The World Health Organization refers to human factors in system design as environmental, organizational and job factors – things that influence behavior at work in a way which can affect health and safety.
Human factors in system design also encompasses ergonomics – a topic that has stirred much discussion over the past couple of decades.
OSHA recommends a periodic review of workplace conditions and processes in order to proactively identify potential issues with ergonomics. This includes looking at the facility as a whole, as well as assessing individual workstations and working practices.
Workers’ compensation, injury and illness reports will also provide insight into problem areas.
The danger of poor ergonomics is primarily that of musculoskeletal disorders, which are caused by repetitive motion, excessive use of bodily force, awkward posture, temperature extremes, or a combination of these factors.
The benefits of well-planned ergonomics are considerable. Studies show that ergonomics decreases pain, strengthens muscles, and increases blood flow. Combined, this improves mental insight helping employees become more productive by experiencing less anxiety, increased awareness, improved moods, and focus.
Increasing employee engagement is crucial for all organizations. When employees aren’t experiencing discomfort and fatigue they tend to increase involvement. Motivation often increases as well when employees feel taken care of by organizations.
This is important because it’s no secret that turnover is an expensive cost for companies. Human factors in system design can reduce turnover rate and make your business one others want to work with.
That said, no dangers can be fully eliminated from a workplace. But proper training in human factors in system design goes a long way in mitigating risk. Requiring regular safety update meetings or webinars will ensure that everyone receives the same message.
Putting up a poster is not enough.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Human Factors in System Design, a 2-day course that covers the key concepts of human factors and their application to development and design of systems.
Learn about the essential link between system design engineering and human/end users/operators. Human Factors in Systems Design discusses how scientific knowledge about human behavior in specifying the design and use of a human-machine system.
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