Frequently Asked Questions

Try using it. Think of all of the ways and circumstances in which you might use it. Does it fit your body size or could it be better? Can you see and hear all you need to see and hear? Is it hard to make it go wrong? Is it comfortable to use all the time (or only to start with)? Is it easy and convenient to use (or could it be improved)? Is it easy to learn to use? Are the instructions clear? Is it easy to clean and maintain? If the answer to all of these questions is 'yes' then the product has probably been thought about with the user in mind.

Ergonomics is a relatively new branch of science which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1999, but relies on research carried out in many other older, established scientific areas, such as engineering, physiology and psychology.

It originated in World War 2, when scientists designed advanced new and potentially improved systems without fully considering the people who would be using them. It gradually became clear that systems and products would have to be designed to take account of many human and environmental factors if they are to be used safely and effectively. This awareness of people's requirements resulted in the discipline of ergonomics.

How can making life easier, be so difficult?

So many buttons, so little time..! Have you narrowly missed injuring yourself trying to unwrap a new DVD in time to record a TV programme that's about to start? Perhaps, like many others, you also find programming the DVD player a real headache. In an age where technology is supposed to make our lives easier, very often our past experiences make us worried about using new products because the task ends up taking twice as long or we can't work out how to use the product in the first place. So we often blame ourselves when we fail to make something work, and feel obliged to stick with old technology because trying to master a new one can be so difficult.

Take the self-service checkouts at supermarkets - how difficult can it be to scan a few items, pack them and make a payment by yourself? If you wanted to find out, you could ask the customers using these checkouts... but there aren't any! Or if there is someone using it, they're only still there because they've got a problem. How does the machine check the age of someone buying alcohol? What do you do if you find that you've got a leaky milk carton and you need to change it - abandon the checkout and your shopping while you go and get another? Does it time you out if you take too long? That's why there's always a member of staff on hand to help... but aren't these checkouts meant to save customers' time and free up staff for other jobs? Is it the design of these machines that make it difficult or are we trying to work with too many variables - including the people themselves?

It's all about 'usability' and although the concept is becoming better understood, there are still so many things in daily life that cause us problems. It's not just high-tech items that we find difficult to master. For example, flat pack furniture often comes with incomprehensible instructions, and you end up with a wardrobe when you were convinced that you'd bought a bed!

How many times have you had to ask someone the way out of a public building? Finding the way out is an especially difficult task in a large department store where the owners just want you to stay in the shop to keep spending. There are often no visual cues as to the way out, for example, the checkouts are nowhere near the doors, and there are no straight walkways to guide you out.

For ergonomists (or human factors specialists), the lack of usability in everyday life is particularly galling, because user-centred design is fundamental to what ergonomics is all about. Many ergonomists are employed to apply their knowledge in the workplace to improve equipment, systems and environments and make the workplace more efficient, safer or more comfortable. Others are involved in product design, addressing usability issues by using their knowledge about human capabilities and limitations. They may suggest alternative designs, and carry out usability testing among real users, gaining valuable knowledge at an early stage and feeding this back to designers and manufacturers.

Ergonomic design is a way of considering design options to ensure that people's capabilities and limitations are taken into account. This helps to ensure that the product is fit for use by the target users.

Product design

Even the simplest of products can be a nightmare to use if poorly designed. Our ancestors didn't have this problem. They could simply make things to suit themselves. These days, the designers of products are often far removed from the end users, which makes it vital to adopt an ergonomic, user-centred approach to design, including studying people using equipment, talking to them and asking them to test objects. This is especially important with 'inclusive design' where everyday products are designed with older and disabled users in mind.

Age related design

The number of people in the UK aged 75 and over is forecast to double over the next 50 years. As such, there is a need to extend the range of application of equipment, services and systems designed for the general population. Data needs to be available on relevant aspects of the capability of the whole population including older and disabled people. The aspects include the physiological (for instance, range of limb movement, strength, vision, hearing) and the psychological (for example, cognitive, reaction time, memory). Anthropometric data is also required (size and shape ranges of people). With data such as this available, a knowledge base can be generated for access by conscientious designers.

Quality of life for older and disabled people may also be enhanced by improvements in the built environment. This includes design of the home, design of public access buildings and public spaces, and design and operation of transport systems. Physical aspects of design that need to be considered include stairs and ramps, hygrothermal conditions (cold, damp, heat), security and accessibility. Sensory aspects include acoustics, lighting, comfort, communication systems, signage and navigation.

