allowance which represents work. Standard time Standard time is the total time in which a job should be completed at standard performance i.e. work content, contingency allowance for delay, unoccupied time and interference allowance, where applicable. Allowance for unoccupied time and for interference may be important for the measurement of machine-controlled operations, but they do not always appear in every computation of standard time. Relaxation allowance, on the other hand, has to be taken into account in every computation, whether the job is a simple manual one or a very complex operation requiring the simultaneous control of several machines. A contingency allowance will probably figure quite frequently in the compilation of standard times; it is therefore convenient to consider the contingency allowance and relaxation allowance, so that the sequence of calculation which started with the completion of observations at the workplace may be taken right through to the compilation of standard time. Contingency allowance A contingency allowance is a small allowance of time which may be included in a standard time to meet legitimate and expected items of work or delays, the precise measurement of which is uneconomical because of their infrequent or irregular occurrence. Relaxation allowance A relaxation allowance is an addition to the basic time to provide the worker with the opportunity to recover from physiological and psychological effects of carrying out specified work under specified conditions and to allow attention to personal needs. The amount of the allowance will depend on the nature of the job. Examples are: Personal 5–7% Energy output 0–10% Noisy 0–5% Conditions 0–100% e.g. Electronics 5% Other allowances Other allowances include process allowance which is to cover when an operator is prevented from continuing with their work, although ready and waiting, by the process or machine requiring further time to complete its part of the job. A final allowance is that of Interference which is included whenever an operator has charge of more than one machine and the machines are subject to random stoppage. In normal circumstances the operator can only attend to one machine, and the others must wait for attention. This machine is then subject to interference which increased the machine cycle time. It is now possible to obtain a complete picture of the standard time for a straightforward manual operation. Activity Sampling Activity sampling is a technique in which a large number of instantaneous observations are made over a period