have been discussed under the following subheads: Physical characteristics, activity profile, output parameters, physiological stress, and biomechanical stress.
I.Physical characteristics
Physical characteristics of the women cutting wheat in Table 1 depict that mean age of
woman was 34.6 years. Aerobic capacity (VO2 max) was found to be 31.7 ml/kg x min
exhibiting that the subjects were having good health. Fat percentage worked out was 25.2%. Hence lean body mass (LBM) was 39.9 kg. Body mass index (BMI) was observed as 22.6.
Body type
One half of the women (50%) were having mesomorph body type, which is considered as the perfect body type (Fig.1). This was followed by 30 percent under endomorph
(Obese) body type and rest 20 percent farm women were having ectomorph (below normal) body type.
Physical Fitness Index (PFI)
Fig.2 illustrates that one half of the selected subjects (50%) were having high average physical fitness followed by good (40%) and very good (10%). After conducting physical fitness test, their perceived exertion was observed. Figure 2 illustrates that forty percent of the subject perceived PF test as moderately heavy.
Activity profile
Table 2 shows the comparative data for activity profile of women harvesting wheat using different sickles.
Tool used: Four different sickles i.e. one local (S0) and three improved i.e. falcon plastic handle (S1), falcon wooden handle (S2) and naveen sickle (S3) were tested for harvesting wheat. S0 was the heaviest weighing about 234 gm followed by S2 (217 gm) and S3 (198 gm.).was lightest weighing about 186 gm.
Distance traveled: A woman walked maximum of 31.3 m while harvesting wheat with S2 sickle followed by 30m with S1 sickle. Distance traveled with S3 sickle and S0 sickle was 29.6 m and 29.0 m respectively. Results indicate that good sickle resulted in more distance traveled ultimately more output than the other sickles.
II Output parameters
Output of operation: Output of operation includes amount of wheat harvested during specified period by different sickles. Results in Table 3 reveal that S2 sickle resulted in maximum of output i.e. 64.9 kg. followed by S1 sickle (64.0 kg.) and S3 sickle(62.9 kg) . S0 sickle shows the lowest output (61.9 kg).
Area covered: Area covered was maximum for S2 sickle i.e. 40.3 m2 followed by 40m2 for S1 sickle and S3 sickle (39.8 m2). All the sickles covered more area than the S0 sickle that resulted in coverage of 39.5 m2.
Production per square meter: Production per square meter was maximum for S2 sickle (1.61 kg.) followed by S1 sickle (1.6 kg.) and S3 sickle (1.58 kg.) Production per square meter was more in all the sickles than the S0 sickle that resulted in 1.56 kg production per square meter.
Production per minute: Production per minute was calculated by dividing the total output by 30 min. Production per minute was maximum for S2 sickle (2.16 kg.) followed by S1 sickle (2.1 kg.). Production per minute was same for S0 sickle and S3 sickle (2.0 kg.).
III Physiological stress
Heart rate: Heart rate measurement during any activity is an indicator of cardiac stress due to physical workload. Table 3 reveals that during wheat harvesting mean working heart rate was same for S1 sickle and S2 sickle i.e. 107.5 beats/ min which was 2.7 percent less than the average working heart rate for S0 sickle i.e. 110.8 beats/min. Average working heart rate for S3 sickle was 1.0% less than the S0 sickle. Similar trend was observed in case of peak heart rate. Average peak heart rate observed for S0 sickle was about 125.5 beats/min. whereas for S1 and S2 sickles were about 124.1 beats/min. and 123.0 beats/min respectively. Average peak heart rate was about 1.35 percent less for S2 sickle followed by 1.11 percent for S1sickle. S3 sickle exhibited 0.3 percent decrease in average peak heart than the So. Energy expenditure: Energy expenditure during wheat harvesting with S0 sickle was 9.6 kj/min whereas for other sickles it ranged from 8.37 kj/min to 9.5 kj/min. Energy expenditure was same for S1sickle and S2 sickle i.e. 8.37 kj/min. Minimum energy expenditures were reported for S2 sickle (10.9) followed by S1 sickle (11.0 kj/min. S2 sickle resulted maximum reduction in energy expenditure (4.3%) than S0 sickle followed by S1 sickle (3.5%).
Total cardiac cost of work (TCCW): Average TCCW for S0 sickle was 1283.5 beats/min. Total cardiac cost of work for all the sickles ranged from 1020 beats/min to1283 beats/min. Reduction in TCCW with all sickles over S0 sickle was maximum with S2 sickle (20.5%) followed by S1 sickle (20.4%). S3 sickle resulted 0.03 percent decrease in TCCW in comparison to S0 sickle.