In 1995, the Government's Office of Science and Technology initiated 'EQUAL' (Extending QUAlity Life). This initiative draws research activities together that focus on achieving a better lifestyle, participating more fully and actively, and avoiding or alleviating the effects of disability. In 1997, the built environment was highlighted as an area in which EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) funded research could make significant contribution to the aims of EQUAL. 11 projects were funded at that time (for details see www.epsrc.ac.uk/). Further relevant information can also be found at the AgeNet web site.

Design of information

Much of today's human factors research and expertise is channelled towards improving the ways we use information. Virtually everyone has experienced the frustration of using computer software that doesn't work the way they expect it to. For the majority of end users of computer programmes, if the system is not working they have no recourse but to call for technical help, or find creative ways around system limitations, using those parts that are usable, and circumventing the rest or increasing stress levels by using a substandard system. Often the problems in systems could have been avoided, if a more complete understanding of the users' tasks and requirements had been present from the start. The development of easily usable human-computer interfaces is a major issue for ergonomists today.

Information design is a related area, concerned with the design of signs, symbols and instructions so that their meaning can be quickly and safely understood.

As a Registered Member or Fellow you are obliged to make a CPD return each year, it is the only way the Institute can be assured that your knowledge is current. However, we recognise that in some circumstances there may less to submit than you would wish and we provide a place on the form for you to report any mitigating factors.
Where you are on a short break from work which coincides with the CPD return dates, we expect there to be training/work you did before the break that you will wish to log together with anything you did during the break, plus your plans as and when you return to work.
Where you are on a longer break (>12 months) we hope you will be able to make at least a minimum CPD return, perhaps based on your reading of articles/journal papers/books/etc. together with any plans you have to get up to speed once you get back to work.

There is no 'points' system, or target level of CPD, it is for you to determine what is most appropriate to your needs. As a rough guide, it might be appropriate to aim for at least 5% of your time to be spent on activities that would fall within the remit of CPD, although they need not be exclusively related to CPD. The format of the CPD forms should help you to identify the value to you of any particular activity.

There are essentially three parts to the CPD forms:

1. Identifying your own CPD needs according your own roles and responsibilities. Identifing what training needs would best support you at this stage in your career, and help you meet your personal development goals.

2. Recording your own activities and progress. Recording what you have done, and how it meets your identified CPD needs, and recording additional CPD needs that might arise.

3. Undertaking forward planning. Looking ahead to consider what your CPD needs might be in the future, based on what you have done in the previous year.

CPD has been defined as 'the systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of knowledge and skill and the development of personal qualities necessary for the execution of professional and technical duties throughout the individual's working life.' (Source: Engineering Council)

CPD is not intended to take any pre-determined or prescribed form, but can include many activities such as:

• External training courses
• In-house training courses
• Distance learning
• Self-directed learning
• Reading academic journals
• Writing papers for journals/conferences
• Work experience
• Attending conferences/seminars
• Organising meetings
• Working under supervision on new projects
• Membership of Special Interest Groups
• Being a committee member developing national or international standards (BSI, CEN/CENELEC, ETSI and ISO/IEC)

If you wish to notify the IEHF of general changes only, e.g. change of address, contact details, staff members etc. you do not need to fill in any form.

Instead, please contact the IEHF office on membership@ergonomics.org.uk or 01509 234904.

If your organisation already holds Registered Consultancy status and you are notifying the IEHF of a change in competency, please complete (at least) sections 1, 4 and 5 of the Registered Consultancy application form, ensuring that you provide a minimum of 3 project examples per competency.

The PAB Registered Consultancy Panel will review the information provided to determine whether the new claims being made about competence are reasonable. Please note that there is currently a limit of 10 competencies that can be claimed, so if this means you go over that limit then you must indicate the existing competencies that are being replaced.

No, the IEHF is accrediting the consultancy, so it is only work undertaken by the consultancy (i.e. work done since it has been formed) that can be submitted for assessment.

If a newly formed consultancy applies for Registered Consultancy status and has met the requirements for registration (as outlined here: http://www.iehf.org.uk/rc/registration-criteria) but has no trading history, the consultancy may be designated a ‘New Consultancy’ in their entry for the first year of registration.

Therefore, the consultancy must complete Sections 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 of the Registered Consultancy application form. Within the year, the consultancy must provide a fully completed Registered Consultancy application form (including Sections 4 and 5) that demonstrates their competencies via project examples (i.e. work that has been undertaken during their first 12 months of trading).

