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Summary An introduction to human factors engineering
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Summary of 225 pages for the course Human Perception and Performance at TUE
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C1 Introduction to human factorsWhat is the field of human factors?
- For example: a US Navy cruiser was on patrol in the Persiun Gulf when it received ambiguous
information regarding an approaching aircraft characteristics of the radar system dipslays
on board made it difficult to determine whether is was climbing or descending incorrectly
diagnosing was descending, the crew tentatively identified it as a hostile apporaching fighter
captain decided to fire at the aircraft, because of:
o Short time to act in potentially life-threatening circumstances
o Further breakdowns in communication between people
o Crew expectancies that were driven by the hostile environment
The aircraft was actually an Iranian passenger airline
- It is more often the case that the interaction between the human and the system work well,
often exceedingly human nature that we notice when things go wrong more readily than
when things go right situation when things go wrong that triggers the call for diagnosis
and solution, and understanding these situations represents the key contributions of human
factors to system design.
- Goal of human factors as making the human interaction with systems one that:
1. Enhances performance
2. Increases safety
3. Increases user satisfaction
- Human factors = study of factors and development of tools that facilitate the achievement of
these goals there may be tradeoffs between these goals e.g. performance is an all-
encompassing term that may involve the reduction of errors or an increase in productivity
hence, enhanced productivity may sometimes cause more operation errors, potentially
compromising safety these tradeoffs are not inevitable: human factors interventions
often can satisfy both goals at once e.g. improvements of workstation design reduced
worker’s compensation losses from €400.000 to €94.000 workers were more able to
continue work, while greatly reducing the risk of injury
- The three goals of human factors are accomplished through several procedures in the human
factors cycle depicts the human operator ( = brain and body) and the system with which
he or she is interacting
- Point A: diagnose or identify the problems and deficiencies in the human-system interaction
of an existing system core knowledge of the nature of the physical body (= size, shape,
strength) and of the mind (= information-processing characteristics and limitations) must be
coupled with a good understanding of the physical or information systems involved, , and the
appropriate analysis tools must be applied to clearly define the cause of breakdowns e.g.
, why did the worker suffer back injury? amount of load or the awkward position to lift it?
Use of critical tools:
o Task analysis
o Statistical analysis
o Incident/accident analysis
- Point B: five different approaches directed toward implementing a solution:
1. Equipment design = changes the nature of the physical equipment with which humans
work e.g. the radar display of the USS Vincennes might be redesigned to provide a
more integrated representation of lateral and vertical motion of the aircraft
2. Task design = changing what operators do rather than changing the devices they use
e.g. the workstation for the assembly-line worker might be redesigned to eliminate
manual lifting = assigning part or all of tasks to other workers or to automated
components e.g. a robot might be designed to accomplish the lift of the component
3. Environmental design = changes such as improved lighting, temperature control, and
reduced noise in the physical environment where the task is carried out a broader
view of the environment could also include the organizational climate e.g. a change in
management structure to allow workers more participation in implementing safety
programs or other changes in the organization
4. Training = better preparing the worker for the conditions that he or she will encounter in
the job environment by teaching and practicing the necessary physical or mental skills
5. Selection = technique that recognizes the individual differences across humans in almost
every physical and mental dimension that is relevant for system performance such
performance can be optimized by selecting operators who possess the best profile of
characteristics for the job e.g. the lower-back injury might have been caused by asking
a worker who had neither the necessary physical strength nor the body proportion to lift
the component in a safe manner the accident could have been prevented with a more
stringent operator-selection process
- Our discussion has focused on fixing systems that are deficient, that is, intervening at point A
in fact, the practice of good human factors is just as relevant as designing systems that are
effective of the start and thereby anticipating and avoiding the human factors deficiencies
before they are inflicted on system design Role of human factors in the design loop can
just as easily be implement at point B if consideration for good human factors is given
early in the design process, considerable savings in both money and possibly human suffering
can be achieved e.g. early attention given to workstation design could have saved the
several thousand dollars in legal costs resulting from the worker’s lawsuit
- Percentage cost to an organization of incorporating human factors in design grows from 2%
hen addressed at the earliest stages to between 5% and 20% when human factors is
addressed only in response to those accidents, after a product is fully within the
manufacturing process
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