Human Factors Engineering

Shilpi Bora, PhD, IITG

Associate Professor, Industrial Design,
UID
 Shilpi Bora, PhD, IITG
Associate Professor, Industrial Design, UID
 TOPICS

1. WHAT IS ERGONOMICS/HUMAN FACTORS &

ERGONOMICS
2. CLASSIFICATION OF HFE -
- PHYSICAL
- COGNITIVE
- ORGANIZATION
3. IMPORTANTNCE OF ERGONOMICS IN DESIGN
4. MAIN OJECTIVES AND GOAL OF ERGONOMICS
 Ergonomics, also known as human factors or human factors engineering (HFE), is the application of
psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and DESIGN of products, processes, and systems.

Primary goals of human factors engineering are to reduce human error, increase productivity and system
availability, and enhance safety, health and comfort with a specific focus on the interaction between the human
and equipment.
Human factors and ergonomics is a subject that studies the interaction

between human beings and other elements of the system. This subject

applies the related theories, principles, data, and methods to fulfill the goals

of human health and optimal system efficiency (International Ergonomics

Association, IEA 2009).

Human Factors and Ergonomics

Ergonomics is more to do with the physical aspects of the environment, such as
control panels and workstations.

Human factors, on the other hand, focuses more on the wider system in which
people work.
 The Difference between Human Factors and Ergonomics

Human Factors: Ergonomics:

Focus: Human Factors is primarily concerned with Focus: Ergonomics is a subset of Human Factors but is more
understanding human capabilities and limitations to improve the focused on the physical interaction between humans and their
interaction between people and systems.
environment or equipment.
Scope: It encompasses cognitive aspects such as perception,
memory, reasoning, and motor response, aiming to design Scope: It emphasizes the design of workspaces, tools, and tasks
systems that accommodate human mental and physical
to fit the physical and physiological characteristics of the human
capacities.
body, aiming to prevent strain, injury, and discomfort.
Application: Human Factors is applied in the design of products,
systems, and environments to enhance usability, safety, and Application: Ergonomics is often applied in workplace design,
performance.
such as the arrangement of office furniture, the design of
Examples include user interface design, cockpit design in
workstations in manufacturing, and the layout of control panels
aviation, and control systems in nuclear plants.
to reduce physical strain and enhance comfort and efficiency.
Development Trend of Human Factors and Ergonomics
CLASSIFICATION OF HFE -

1. PHYSICAL Ergonomics

2. COGNITIVE Ergonomics

3. ORGANIZATION Ergonomics
PHYSICAL ERGONOMICS
 PHYSICAL ERGONOMICS

➢ Physical ergonomics is about the human body's responses to physical and

physiological work demands.

➢ Repetitive strain injuries from repetition, vibration, force, and posture are
the most common types of issues, and thus have design implications.

➢ Physical ergonomics is concerned with the impact of anatomy,

anthropometry, biomechanics, physiology, and the physical environment
on physical activity.

➢ Areas of focus in physical ergonomics include the consequences of

repetitive motion, materials handling, workplace safety, comfort in the
use of portable devices, keyboard design, working postures, and the work
environment.
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Case Study 1: Ergonomic Office Chairs

Scenario: A large corporation noticed a high incidence of

back pain among employees, leading to increased absenteeism and
decreased productivity.

Intervention: The company conducted an ergonomic

assessment and replaced traditional office chairs with
ergonomically designed chairs that provided better lumbar support
and adjustable features.

Outcome:
•Reduction in reported back pain by 60%.
•Decrease in absenteeism related to musculoskeletal issues.
•Improved employee productivity and comfort.
Case Study 2: Computer Workstation
Ergonomics

Scenario: An IT company observed that

employees working long hours on
computers were frequently complaining of
eye strain, headaches, and neck pain.

Intervention: The company implemented

ergonomic assessments of workstations,
including proper monitor height and
distance, ergonomic keyboards and mice,
and encouraging regular breaks.

Outcome:
•Significant reduction in eye strain and
headaches.
•30% decrease in reported neck pain.
•Higher levels of employee comfort and
focus.

https://www.kauveryhospital.com/news-events/november-ergonomics-for-it-professionals/
Here are some ergonomic tips for a safer, more comfortable computer session:
1. Maintain sufficient interval between eye and the monitor.
2. Maintain support at the low back.
3. Keep hip and knee at right angle.
4. 90-100o
5. Keep your feet flat on the ground or use a foot rest.
6. Position your keyboard at elbow level, with your upper arms relaxed at your sides.
7. While typing, use a light touch and keep your wrists straight.
8. When you’re not typing, relax your arms and hands.
9. Take a short break every 15 to 20 minutes.
10. Give adequate rest to the eyes by closing the eyes and blinking frequently.
11. Type with your hands and wrists floating above the keyboard, so that you can use your
whole arm to reach for distant keys instead of stretching your fingers.
12. These techniques help you to minimize the effect of computer related disorders. Thus keep
body and mind sound to bring up a healthier life.
Case Study 3: Ergonomic Running Shoes

Scenario: A running club noticed a high number of injuries among its

members, including plantar fasciitis, shin splints, and knee pain.