The consultancy may only be able to demonstrate a small number of competencies by the end of their first year of trading. However, if the ‘New Consultancy’ is successful in their full application for Registered Consultancy status, it is possible to claim additional competencies as further project work is conducted (see Q3).

The Registered Consultancies Panel needs to confirm your application by contacting at least 1 reference provided in your application form. Therefore, you need to select and include a range of project examples in your application that demonstrate your competencies and enable the Panel to follow up with at least 1 of your references.

If you are a Registered Member or Fellow, you could become a European Ergonomist by registering with the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE). The requirements to become a European Ergonomist are approximately equivalent to the IEHF's professional grade of Registered Membership. You can apply to CREE at any time, call the IEHF office for details of how to apply.

The CREE Council usually meets twice each year to consider applications.

If accepted, you can use the affiliation Eur Erg. The cost is £250 for 5 years, after which time you must reapply.

It is in the interests of most professionals to carry liability insurance, protecting them against claims arising from negligence, etc. For an ergonomist or human factors professional, this might happen if someone was injured as a result of bad advice, for example.

Although employees are often covered by their employer's insurance, ergonomists practising independently usually need to make their own arrangements.

IEHF members can get preferential rates from Towergate Professional Risks.

You can appeal against a refusal of election by PAB, by following the relevant appeal procedures of the Institute.

Telephone or email the Institute office. The staff will be able to answer many of your questions straight away. If not, they will be able to refer your question to a member of the Professional Affairs Board and will get back to you as soon as possible. Occasionally, they may give you the contact details of another person who will be able to help.

It's probably wise to email the office before applying if you feel your application is not straightforward. In exceptional circumstances the Professional Affairs Board (PAB) may set up an Assessment Panel to interview you. The Panel will provide you with prior information on the structure and topics of the interview. The Panel would then either recommend your election to Registered Membership, or in the case of failure, list specific requirements that you should fulfil before re-application. The Assessment Panel, nominated by PAB, will comprise at least two Registered Members or Fellows of the Institute, all elected members of PAB.

The cost depends on how you pay and how you receive your journal, as the subscription rate includes a Taylor & Francis journal choice. See our current membership fees. You have a choice of journals you can take, and you might like to read the explanation of the IEHF requirement to take a journal. Your invoice for your subscription is sent when your Registered Membership is confirmed, and any money already paid for a previous grade of membership is taken into account.

Yes, successful candidates may use the title 'Registered Member of the Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors' and the abbreviated affiliation letters MIEHF, for as long as their name remains on the Register of Registered Members and Fellows.

Registered Member is the benchmark by which professional status is judged by the Institute and by many outside bodies. The most important benefit is the recognised status of being a professional member of the only UK organisation for ergonomists and human factors professionals. You will be eligible to take part in the running of the Institute and have voting rights. There are cost savings too, such as heavily discounted journals and good rates for professional indemnity insurance.

The easiest route is to become an Associate Member first and then apply for Registered Membership. To qualify as a Registered Member, you will need to be mentored for 2 years and to provide evidence of 4 years' ergonomics/human factors practice. It will then be up to the mentor to ensure that you can demonstrate the required breadth of knowledge, and for the assessors to check that there is the required evidence. It will help them both if you can give full details of the modules you took on your course, and your success ratings on these modules.

One rough and ready check of your knowledge would be to complete our competency checklist. The first section covers the breadth of knowledge expected, and would give you a feel for whether your course was broad enough. The second rough and ready check is to complete the CREE (Centre for the Registration of European Ergonomists) ergonomics knowledge table included in the MIEHF application form. Whilst this is specific to CREE's requirements, it again gives a rapid assessment of whether your course was broad enough.

It's also worth saying that the Institute's Education & Training Panel is actively working on this topic. So if you think your course should be on the Qualifying Course list, please let us know as soon as possible. The Education & Training Panel is keen to know of all courses that may be suitable, and will endeavour to contact and assess courses which are recommended (providing the course leaders want to apply). Even if this doesn't help you, future graduates from your course will be grateful!

The IEHF maintains a list of short courses which have been accredited by the Institute. You can also contact the different course organisers, and ask them directly for information on the type of course you are looking for. If you join a Regional Group, they may be able to make suggestions for good courses too.

There are two alternatives here:

Either, you should have graduated from one of the Institute's 'Qualifying Courses'. These are Bachelors or Masters level courses in ergonomics and human factors which have been assessed by the Institute as providing a suitable knowledge base.