Physiological cost of work (PCW): Average (PCW) for local sickle was 42.8 beats/min. PCW was minimum for S2 sickle (34.0 beats/min.). PCW for S1 sickle was about 34.1 beats/min. PCW for S3 sickle was same as for the S0 sickle.
Rating of perceived exertion: Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was heavy for S0 sickle whereas RPE was light for both the S1 and S2 sickles.
IV Bio-mechanical stress
Grip fatigue
The percentage change in grip strength from the normal value was measured. Data reveals that grip strength at rest was 27 Kg for right hand and 14 Kg for left hand. Minimum decrease in grip fatigue was recorded with S2 sickle (3.8% for right and 6.6% for left). The result indicates that S2 sickle resulted less grip fatigue than the other sickles.
Musculo-skeletal problems
Musculo skeletal problems were determined on human body map at five point scale ranging from mild pain(1) to very severe(5). Farm woman reported severe pain in wrist (m.s.=4.8) followed by shoulder joint (m.s. = 4.3) and upper arm (m.s. = 4.0). Severe to moderate pain was reported in fingers (m.s. =3.9), upper back, (m.s. =3.6), feet (m.s. = 3.5) and lower back (m.s. = 3.1).
CONSLUSION
S1 sickle the output by 4.8% percent. It reduces the drudgery of woman by reducing her energy expenditure up to 2.3% over the existing sickle. Biomechanical stress and perceived exertion were also lessened by 7.6% and 25% respectively. Hence S2 sickle was the most efficient for wheat harvesting with minimum drudgery. S2 sickle was much closer to the S1 sickle in terms of output efficiency but had more drudgery due to shape and material of the handle.
In India wheat harvesting is mainly a manual operation carried by farmwomen. Although the use of different types of harvesters are a practice for large land holders, a large majority of small and marginal farmers are still dependent on sickles due to limitations of power supply, availability of human labour and the tools locally available, simple in design and operation of sickles. Earlier studies conducted by the research team of All India Co-Ordinated Research Project of ICAR have featured the design evaluation for fodder harvesting. The relative performance evaluation of sickles for wheat crop harvesting was felt as important in order to reduce the drudgery of heavy harvesting activity. Hence the study was undertaken to fulfill the following objectives.
To study the physical characteristics of the women involved in wheat harvesting.
To assess the physiological and biomechanical workload of the women using existing and improved sickles.
METHOD USED
The study was carried out in the month of April-May on 20 women subjects for half an hou.r Wheat harvesting activity was carried on by the selected subjects with one conventional (So) and three improved sickles viz., falcon plastic handle (S1), falcon wooden handle (S2) and naveen sickle (S3). To maintain uniformity in the experimental data, subject having normal basic physiological parameters. The experiment was started at 8.00 a.m. in wheat fields. Harvesting of wheat was done for 30 minutes with each sickle. Output parameters and other ergonomic parameters were measured.
Assessment of Ergonomic stress
Physiological Stress. Heart rate is an indicator of cardiac stress due to physical workload. Heart rate was recorded after every minute for five minutes during experiment using polar heart rate monitor. From the average value of heart rate, energy expenditure, total cardiac cost of work (TCCW) and physiological cost of work (PCW) for wheat harvesting was calculated with the help of formulae given by Varghese et al. (1995) as below:
Energy expenditure (KJ/min.) =0.159xAHR – 8.72
TCCW = Cardiac Cost of Work (CCW) + Cardiac Cost of Recovery (CCR)
CCW = Average Heart rate (AHR) x Duration of Activity
AHR = Average Working Heart Rate – Average Resting Heart Rate
CCR = (Average recovery heart rate–Average resting heart rate) x Duration of Activity
PCW = TCCW/Total Time of Activity
Biomechanical Stress. Biomechanical stress includes grip fatigue and postural stress.
Grip fatigue: Grip dynamometer was used to measure grip strength at rest (Sr) and after the work (Sw) separately for the right and left hand. Grip fatigue was calculated as under:
Grip fatigue (%) = Sr – Sw/Sr x 100
Musculo-skeletal Problems. A human body map was used to identify incidences of musculo-skeletal problems in different parts of the body. Five-point scale ranging from very severe pain (5) to very mild pain (1) was used to quantify the stress on muscles used in work and then mean scores were calculated.
FINDINGS
Physical characteristics
The results of the study have been discussed under the following subheads: Physical characteristics, activity profile, output parameters, physiological stress, and biomechanical stress.
