CPE CPE Organizational Ergonomics & Work Systems Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Job rotation as an ergonomic administrative control is intended to achieve what primary benefit?
- Eliminate ergonomic hazards permanently
- Reduce individual exposure duration to specific ergonomic risk factors by distributing tasks (Correct answer)
- Increase production throughput
- Improve worker skill development only
Correct answer: Reduce individual exposure duration to specific ergonomic risk factors by distributing tasks
Job rotation distributes ergonomic exposures across workers or across time, reducing any individual's cumulative exposure to a specific stressor such as repetitive motion.
Question 2: Which theory describes how job characteristics such as skill variety, task identity, and autonomy influence worker motivation and well-being?
- Maslow's hierarchy of needs
- Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model (Correct answer)
- Karasek's demand-control model
- Herzberg's two-factor theory
Correct answer: Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model
Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model proposes that five core job dimensions (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback) create psychological states that drive motivation and satisfaction.
Question 3: Karasek's job strain model predicts the highest risk of work-related stress when jobs have:
- High skill variety and high autonomy
- High psychological demands and low decision latitude (control) (Correct answer)
- Low workload and high job security
- High social support and low physical demands
Correct answer: High psychological demands and low decision latitude (control)
Karasek's demand-control model identifies 'high strain' jobs — those with high demands and low worker control — as most associated with cardiovascular disease and psychological stress.
Question 4: Total Worker Health (TWH) is a NIOSH framework that integrates occupational safety with:
- Building code compliance
- Worker well-being including lifestyle health promotion activities (Correct answer)
- Equipment maintenance schedules
- Environmental sustainability
Correct answer: Worker well-being including lifestyle health promotion activities
NIOSH's TWH initiative integrates traditional occupational safety and health protections with programs that promote overall worker well-being including physical, mental, and social health.
Question 5: Ergonomics cost-benefit analysis should account for which of the following indirect costs?
- Only direct medical treatment costs
- Lost productivity, overtime, retraining, administrative costs, and quality degradation (Correct answer)
- Equipment procurement costs only
- Insurance premium changes only
Correct answer: Lost productivity, overtime, retraining, administrative costs, and quality degradation
A comprehensive ergonomics ROI analysis must include all indirect costs that are often 4–10x larger than direct medical costs, such as lost productivity and replacement training.
Question 6: Human error classification systems like Reason's Generic Error Modeling System (GEMS) categorize errors primarily as:
- Intentional violations only
- Skill-based slips and lapses, rule-based mistakes, and knowledge-based mistakes (Correct answer)
- Equipment malfunctions attributed to human factors
- OSHA recordable vs. non-recordable events
Correct answer: Skill-based slips and lapses, rule-based mistakes, and knowledge-based mistakes
GEMS classifies errors into skill-based (slips/lapses from automatic behavior), rule-based (wrong rule applied), and knowledge-based (reasoning errors in novel situations).
CPE CPE Organizational Ergonomics & Work Systems Questions and Answers 2
Job rotation as an ergonomic administrative control is intended to achieve what primary benefit?