OHS Practitioners' Application of CAD-tools as Medium for Participatory Design : Facilitating the Projection of Office-layouts

Sammanfattning: When a company creates, rebuilds or develops new or existing workplace facilitates, research has shown such phases are of the most crucial and influential for creating healthy and effective workplaces. To include ergonomic principles in the early planning stages have proven to result in reduced expenses, and an increased ability to make influential contributions. Practitioners of Occupational Health Services (OHS) possess unique knowledge and expertise in the area, thus have potential to be a tremendous resource during the planning and projection of workspace design projects. Encouraging a participatory approach, OHS practitioners are valuable collaborators with end-users and Architects alike. In this study, three-dimensional CAD-tools were explored in order to provide OHS practitioners with methods and tools that enhance their ability to communicate workspace proposals to end-users of new or renewed office environments. Following an exploration process, a proposed design tool; SketchUp, was preceded for Usability testing. Results of the study indicated a considerable degree of applicability to OHS practitioners, despite an expressed desire for a simpler, more learnable interface. The software was believed to facilitate in the process of visualizing and communicating workspace proposals by increasing end-users understanding of the new work environment, including an enhanced ability to relate to and communicate with Architects.