I.Physical characteristics
Physical characteristics of the women cutting wheat in Table 1 depict that mean age of
woman was 34.6 years. Aerobic capacity (VO2 max) was found to be 31.7 ml/kg x min
exhibiting that the subjects were having good health. Fat percentage worked out was 25.2%. Hence lean body mass (LBM) was 39.9 kg. Body mass index (BMI) was observed as 22.6.
Body type
One half of the women (50%) were having mesomorph body type, which is considered as the perfect body type (Fig.1). This was followed by 30 percent under endomorph
(Obese) body type and rest 20 percent farm women were having ectomorph (below normal) body type.
Physical Fitness Index (PFI)
Fig.2 illustrates that one half of the selected subjects (50%) were having high average physical fitness followed by good (40%) and very good (10%). After conducting physical fitness test, their perceived exertion was observed. Figure 2 illustrates that forty percent of the subject perceived PF test as moderately heavy.
Activity profile
Table 2 shows the comparative data for activity profile of women harvesting wheat using different sickles.
Tool used: Four different sickles i.e. one local (S0) and three improved i.e. falcon plastic handle (S1), falcon wooden handle (S2) and naveen sickle (S3) were tested for harvesting wheat. S0 was the heaviest weighing about 234 gm followed by S2 (217 gm) and S3 (198 gm.).was lightest weighing about 186 gm.
Distance traveled: A woman walked maximum of 31.3 m while harvesting wheat with S2 sickle followed by 30m with S1 sickle. Distance traveled with S3 sickle and S0 sickle was 29.6 m and 29.0 m respectively. Results indicate that good sickle resulted in more distance traveled ultimately more output than the other sickles.
II Output parameters
Output of operation: Output of operation includes amount of wheat harvested during specified period by different sickles. Results in Table 3 reveal that S2 sickle resulted in maximum of output i.e. 64.9 kg. followed by S1 sickle (64.0 kg.) and S3 sickle(62.9 kg) . S0 sickle shows the lowest output (61.9 kg).
Area covered: Area covered was maximum for S2 sickle i.e. 40.3 m2 followed by 40m2 for S1 sickle and S3 sickle (39.8 m2). All the sickles covered more area than the S0 sickle that resulted in coverage of 39.5 m2.
Production per square meter: Production per square meter was maximum for S2 sickle (1.61 kg.) followed by S1 sickle (1.6 kg.) and S3 sickle (1.58 kg.) Production per square meter was more in all the sickles than the S0 sickle that resulted in 1.56 kg production per square meter.
Production per minute: Production per minute was calculated by dividing the total output by 30 min. Production per minute was maximum for S2 sickle (2.16 kg.) followed by S1 sickle (2.1 kg.). Production per minute was same for S0 sickle and S3 sickle (2.0 kg.).
III Physiological stress
Heart rate: Heart rate measurement during any activity is an indicator of cardiac stress due to physical workload. Table 3 reveals that during wheat harvesting mean working heart rate was same for S1 sickle and S2 sickle i.e. 107.5 beats/ min which was 2.7 percent less than the average working heart rate for S0 sickle i.e. 110.8 beats/min. Average working heart rate for S3 sickle was 1.0% less than the S0 sickle. Similar trend was observed in case of peak heart rate. Average peak heart rate observed for S0 sickle was about 125.5 beats/min. whereas for S1 and S2 sickles were about 124.1 beats/min. and 123.0 beats/min respectively. Average peak heart rate was about 1.35 percent less for S2 sickle followed by 1.11 percent for S1sickle. S3 sickle exhibited 0.3 percent decrease in average peak heart than the So. Energy expenditure: Energy expenditure during wheat harvesting with S0 sickle was 9.6 kj/min whereas for other sickles it ranged from 8.37 kj/min to 9.5 kj/min. Energy expenditure was same for S1sickle and S2 sickle i.e. 8.37 kj/min. Minimum energy expenditures were reported for S2 sickle (10.9) followed by S1 sickle (11.0 kj/min. S2 sickle resulted maximum reduction in energy expenditure (4.3%) than S0 sickle followed by S1 sickle (3.5%).
Total cardiac cost of work (TCCW): Average TCCW for S0 sickle was 1283.5 beats/min. Total cardiac cost of work for all the sickles ranged from 1020 beats/min to1283 beats/min. Reduction in TCCW with all sickles over S0 sickle was maximum with S2 sickle (20.5%) followed by S1 sickle (20.4%). S3 sickle resulted 0.03 percent decrease in TCCW in comparison to S0 sickle.
