23 Lessons Learned for Applying Ergonomics to Systems

On May 13, 2011, the human factors and ergonomics community lost a giant with the passing of Hal W. Hendrick. I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with him on several occasions at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meetings. It’s hard to adequately express the positive impact those discussions had on a graduate student that was aspiring to become a human factors and ergonomics practitioner. For that I will always be grateful.

Hal made numerous contributions to the human factors and ergonomics discipline during his long and distinguished career. One of the most important was his conceptualization and promotion of the macroergonomics.

Another talent Hal possessed was his ability to concisely convey important concepts to people both outside and within the discipline. An example of the former is his widely read article “Good Ergonomics is Good Economics”. An example of the latter comes from a 2008 article he published in Applied Ergonomics. Here he provides 23 Lessons Learned for Applying Ergonomics to Systems. They include:

1. The science and practice of ergonomics is the same throughout the world.
2. Its unique technology defines and scopes ergonomics as a discipline.
3. Ergonomics technology can be applied to any system, product, or built environment.
4. Ergonomics is not simply a lay person’s “common sense;” professional expertise is required.
5. Good ergonomics projects typically give a direct cost–benefit of from 1 to 2, to 1 to 10+, with a typical pay-back period of 6–24 months.
6. Effective ergonomics programs on large system development projects take only 1% of the engineering design budget.
7. The earlier ergonomics is applied in design, the cheaper the cost and greater the benefit.
8. The language of business is money.
9. Costs and benefits of ergonomics projects must be measured.
10. The trade-off diamond is a useful tool for evaluating interventions.
11. Ergonomic improvements to reduce accidents and work-related musculoskeletal disorders usually improve productivity—and visa versa.
12. Pick the ‘‘low hanging fruit’’ first.
13. Look for the simple, economic solution first.
14. Less tangible benefits from ergonomic improvements also can have a significant economic impact.
15. Employee ergonomics training is important to safety and productivity.
16. Real management commitment essential: deeds, not just words.
17. Collaboration invariably works better than confrontation.
18. Ergonomists can be effective system integrators on system development projects.
19. OSHA guidelines really do work.
20. Participatory ergonomics is a proven methodology for ensuring that the derived benefits of a macroergonomic intervention will last.
21. True macroergonomics interventions typically achieve a 50–90% improvement in one or more work system effectiveness criteria.
22. Human-centered design of products and systems is the sure way to success.
23. Ride the coattails of the latest management fad.

References

Hendrick, H.W. (2008). Applying ergonomics to systems: Some documented “lessons learned.” Applied Ergonomics, 39, 418-426.