How the Work Environment Affects Workers' Well-Being and Efficiency

The work environment refers to the conditions which surround the work place where the worker performs his work. These conditions affect his well-being and his efficiency towards work. Bad environment increase strain to workman, reduce their efficiency and ultimately result in lower productivity. Even the most meticulously improved methods are unlikely to yield good results if the work place where the operator does his work has insufficient light, excessive heat, unbearable noise, heavy concentrating of toxic or non-toxic dust, etc. Some of the important environment factors to be looked into are lighting, noise, vibration, heat, ventilation, housekeeping, selection of colors, amenities, etc.
1. Lighting: Productivity of a worker to a great extent is influenced by the extent to which his/her eyes are able to perform the work comfortably. Both quality as well as quantity of light affects work performance. Poor lighting may cause headache or fatigue among the workers and in the long run may prove disastrous to safety and personal health. Some basic principles of lighting are:
Lighting should be so designed that the employee in complete comfort with minimum of eye strain and physical fatigue. Light should be sufficient in intensity and be suitable to the type of level, the greater the illumination, the better the eye function.
Natural light and artificial light should be integrated to provide good general lighting.

Light should be diffused and glare-free. Glare cause discomfort and reduces visual effectiveness. Glare is produced either when the parts of the visual field are excessively bright in relation to the surroundings (e. g., the light source directly in the field of vision) or due to the reflection of light from the bright surface. Glare can be subdivided into discomfort glare and disability glare. Discomfort glare which produces a sensation of high discomfort in the vision but does not significantly reduce the ability to see whereas disability glare is one which reduce the ability to see.
Glare can be reduces by (1) reducing the brightness of the light source, (2) increasing the general level of illumination of the surroundings of the glare source so that a contrast between the glare source and the surroundings is reduced. (3) Placing the light source away from the direct field of vision, (4) diffusing the light by baffles, window shade, etc., and (5) using light shields or hoods if glare cannot otherwise be reduced.
The working area should be illuminated more than their surroundings. This may be achieved by the supplementary lighting located at the appropriate places. Lighting should be designed to allow safe movement of employee from one area to another. Since eyes take some time it adjusts to the change in illumination, accident can occur while passing from a well-lit room to a poorly-lit corridor, staircase or store. The luminaries over the walkways, passages and staircase leading to exit should be designed to act themselves as an indicator of the routes.
The light should not permit marked shadows. Windows and skylights must be kept clean both inside and outside and should be shaded or white washed to protect workers from the direct sunlight and glare. Fluorescent tubes in general provide the right quality of light and are most suitable for color identification. 2. NOISE: Noise may be defined as the unwanted sound. Noise (or any sound) is caused by the disturbance of the air which vibrates the air drums. The higher the frequency of the vibration, the higher is the pitch of the sound. Another important aspect of noise is the frequency of the sound. Unexpected, irregular and infrequent bangs irritate workers more than continuous noise of the same intensity. Researchers have concluded that in qualitative from, intermittent noise of medium and high intensity affects digestion and hearing of those who are exposed to such noise regularly. Since noise is barrier to worker’s productivity and well being, every attempt should be made to curb the noise level to its minimum and if it is not possible to do, women should not be exposed too long to such noises. To counteract the effect of noise, the following general principles are recommended:
Noise and vibration should be recognized as barriers to employee’s productivity and must be considered appropriately while preparing initial layout of the plant and design of the building.
Lighter equipment should be mounted on spring, cork pads and other noise damping materials.
Baffles and sound absorbent materials should be installed near and above the noise sources to reduce noise level.
Administrative odd ices should be insulated by sound resistant walls and false ceilings.

3. VIBRATION: Usually, vibrations of the air are detected as sound but air vibrations below 20 Hz, are not heard but can be felt. Vibrations con affect the performance on target tracking. Ideally vibrations should be minimized at source. Normally protection from residential vibration is achieved by reducing the force transmitted, by converting vibration energy into thermal energy by using mechanical or hydraulic dampers and by altering body position and body support.

4. THERMAL CONDITIONS (Temperature, humidity and airflow):
Scheduling/isolating heat sources to reduce direct transmission by radiation of heat between body and the heat source
Installing adequate local ventilation systems to get rid of fumes and dust and maintain continues even air flow
Providing protective clothing specially designed for maximum air flow and efficient heat dissipation. Permitting rest pauses in cool place at shorter intervals between work shifts.
Rotating personnel in extreme hot areas.
Making adequate arrangements of supply of cool water to enable frequent drinking of water
Raising salt content in worker’s food to make up for the salt loss.

5. VENTILATION: Cool and fresh of air is vital to make an occupied space comfortable. Generally, occupants and their activities greatly affect the atmosphere of an occupied building. Heat from the human body, carbon dioxide, water vapors and bacteria are continuously discharged during breathing, coughing and smoking. Some industrial process also release flames, fumes, gases, or dust which contaminate/pollute the atmosphere. Consequently, the stale air needs to be expelled outside the occupied space to allow inflow of fresh air and maintain satisfactory standard of fresh and clean air.

6. HOUSEKEEPING: Good housekeeping makes work areas look pleasant and more satisfying it reduces fatigue and discomfort among the work men and stimulate to work. The essentials of good housekeeping are:
Suitable place should be provided for everything connected with the job and the workmen should be asked to keep everything in its place.
Plant and offices should be divided into zones, there being one person responsible for good housekeeping and orderliness of the zone.
Plant and machinery should be free from leakages, of oil, air, water, steam, etc., since they make area dirty.
Windows should be kept clean and jam free. Broken glasses should be replaced as soon as such breakages are observed reported.
Floor should be kept clean, free from oil, garbage, dirt, debris and general waste.
7. SELECTION OF COLOURS: Colors influence the worker’s feelings of warmth. Properly selected colors improve lighting and add to the general feeling do well being. Psychologically, a fresh new coat of paint gives workmen the feeling that the management is interested in their welfare.
8. AMENITIES: Amenities should be provided to the workmen without giving workmen do not require remembering the movement defect byte control. Push buttons actuators should also be standardized for colors to increase effectiveness.