Physiological cost of work (PCW): Average (PCW) for local sickle was 42.8 beats/min. PCW was minimum for S2 sickle (34.0 beats/min.). PCW for S1 sickle was about 34.1 beats/min. PCW for S3 sickle was same as for the S0 sickle.
Rating of perceived exertion: Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was heavy for S0 sickle whereas RPE was light for both the S1 and S2 sickles.
IV Bio-mechanical stress
Grip fatigue
The percentage change in grip strength from the normal value was measured. Data reveals that grip strength at rest was 27 Kg for right hand and 14 Kg for left hand. Minimum decrease in grip fatigue was recorded with S2 sickle (3.8% for right and 6.6% for left). The result indicates that S2 sickle resulted less grip fatigue than the other sickles.
Musculo-skeletal problems
Musculo skeletal problems were determined on human body map at five point scale ranging from mild pain(1) to very severe(5). Farm woman reported severe pain in wrist (m.s.=4.8) followed by shoulder joint (m.s. = 4.3) and upper arm (m.s. = 4.0). Severe to moderate pain was reported in fingers (m.s. =3.9), upper back, (m.s. =3.6), feet (m.s. = 3.5) and lower back (m.s. = 3.1).
CONSLUSION
S1 sickle the output by 4.8% percent. It reduces the drudgery of woman by reducing her energy expenditure up to 2.3% over the existing sickle. Biomechanical stress and perceived exertion were also lessened by 7.6% and 25% respectively. Hence S2 sickle was the most efficient for wheat harvesting with minimum drudgery. S2 sickle was much closer to the S1 sickle in terms of output efficiency but had more drudgery due to shape and material of the handle.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
स्वास्थ्य और घर के काम-काज
HEALTH AND HOUSEHOLD TASKS
In older age housework was really a nuisance and drudgery. For today’s house wife with all modern appliances this is a golden age. She has more time for her children, for her special interests, and for community activities.
Even today’s pampered housewife still has to expand physical efforts; however there are some short cuts for doing household tasks. If done correctly, however, those household tasks can benefit posture and appearance. And many hazards inherent in housework can be eliminated with care and planning.
Posture and other Housework Aids
Studies have been made proving that much housework can be turned into beneficial exercise and can improve posture. Poor posture causes most of the small nuisance ailments, -the strains and injuries and aches and pains-that are common to many housewives. Many of these nuisances can be avoided by making sure that equipment such as tables, gas-stoves, and sinks, are of the proper height. When work surfaces, such as counters, sinks, baby bathtubs,and ironing boards are too low for the housewife/worker, proper posture cannot be maintained.
Good posture helps to assure the proper use of the muscles. When posture is correct, the bony framework supports the weight of the body without strain on the muscles and ligaments.
In correct standing, the body should be aligned so that centre of the hips, of the trunk, at the shoulders, and of the head are in a direct line over the centre of the arches,the weight-bearing part of the feet.
In sitting where the base of support is the chair rather than the floor, the head and trunk should be aliened with the flex or bend at the waistline.
Fatigue can result from poor posture or continued stooping over an improperly adjusted work surface level. Proper surfaceheight of the workplace prevents fatiguing and straining the back. When sitting or lifting, the back should be held straight and abdomen should be held in.
When lifting an object, bend from the knees rather then from the waist and use the leg muscles. Proper stance is also important. When doing dishes, weight should be evenly distributed on both feet, and the toes turned slightly in. While sweeping, place one feet, and the toes turned slightly in. while sweeping, place one foot forward when reaching out to get under a piece of furniture. Sudden twisting or other movements should be avoided.
Utensils should be kept in easily accessible locations. There are utility poles on which pots and pans can be hung and key boards on which canopeners, ladles, spatulas and other such utensils can be attached. Use of time aids housework will obviate many unnecessary motions and save time.
While performing certain household tasks the design and facilities should be of that type that allows the change of body position. Changes from sitting work to standing work and changes of tempo and type of work together with interspersed rest pauses help to improve working efficiency.
Using the correct tool can also help to maintain good posture and efficient methods of work. Long-handled equipment can be chosen to avoid bending one’s back. Some housecleaning tools have the controls high on the handles so that the homemaker does not have to stop to start and stop the equipment.
Human dimensions help to determine the form and size of equipment, the location of controls, and space requirements in a work centre.
Tools should be as simple as possible and of proper size and have handles that meet the normal grasp limitations of the human hand. Control levers of equipment should be placed conveniently between elbow and shoulder height.
