Ergonomics

Three words the continually seem to pop in class, person, occupation and environment, and participation in occupation II is no different.

It relates to ergonomics, in Greek, ergon - work and nomics - law.

Dul and Weerdmeester 2008 state ergonomics “aims to design appliances, technical systems and tasks, in such a way to improve human safety, comfort and performance” (pg 1). Performance will be optimum when there is a good fit between these 3 aspects.

This is what it looks like in relation to my activity - cooking

Person – that's me

Although I am not the best cook out, I am more than capable of doing the cooking, my main issues is that I am a little lazy and occasionally pushed for time, so more often than not the meals I put out are fast cheap, and mainly easy. When I have the means and the time to cook the meals I cook are quite good, and as I am young these things will most defiantly change over time, as will my cooking skills.

Occupation

Cooking - the process of adding ingredients together, often adding heat forming a chemical change, to make an outcome – dinner.

Cooking is an activity that can be adapted a great deal in order to suit the person who is engaging, the difficulty, the intensity, the time and the skills required can all easily be adapted by changing what you cook, this is turn also adapts the outcome, alternatively there is a lot of adaptive equipment which can be used to alter the skills required and difficulty of cooking.

Environment

This is a student flat, and although for me this has its advantages, in that other students there aren't picky eaters, it also has its disadvantages; the budget is tight this often limits what can be cooked, and means as a flat we tend to stick to what we know. The kitchen in the flat itself is small, more than often very messy and well under equipment, with only the necessary items making baking a struggle. But the atmosphere in the kitchen is nice, it is open to the lounge allowing you to chat with people in the lounge while cooking, or watch TV, being mindful this can also be a distraction.

Reference

Dul, J. & Weerdmeester, B. (2008). Ergonomics for beginners: A quick reference guide. (3^rd ed.). Boca Raton, Florida: Taylor & Francis