HUMAN FACTOR AND ERGONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS

Stern, J A Skelly, J J 1984 The Eye Blink and Workload Considerations. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 28, 942-944. 

Consideration of human factors and ergonomic principles to reduce the potential for human error and to relieve operator stress ... 

Human factors and ergonomics design consideration (Sanders and McCormick (1987)). 

Successful management of human factors and the control of risk involves the development of systems of work designed to take account of human capabilities and fallibilities. Using techniques like job safety analysis, jobs should be designed in accordance with ergonomic principles so as to take into account limitations in hmnan performance. Major considerations in job design include ... 

The second perspective to be considered in this chapter is the human factors engineering (or ergonomics) approach (HFE/E). This approach, described in Section 2.5, emphasizes the mismatch between human capabilities and system demands as being the main source of human error. From this perspective, the primary remedy is to ensure that the design of the system takes into account the physical and mental characteristics of the human. This includes consideration of factors such as ... 

The enterprise identifies and defines human-factor considerations (e.g., design space limits, climatic limits, eye movement, reach, ergonomics, cognitive limits, and usability) that affect oprantion of the Systran under development. The enterprise identifies which human factors are constraints and which can be changed based on trade-off analyses. 

The work processes prescribed take into consideration human factors (ergonomics)—the capabilities and limitations of the work population. 

General considerations and principles of ergonomic design—Table 7.1 presents the overarching principles involved in the ergonomic design of control centers. Note that human factors principles are well embedded within them. 

Man-Machine Interfaces Another important consideration in machines and equipment is the interface with users. Ergonomics or human factors engineering principles are often critical in the design of machines and equipment. There are many opportunities to improve productivity and reduce errors in operations that may result in accidents by understanding the visual, auditory, tactile, physical, and mental processing capabihties and Hmitations of people. One must also recognize that many variables in people can affect performance of machines and equipment. 

The inclusion of several major mining houses in the EMESRT design philosophies approach is a considerable step forward in this context. However, a bolder and almost certainly more effective step would be to include a formal requirement for incorporation of risk-based ergonomics/human factors information within their purchasing requirements/design specifications etc. 

O Sullivan (2007) describes an important and unusual step by an individual mine to ensure consideration of human factors in the equipment they purchase. The mine decided to incorporate a detailed consideration of ergonomics in their equipment specification for a new bolter miner. Specifications were provided on ... 

HMI specifications and applied solutions as Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P ID), data formats, types of data obtained, ergonomics of control room and organizational factors directly influencing on operator performance and should be incorporated into HRA analysis. Under consideration should also be taken the performance shaping factors (PSFs), such as stress, estabUshed procedures affecting human operator performance, etc. 

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