An Introduction to
Human Factors and Ergonomics
ISEN 330
8/22/2023
Maryam Zahabi
Text material: Ch. 1
What is HFE?
 Definition (Adopted from Sanders & McCormick, 1993):The discovery and
application of information about human behavior, abilities, and other characteristics to
the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for productive, safe,
comfortable, and effective human use
 Your book: HFE is a discipline that considers the cognitive, physical, and organizational
influences on human behavior to improve interaction with products and processes.
 Interdisciplinary science concerning the capabilities, tendencies, and limitations
of people
 Applied to design of
 Jobs
 Workplaces
 Equipment
 Products, Devices
 Organizations
 Systems
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History of HFE
 1890’s – 1920’s:
 Foundations of IE: studies of selection,
training, work-rest schedules, time &
motion studies of industrial workers
 Frederick Taylor
 Scientific management in manufacturing
 Time studies, emphasizing labor productivity,
economic efficiency
 “Taylorism”: identify the best way of doing a
task
 Frank & Lillian Gilbreth
 Motion studies
 Designer of modern kitchen
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History of HFE
 1890’s – 1920’s:
 Frederick Taylor, Frank & Lillian Gilbreth: studied selection, training, workrest schedules, time & motion studies of industrial workers
 1940’s (World War II):
 Experimental psychologists in USAAF studied human performance issues
(characteristics of successful pilots, the effects of environmental stressors),
also basics of anthropometry
 Taylorism: principle of matching individuals to jobs, selecting “best suited”
 Why are our “best of the best” pilots crashing aircrafts?
 Alphonse Chapanis (1917-2002): Army lieutenant, pioneer in aviation safety, “founding
father” of HFE
 Pilot error greatly reduced with more logical and differentiable controls
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History of HFE
 1890’s – 1920’s:
 Frederick Taylor, Frank & Lillian Gilbreth: studied selection, training,
work-rest schedules, time & motion studies of industrial workers
 1940’s (World War II):
 Experimental psychologists in USAAF studied human performance
issues (characteristics of successful pilots, the effects of environmental
stressors), also basics of anthropometry
 1940’s & 50’s (post-WWII)
 USAF: Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories, Wright-Patterson
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AFB; Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center
US Army Human Engineering Laboratory
Johns Hopkins Systems Research Field Laboratory
U of Illinois Aviation Psychology Laboratory
Ohio State U Laboratory of Aviation Psychology
History of HFE
 1949: assembly of human performance specialists in Oxford,
England to discuss the science
 Anatomists, physiologists, psychologists, industrial medical
officers, industrial hygienists, design engineers, work study
engineers, architects, illuminating engineers, etc.
 Coined the term “Ergonomics”
 ergos: Greek for “work”
 nomos: “natural laws”
 Formed the Ergonomics Research Society
 Now known as the UK’s Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
 1957: Human Factors (and Ergonomics, 1992) Society
founded in U.S.
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History of HFE
 1960’s: Aerospace Industries and the NASA Apollo Program
 1970’s: National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH; CDC division for workplace-related illness and injury)
 1979: Three Mile Island disaster
 1988: Persian Gulf accident
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Persian Gulf accident
 1988, Gulf War
 U.S.S. Vincennes on patrol in Persian Gulf
 Difficult to tell if approaching aircraft – an Iranian passenger jet –
is climbing or descending, communication breakdowns
 Under time pressure, stress due to threat of attack, jet is identified
as a hostile approaching fighter and shot down
 Investigation led to US Navy research program on human factors
in decision making under stress
 TADMUS: TActical Decision-Making Under Stress
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History of HFE
 2000: “To Err is Human”, Institute of Medicine
 Preventable medical errors account for 98,000
deaths annually in United States
 More than motor vehicle accidents (43K), breast
cancer (42K)
 Equivalent to 1.5 jumbo jet crashes every day
(chances of dying in a commercial aircraft accident: 1 in 45 million)
(chances of dying in a motor vehicle crash: ~1 in 8000)
(chances of dying unnecessarily due to medical error: ~1 in 3500)
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History of HFE
 Expanded areas of application with the introduction of new
technologies:
 Computer hardware (1960’s)
 Computer software (1970’s)
 Nuclear power plants & weapons systems (1980’s)
 Internet and automation (1990’s)
 Adaptive technology (2000’s)
 Mobile/wearable tech (2010’s)
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Professional Societies (U.S.)
