“L'Italia si Misura” Project: Twenty Years of Study and Research on the Measurement of the Italian Population with an Ergonomic Perspective.

To properly design machines and the environment in which such persons have to operate. Human size should provide the basis for the design of products to ensure harmony between people and their environment. So we felt necessary to express in quantitative terms the human size and shape in relation to the ergonomic design. Ideally, in fact, all men should be able to operate properly on all machines or technology products, but often, also for feasibility problems, we try to satisfy as many as possible, at least 90%. The survey on the Italian population was conducted in August 1990 on the beaches (for obvious reasons of clothing and availability) of the Conero Riviera (Central-North Italy) on about 2104 subjects. The research was repeated in 1991 along the coast of Campania (Southern Italy). A list of 37 variables, relevant to ergonomics, based, ate the time, on the most recent update of the ISO "list of Basic Anthropometric measurements" were investigated according to the methods of Hertzberg et al. (1967), Grieco and Masali (1972) and of the Italian Fashion Bureau (1979). The measures are consistent with those of Martin and Saller classic (1956-66). The study presents the results of two decades of research up to the recent ISO 7250-2 international standard.