Intervention: Ergonomists and sports scientists collaborated with shoe

manufacturers to design running shoes tailored to different running styles,
foot shapes, and terrain types.

Outcome:
•Significant reduction in injury rates among club members.
•Enhanced performance and comfort during runs.
•Increased member satisfaction and participation.

The study aimed to research the effects of innovative running shoes (a high
heel-to-toe drop and special structure of midsole) on the biomechanics of the
lower limbs and perceptual sensitivity in female runners.

Runners were able to perceive the cushioning of innovative running shoes

was better than that of normal running shoes

These findings suggested combining the high offset and structure of the
midsole would benefit the industrial utilization of shoe producers in light of
reducing the risk of running injuries for female runners.

Effect of the Innovative Running Shoes With the Special Midsole Structure on the
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.866321/full Female Runners’ Lower Limb Biomechanics
COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS
 COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS

❖ Cognitive ergonomics is the field of study that focuses on how well

the use of a product matches the cognitive capabilities of users.

❖ It draws on knowledge of human perception, mental processing, and

memory.

❖ Rather than being a design discipline, it is a source of knowledge for

designers to use as guidelines for ensuring good usability.

Relevant topics include mental workload, decision-making, skilled

performance, human-computer interaction, human reliability, work stress
and training as these may relate to human-system design.
Where we can apply ….
Key Aspects:

User Applications in Design:

Interface
Design
Cognitive ergonomics is essential in various domains,
including software development, product design, and
workplace ergonomics.
Error Information
Reduction Processing
By applying cognitive principles, designers can create
user-friendly systems that match the mental models
and cognitive processes of users, leading to improved
usability, efficiency, and satisfaction.
Human-
Machine
Interaction
Cognitive ergonomics makes
systems easier to use by
designing them to match how
people think and process
information.
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Case Study 1: Improving User Interfaces in Medical Devices

Scenario: Healthcare providers using electronic medical records

(EMRs) and diagnostic tools reported difficulty navigating complex
interfaces, leading to increased cognitive load and risk of errors.

Intervention: Cognitive ergonomists redesigned the user interfaces of

these medical devices by:
•Streamlining Navigation: Simplified menu structures and more
intuitive navigation paths.
•Reducing Information Overload: Displaying only the most
relevant information on primary screens, with easy access to
additional details if needed.
•Standardizing Layouts: Consistent layouts and terminology across
different devices and software applications to reduce learning time
and cognitive effort.

Outcome:
•Reduced Cognitive Load: Easier navigation and reduced
information overload helped healthcare providers focus better on
patient care.
•Decreased Error Rates: Clearer and more intuitive interfaces led to
fewer input errors.
•Improved Efficiency: Faster and more accurate data entry and
retrieval enhanced overall workflow efficiency.
Case Study 2: Enhancing Cockpit Displays for Pilots

Scenario: Pilots experienced high cognitive demands managing

multiple information sources in the cockpit, particularly during
critical phases of flight such as takeoff and landing.

Intervention: A team of cognitive ergonomists and aviation

experts redesigned the cockpit displays:
•Integrated Displays: Consolidated multiple sources of
information into a single, unified display.
•Priority Information: Highlighted critical information during
different flight phases, such as approach and landing.
•Context-Sensitive Menus: Contextual menus provided relevant
options based on the current flight phase, reducing the need for
pilots to search through menus.

Outcome:
•Improved Situational Awareness: Pilots could more easily
maintain an accurate understanding of the aircraft’s status and
environment.
•Reduced Cognitive Load: Simplified and prioritized
information reduced mental effort during critical operations.
•Enhanced Safety: Better situational awareness and reduced
cognitive load contributed to fewer in-flight errors and incidents.
Case Study 3: Optimizing Call Center Workstations

Scenario: Call center agents handling customer service inquiries

faced high cognitive demands from multitasking between software
applications and responding to customer queries.

Intervention: Cognitive ergonomists implemented the following

changes:
•Unified Interfaces: Integrated multiple software applications into
a single interface to reduce the need for frequent switching.
•Automated Support: Introduced automated scripts and prompts
to assist agents in responding to common customer inquiries.
•Training Simulations: Developed training simulations that
mimic real customer interactions to improve agents' skills and
confidence.