 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
 ~5000 members (world’s largest),
primarily U.S. members
 http://www.hfes.org
 International Ergonomics Association
 Federation of world’s ergonomic societies
 http://www.iea.cc
 IIE Global Organization of Ergonomics
 http://www.iienet2.org/GoErgo/
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HFES technical groups
 Aerospace Systems
 Augmented Cognition
 Cognitive Engineering and
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Decision Making
Communications
Computer Systems
Education
Environmental Design
Forensics
Health Care
Human Performance
Modeling
Individual Differences in
Performance
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Industrial Ergonomics
Internet
Macroergonomics
Perception and Performance
Product Design
Safety
Surface Transportation
System Development
Test and Evaluation
Training
Virtual Environments
http://www.hfes.org/web/TechnicalGroups/
descriptions.html
HF/E: Three domains of specialization
Cognitive factors
Physical factors
Social factors
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HF/E: Three domains of specialization
 Cognitive factors
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“Human Factors”
Perception
Attention
Memory
Decision making
Problem solving
Learning
 Design of workspaces, tools, displays, controls,
documentation to accommodate the cognitive strengths,
limitations, tendencies and preferences of humans
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HF/E: Three domains of specialization
 Physical factors
 “Ergonomics”
 Anthropometry
 Biomechanics
 Injury risks
 Metabolic processes in performing physical work
 Design of workspaces/tools to accommodate sizes,
shapes, work-producing abilities of humans
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HF/E: Three domains of specialization
 Social factors
 “Macroergonomics”
 Social interactions among
groups of people
 Workers, management, patients, family members
 Communication
 Group and team dynamics
 Cultural influences
 Design of workspaces/technologies to support and
mediate social interactions
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Goals of HFE
Support human interaction with systems that:
 Enhances performance (greater productivity, fewer errors)
 Increases safety (less risk of accident, disease)
 Which also means greater productivity (less lost time at work)
 Increases user satisfaction
 Increased worker productivity
 Increased product sales, decreased customer support costs
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Operators
Design to support humans
Maintainers
Users/
Consumers
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HFE Design
 Equipment design: Change the physical nature of the
equipment humans interact with
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HFE Design
 Task design: change what operators do (e.g., redesign the
workstation to eliminate manual lifting)
 Environmental design: e.g., improved lighting, air temperature and
quality, reduced noise in the work environment.
 Can also extend to organizational climate (e.g., management
structure, social culture)
 Selection: recognizing individual differences (both cognitive and
physical) and choosing those who are naturally best-suited for the
work
 Training: better preparing workers (mentally and physically) for
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the conditions they will encounter as part of the work
HFE Design Cycle
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Benefits of proactive design
 Considerable savings of both money and human suffering…
 Cost to an organization of incorporating human factors in
design (Alexander, 2002):
 2% of total product cost when addressed at earliest design
stages (and incidents/accidents are prevented)
 5-20% when HF addressed in response to incidents/accidents
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Design example: doors
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Human factors in door design
 Considerations:
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Affordances: design features that
communicate function
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Human error vs. Design-induced error
 Fundamental premise: the human
operator is doing the best he or she can
under the constraints of….
 Workplace and tool design
 His/her training, capabilities, state of health,
personal circumstances
 Physical and social environment
 Workload (physical and mental)
 If errors/adverse events occur we
BEGIN with “human error”, NOT end…
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