1. Tel: 01492 879813 Mob: 07984 284642
andy.brazier@gmail.com
www.andybrazier.co.uk
1
The Basics
Human Factors and Ergonomics
Andy Brazier
30 minutes

2. 2
Ergonomics and Human Factors
What are they?
Same thing or different?
Why are they important?

3. 3
Ergonomics
The application of scientific information
concerning humans to the design of objects,
systems and environment for human use.
The interaction of technology and people
Basic anatomy, physiology and psychology
Objective to achieve:
The most productive use of human capabilities
Maintenance of human health and well-being
From the Ergonomics Society website at
www.ergonomics.org.uk
The job must ‘fit the person’ and should not
compromise human capabilities and limitations.

4. 4
Physical demands - musculoskeletal disorders
Psychological demands - stress
Social conditions - job satisfaction
Human error - cause of major accidents.
Human Factors
“Environmental, organisational and job factors,
and human and individual characteristics which
influence behaviour at work in a way which can
affect health and safety”
HSG48 Reducing error and
influencing behaviour

5. 5
Human Factors
What are people being
asked to do
(the task and its
characteristics)?
Who is doing it (the
individual and their
competence)?
Where are they working
(the organisation and its
attributes)?

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There is a large overlap
Ergonomics
Human capabilities
Hardware design
Work stations
User interfaces
Working environment
Manual handling
Personal safety, health
and well being
Human factors
Whole system
Organisation
Culture
Tasks
Errors
Procedures
Training and competence
Major hazard

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Why important?
Up to 80% of accident causes can be attributed
to human factors
All major accidents involve a number of human
failures
Human factors is concerned with
Understanding the causes of human failures
Preventing human failures.

8. 8
Management of
Health & Safety at Work
Regulations (MHSWR, 1992)
“Every employer shall make and give effect to
such arrangements as are appropriate, having
regard to the nature of his activities and the size
of his undertaking, for the effective planning,
organisation, control, monitoring and review of
the preventative and protective measures”
(Regulation 4)

9. 9
Robens Report, 1972
“Promotion of health and safety at work is an
essential function of good management … Good
intentions at the board level are useless if
managers further down the chain and closer to
what happens on the shop floor remain
preoccupied exclusively with production
problems”

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Industrial Accident Prevention
“Underlying accident causes are faults of
management and supervision plus the unwise
methods and procedures that management and
supervision fail to correct…”
Heinrich (1931)

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Behavioural safety
Tends to be more concerned with
Physical activities
Personal safety accidents
Failures of people at the sharp end
The premise is that people are free to choose
the actions they make
Human factors is based on the principle that
people are ‘set up’ to fail
Management and organisational root causes.

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