Or, you should be able to demonstrate a broad knowledge of the anatomical, psychological, physiological and systems bases of ergonomics and human factors. You should show a detailed knowledge of the application of at least one of these bases.

Yes, a graduate applicant may include work undertaken during a period of work experience as part of their degree. Such work will count at a rate of 50% (i.e. one year's industrial placement counts as 6 months' qualifying experience) but to be eligible it must be suitably supervised, with mentor's comments.

Yes, a graduate applicant with experience gained prior to the awarding of their qualifying degree can have that experience contribute towards their qualifying experience, and it will count at the 75% rate.

In order to qualify as a professional ergonomist, an applicant must demonstrate a minimum of 3 years' full time qualifying work experience in the practice of ergonomics/human factors, and/or teaching, and/or relevant research.

Experience gained without a degree from a 'Qualifying Course' counts at a rate of 75%. In other words an applicant without a qualifying degree (e.g. an Associate Member) has to demonstrate at least 4 years' suitable experience. All work experience gained by graduate applicants following the award of their qualifying degree counts in full.

So in summary, if you have a qualifying degree then you need a minimum of 3 years’ work experience as an ergonomist, if you don't have such a degree, then you need 4 years’ work experience.

Remember that the Institute, the mentors and the assessors have no interest in who you did the work for. We are interested only to see what ergonomics competencies have been demonstrated and practised, how you did the work and how it is presented, so as to enable assessors to form a view concerning your suitability for Registered Membership.

The protection of client and/or national confidentiality is of paramount importance and the first thing to do would be to make sanitised copies of the reports; take out company, product and location names, etc. If this is not possible then other things you can do, taking into account any preferences that the client and/or your employer may have, are:

- Arrange a Confidentiality or Non-disclosure Agreement with your mentor if they are from outside your consultancy.
- Ensure you have the necessary clearance and agreement to show your mentor Nationally Secure reports.
- Seek permission from your employer and from the Consultancy's clients to show the work to your mentor and assessors.

The assessors want to see some examples of your project reports. You don't have to provide one from each of your log book entries, a selection of 3 or 4 will suffice. A good guide would be one report from each year you were mentored, and one from each other year in the qualifying period (that is, 3 or 4 reports altogether).

There is not an easy answer to this one. In principle, the answer we want to give is "Yes", but it depends on whether you had any level of mentoring during the last few years, and whether you are qualified to be a Graduate or Associate Member. So let's look at each case in turn.

You graduated from a Qualifying Course, you are currently (or could be) a Graduate Member and you are or have been working closely with somebody who acted as your 'unofficial' mentor, (i.e. 'unofficial' from our perspective) for at least one year. This is a case when we would say "Yes, you can complete the log book retrospectively". Remember to ask your colleague (or ex-colleague) to be your mentor and ask them to complete the mentor's report. Make sure your mentor fulfils our requirements for suitable mentors too.

You are currently (or could be) an Associate Member, and you are or have been working closely with somebody who acted as your 'unofficial' mentor, for at least two years. Again this is a case when we would say "Yes, you can complete the log book retrospectively". Ask your colleague (or ex-colleague) to be your mentor and ask them to complete the mentor's report.

You are currently (or could be) a Graduate or Associate Member BUT you are not, nor have you been, working closely with somebody who could act as your mentor. These are the cases where we would have to say, "No, we feel it's difficult to complete your log book retrospectively". We need you to demonstrate the relevant period of mentoring (1 year for Graduate members, 2 years for Associates). So your first task is to find a mentor. You should be able to include some or all of the work you did before the mentoring period in your log book, but we'd also like to see evidence from both the mentoring period and afterwards, so that we can see the mentor's impact.

You need to answer fully the questions listed on the log book sheets. Try to put yourself in the position of the assessor, and ask yourself: "If this is all they see and know about me, have I given them enough information to make a good judgment?". Typically we seem to get too little information rather than too much, and then when we have to ask for more, so it just delays the process for you. So if you have any doubt, err on the side of too much information.

Have a look at the example log book entries to give you a more concrete idea.

Under certain circumstances it's acceptable for the mentor's report to be produced after the period of time covered by the work in the log book. In this case ideally the mentor has been involved in the supervision of the work undertaken. They will need to examine the log book and discuss the work undertaken with you so they familiarise themselves with your work, ergonomics knowledge and conduct sufficiently to be able to complete the mentor’s report. Equally, the log book must be sufficiently detailed to enable this.