Since 80 to 90 per cent of all housework is done standing, proper care of the feet is imperative. It may seem economical to wear old shoes with runover heels to do house work. Rubber gloves can be used to protect hands, and commercial creams can alleviate dryness caused by cleaning products.
Break monotony
Almost every homemaker at sometime becomes overtired by ubdertaking jobs which are too much for her or cannot be done properly in the time she has alloted. Homemaker can seek help of male members while doing heavy work at home as they are better equipped for doing heavy tasks.
Work should be planned properly so it can be done well without causing undue fatigue. Overfatigue actually lessens efficiency and can be depressing, as can working too long alone in the house. Try to prevent monotony and boredom by playing the records,radio or any music system while working and take a day off once in a while to enjoy visiting a friend, doing the noble cause of social work by supporting the needy persons, window shopping. Every women should vary her routine and make a point of taking a rest with her feet up at lest once or twice a day.
In older age housework was really a nuisance and drudgery. For today’s house wife with all modern appliances this is a golden age. She has more time for her children, for her special interests, and for community activities.
Even today’s pampered housewife still has to expand physical efforts; however there are some short cuts for doing household tasks. If done correctly, however, those household tasks can benefit posture and appearance. And many hazards inherent in housework can be eliminated with care and planning.
Posture and other Housework Aids
Studies have been made proving that much housework can be turned into beneficial exercise and can improve posture. Poor posture causes most of the small nuisance ailments, -the strains and injuries and aches and pains-that are common to many housewives. Many of these nuisances can be avoided by making sure that equipment such as tables, gas-stoves, and sinks, are of the proper height. When work surfaces, such as counters, sinks, baby bathtubs,and ironing boards are too low for the housewife/worker, proper posture cannot be maintained.
Good posture helps to assure the proper use of the muscles. When posture is correct, the bony framework supports the weight of the body without strain on the muscles and ligaments.
In correct standing, the body should be aligned so that centre of the hips, of the trunk, at the shoulders, and of the head are in a direct line over the centre of the arches,the weight-bearing part of the feet.
In sitting where the base of support is the chair rather than the floor, the head and trunk should be aliened with the flex or bend at the waistline.
Fatigue can result from poor posture or continued stooping over an improperly adjusted work surface level. Proper surfaceheight of the workplace prevents fatiguing and straining the back. When sitting or lifting, the back should be held straight and abdomen should be held in.
When lifting an object, bend from the knees rather then from the waist and use the leg muscles. Proper stance is also important. When doing dishes, weight should be evenly distributed on both feet, and the toes turned slightly in. While sweeping, place one feet, and the toes turned slightly in. while sweeping, place one foot forward when reaching out to get under a piece of furniture. Sudden twisting or other movements should be avoided.
Utensils should be kept in easily accessible locations. There are utility poles on which pots and pans can be hung and key boards on which canopeners, ladles, spatulas and other such utensils can be attached. Use of time aids housework will obviate many unnecessary motions and save time.
While performing certain household tasks the design and facilities should be of that type that allows the change of body position. Changes from sitting work to standing work and changes of tempo and type of work together with interspersed rest pauses help to improve working efficiency.
Using the correct tool can also help to maintain good posture and efficient methods of work. Long-handled equipment can be chosen to avoid bending one’s back. Some housecleaning tools have the controls high on the handles so that the homemaker does not have to stop to start and stop the equipment.
Human dimensions help to determine the form and size of equipment, the location of controls, and space requirements in a work centre.
Tools should be as simple as possible and of proper size and have handles that meet the normal grasp limitations of the human hand. Control levers of equipment should be placed conveniently between elbow and shoulder height.
Since 80 to 90 per cent of all housework is done standing, proper care of the feet is imperative. It may seem economical to wear old shoes with runover heels to do house work. Rubber gloves can be used to protect hands, and commercial creams can alleviate dryness caused by cleaning products.
Break monotony
Almost every homemaker at sometime becomes overtired by ubdertaking jobs which are too much for her or cannot be done properly in the time she has alloted. Homemaker can seek help of male members while doing heavy work at home as they are better equipped for doing heavy tasks.
Work should be planned properly so it can be done well without causing undue fatigue. Overfatigue actually lessens efficiency and can be depressing, as can working too long alone in the house. Try to prevent monotony and boredom by playing the records,radio or any music system while working and take a day off once in a while to enjoy visiting a friend, doing the noble cause of social work by supporting the needy persons, window shopping. Every women should vary her routine and make a point of taking a rest with her feet up at lest once or twice a day.
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