Outcome:
•Reduced Cognitive Load: Unified interfaces and automated
support tools decreased the cognitive burden on agents.
•Increased Efficiency: Agents could handle inquiries more
quickly and accurately.
•Improved Job Satisfaction: Reduced cognitive strain and
improved efficiency contributed to higher job satisfaction among
call center agents.
ORGANIZATIONAL ERGONOMICS
Organizational ergonomics is concerned with the
optimization of sociotechnical systems, including
their organizational structures, policies, and
processes.
Relevant topics include communication
• Crew Resource Management
• Work Design
• Design Of Working Times
• Teamwork
• Participatory Design
• Community Ergonomics
• Cooperative Work
• New Work Paradigms
• Virtual Organizations
• Telework
• Quality Management
Key Concepts of Organizational Ergonomics
Organizational ergonomics focuses on how business systems and
processes can be designed to improve employee well-being and overall
efficiency. The key concepts are:
•Adapting work processes to people: it is not the person who must adapt to the
job but rather the processes must be designed to adapt to the abilities and limits
of team members. This reduces the risk of overload and allows everyone to give
their best.
•Team involvement: actively involving people in decisions makes them feel an
integral part of the company’s success, increasing engagement and satisfaction,
and the fact that team members themselves know the problems that can be
encountered and therefore can give more targeted contributions.
Feedback and iteration: adopting a continuous cycle of feedback allows us
to be flexible and address difficulties before they occur.
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Practical Tools and Techniques for Implementing Organizational Ergonomics
There are various methods and tools for implementing organizational ergonomics, which can be
combined to achieve the best results.

For example, you can use:

•Co-design workshops: involving the team directly in the design of processes to co-create solutions.
The co-design approach also serves to strengthen the sense of belonging and participation.
•Workflow analysis: using the principles and tools of organizational ergonomics to identify and remove
inefficiencies, ensuring that the processes are adapted to the needs of our team.
•Feedback tools: implementing tools to constantly collect input and feedback from the team and using this
information to structure new solutions to be continuously monitored.
•Design thinking: a methodology that places the user at the center of the design process. Design
thinking is based on five main phases (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test). This nonlinear and
iterative process allows us to quickly adapt to changes.
Case Study: How We Transformed Our Company with Organizational Ergonomics
Let’s bring a concrete example.
Rapid business growth led to a review of our internal organizational structure, moving from a flat organizational structure to a team-
based organizational structure.
Such a change impacts all activities, including rules, roles, and responsibilities, and also determines a change in the flow of information
within the company.
It is essential, therefore, to monitor this change and make it increasingly efficient. It is not always possible to anticipate and foresee
(and thus prevent) all possible errors.
We started this article by talking about Just Culture.
Just Culture, in the face of an error, asks: what happened? Why? What can we do to prevent it from recurring? And it is precisely from
here that we started our analysis.

Once we realized an inefficiency in our internal process of project management and staffing, we began with a mapping of the entire
current process.
To do this, we used a revision of the FMEA, a methodology used to analyze processes that can also be used in a preventive phase.
Following the phases of this methodology, we broke down the process into simpler subsets. We listed all possible pain points for each
of these, dividing them into causes and effects.
We integrated the FMEA into another design process model: the Double Diamond.

To have the broadest possible viewpoint and to validate this mapping, we structured a survey sent to all of us (divergent analytical
phase).
Then, with a team of 6 people from middle management, including Team Leaders and Project Managers, we conducted an activity to
discuss the mapping and for each pain point, we evaluated the probability of occurrence, the severity of the effect, and the ease with
which such an error could be intercepted (convergent analytical phase).
All this allows us to identify the priority risk index (RPN).
Errors perceived with a higher priority were then analyzed, giving way to the divergent creative phase where different answers were
given to the clearly defined problem in search of other solutions.
Finally, the convergent creative phase saw a selection of solutions to be brought to our manager to decide which of these to implement.

Now all we have to do is monitor the results!