Contact us. There may be a very good reason why somebody has lapsed from being a Registered Member, and that reason may or may not prevent them from being your mentor. So we have to look at each case separately.

In this case, contact us with details of your prospective mentor, before you start being mentored. Remember, we will need to judge whether the prospective mentor can and will fulfil the advisory role needed, so we will want to know:
- the name and contact details of the prospective mentor
- the professional qualifications and membership of professional bodies of the prospective mentor
- the reasons why they would make a good mentor for you
- that the prospective mentor has read, understood and agreed to accept the role we expect a mentor to fulfil.

Living outside the UK, we accept there are fewer Fellows and Registered Members available for you to approach. Perhaps the best starting point is within your own national ergonomics society, especially if it is affiliated to the International Ergonomics Association. If your national society’s members cannot help, perhaps the next best source is your current employer - is there someone you work with who knows your work and is a member of another professional body?

Please try to find someone else who is a Fellow or Registered Member. This will be of benefit to you as an applicant because you can then be confident that you will be guided by a competent person, who also understands the aspirations and expectations of the Institute. This also confirms that we can set and maintain our own appropriate professional standards of competent practice.

In the UK, there should be a Fellow or Registered Member living or working reasonably close to you who you could approach. You start by making contact with other IEHF members, perhaps by attending the Annual Conference or by joining a Regional Group or Special Interest Group, and by keeping in contact with other ergonomists you meet. If all else fails, the Institute office may be able to help by identifying other professional members that you could approach.

Like all professional bodies, we depend on qualified peer review to assess the competence, quality and professionalism of our prospective members. So we might have a problem if your chosen referees are not Fellows or Registered Members, in knowing what they are referencing when making their judgment about you. Consequently, we would encourage you to look hard for a suitable Institute member. However, we recognise there can be difficulties, for example when there are no qualified ergonomists within your organisation, or when you are working outside the UK. In these cases we will be prepared to accept prospective referees who are very knowledgeable about your work and the way you conduct it, for example, your immediate supervisor. Ideally, they should be qualified members of a professional body in a complementary discipline, for example, a chartered engineer or psychologist (in the UK), or an Ing. (across parts of Europe).

If you have any questions or doubts about the acceptability of your prospective referee, please ask us.

Referees are people who know you and know broadly about the work you have been doing during the qualifying period, and are in a position to judge both the quality of the work and your professional approach. So you need to make contact with other members of the Institute and ask if they can help, it's a good reason for attending the Annual Conference and for joining a Regional Group or Special Interest Group, and for keeping in contact with other members you've met.

Remember, the referee needs to know you and your work, so you may need to plan to get to know them in advance of submitting your application. If your prospective referees are not up-to-date with your most recent work, you can always bring them up-to-date before you submit your application.

Fill in the In the news form where you should include:

• the title for the story as per the original article (see the FAQ 'What news sources should be included?' for suitable news sources)
• the source name
• the source URL
• the source date
• a sentence from the original story to convey the gist of the story. This is usually the sub-header or the first/lead sentence.

Please do not include:

• more than a sentence (or maximum two if absolutely necessary). This feature merely provides links to stories, not the stories themselves.
• any photos.

Aside from regular trawling of websites, stories can be harvested via Google news, for instance. If you have an account, you can 'Add a section', e.g. "back pain" and specify the country of the news source, or the news source itself.

If you do not add the story straight to the IEHF website, then it's recommended that you manage the stories using a social bookmarking website to save stories. These include delicious, Diigo, Newsvine, Reddit, Google Bookmarks or StumbleUpon.

The stories must be 'news' and as such it is suggested that no article is older than two weeks at the time that you post the details on this website.

Stories should reflect relevant issues for the discipline and profession of ergonomics and human factors, considering the article 'What is ergonomics', and the IEA definition of ergonomics. Stories should reflect the breadth of the discipline and not repeat stories already reported. Stories should not focus repetitively on particular issues, e.g. texting while driving. It is important that they illustrate the breadth of the discipline.

Please include only news reported on the websites of reputable, English-language international, national or regional news agencies or newspapers. Particular (but not exclusive) attention should be given to UK news sources. The best sources have proven to be The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Times, BBC. Overseas sources include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, etc. Agencies include Reuters and Associated Press. Google News can be a useful source. See also www.thebigproject.co.uk for a list of English language news sources.

Avoid including news from blogs, general websites and other such grey sources that have no established editorial policy.