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA; often written with "failure modes" in plural) is the process of
reviewing as many components, assemblies, and subsystems as possible to identify potential failure
modes in a system and their causes and effects. For each component, the failure modes and their
resulting effects on the rest of the system are recorded in a specific FMEA worksheet. There are
numerous variations of such worksheets. An FMEA can be a qualitative analysis,[1] but may be put on a
quantitative basis when mathematical failure rate models[2] are combined with a statistical failure mode
ratio database. It was one of the first highly structured, systematic techniques for failure analysis. It was
developed by reliability engineers in the late 1950s to study problems that might arise from malfunctions
of military systems. An FMEA is often the first step of a system reliability study.
A few different types of FMEA analyses exist, such as:
•Functional
•Design
•Process
Sometimes FMEA is extended to FMECA (failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis) to indicate that
criticality analysis is performed too.
FMEA is an inductive reasoning (forward logic) single point of failure analysis and is a core task
in reliability engineering, safety engineering and quality engineering.
Double Diamond is the name of a design process model
popularized by the British Design Council in 2005.[1] The
process was adapted from the divergence-convergence
model proposed in 1996 by Hungarian-American
linguist Béla H. Bánáthy.[2][3] The two diamonds represent
a process of exploring an issue more widely or deeply
(divergent thinking) and then taking focused action
(convergent thinking).[4] It suggests that the design
process should have four phases:
•Discover: Understand the issue rather than merely
assuming what it is. This phase involves speaking to and
spending time with people who are affected by the issues.
•Define: With insight gathered from the discovery phase,
define the challenge in a different way.
•Develop: Give different answers to the clearly defined
problem, seeking inspiration from elsewhere and co-
designing with a range of different people.
•Deliver: Test different solutions at a small scale. Reject
those that will not work and improve the ones that will.[4]
To celebrate 20 years of the Double Diamond in 2023, the
Design Council released a visual representation under an
open license and created a Mural template.[5][6]
Organizational ergonomics plays a crucial
role in enhancing employee well-being,
satisfaction, and productivity by
optimizing the work environment,
processes, and organizational culture.
Case Study
Implementing ergonomic principles in
organizational design can lead to
significant improvements in performance,
safety, and overall workplace harmony.

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IMPORTANTNCE OF ERGONOMICS IN DESIGN
Reduces Costs

Enhances
Compliance
User Comfort
with
and
Regulations
Satisfaction
Improves
Increases Health and
Product Safety
Appeal
key points
Important Boosts
Points Productivity
and Efficiency
Supports
Long-Term Use

Improves User
Experience Enhances
Accessibility Reduces
Fatigue and
Stress
MAIN OJECTIVES AND GOAL OF ERGONOMICS
Main Objectives

1 2 3
A work place be fitting the Machinery, Equipment and A conducive
requirements of the work control devices in such a “environment for the
force manner in order to minimize execution of the task
physical and mental strain on most effectively
the individuals/workers there
by improving the efficiency.
 Goals of Ergonomics

01 04
Ergonomics seeks to improve Promoting ergonomic principles
contributes to overall health and

02
productivity and performance by

01
designing tasks, tools, and well-being by minimizing stress,
environments that minimize physical reducing the likelihood of injuries,
and cognitive strain on individuals. and supporting proper posture and
movement.
Enhance Efficiency Ensure Safety

02 05
By reducing the risk of Ergonomic designs should be

06 03
musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), adaptable to accommodate a diverse
Enhance User
ergonomic design helps prevent Improve Comfort workforce, including individuals with
Satisfaction
workplace injuries such as varying physical abilities and
strains, sprains, and repetitive preferences.
motion injuries.
Facilitate Support Health and

03 06
Adaptability Well-being
Ergonomics focuses on creating By considering user needs and

05 04
comfortable workspaces that preferences in design, ergonomics
accommodate human physical aims to enhance user satisfaction
capabilities and limitations, and acceptance of tools, equipment,
reducing discomfort and fatigue. and environments, leading to
improved morale and motivation.
UX Human Factors Research Framework Human: Consider factors, such as the basic demographic characteristics (such as
age and occupation) of users, usage postures and perspectives of different
devices, and occupation of cognitive resources when using devices.
Human factors and ergonomics usually analyzes design
Machine: Consider the device size, device display capability (such as resolution
problems from three aspects, namely, human, machine, and
and color gamut), interaction mode (such as touch and voice), interaction
environment, and carries out the corresponding human factors duration, and other items.

experiments to promote design iteration and achieve the Environment: Consider factors, such as the physical environment (such as
ambient light, ambient sound, and distance) and social environment (private or
corresponding user experience objectives
public equipment).
 Research has been carried out
in fields such as GUI
experience, fluency experience,
Basic UX interaction experience, and
multi-sensory experience.
Taking GUI experience as an
example, the research aims to
fulfill the experience goals in
The existing UX legibility, readability, and
simplicity on multiple devices.
human factors
Achievements of UX
research is
Human Factors
Research
mainly carried
out in two
fields:
Research has been carried out
mainly in fields such as all-
scenario UX human factors and
multi-device UX human factors.
HarmonyOS The multi-device UX human
UX factors research covers devices
such as mobile phones, foldable
screens, tablets, PCs, smart TVs,
wearables, headsets, and
VR&AR glasses
Thank you