Quick eligibility check

• I have made significant contributions to ergonomics & human factors for at least 10 years.
• I have had senior professional responsibility for at least 5 years.
• I have at least an intermediate level of proficiency for all competencies in the CIEHF Professional Competency Guidance.
• I can find 3 referees, of whom at least 2 are Fellows of the CIEHF, and at least 1 of these Fellows works outside my organisation. (If I’m not from the UK, I can provide 3 referees who are of an equivalent standing in my own ergonomics/human factors society or related professional body.)
• I can provide (or have recently provided) an up-to-date CPD record as part of my application.
• I will abide by your code of professional conduct.

Your experience

If you are not already a Registered Member of the CIEHF, you must ensure your application shows evidence of your professional experience of delivering holistic solutions. This might include:

• Broad experience in ergonomics projects and occupations related to physiology, psychology and organisational design.
• Investigation and analysis to ensure appropriate interaction between work, product and envrionment, and human needs, capabilities and limitations.
• Appropriate reporting and documentation of ergonomics findings and related professional communications.
• Developing plans for ergonomics design or interventions.
• Determining the compatability of human capabilities with planned or existing demands.
• Making appropriate recommendations for ergonomics changes, monitoring implementation and evaluating outcomes.

Your professional responsibility

You should be able to demonstrate senior professional responsibility for at least 5 years covering a range of skills and abilities that are an integral part of professional and good quality ergonomics and human factors practice, for example:

• Project management, team or capability group leadership within an ergonomics and human factors context.
• Significant financial or management responsibility within an ergonomics and human factors context.
• In an academic environment, demonstration of your leading role in delivering, managing and developing approved ergonomics and human factors courses.
• Taking the lead in research programmes, supported by resulting evidence of publications and presentations.
• The active promotion, development and growth of ergonomics and human factors within an organisation, to ensure it is an integral part of processes, products and activities.
• The planning of ergonomics and human factors contributions to programmes and the control of their progress and outcome, by the integration of professional and appropriate inputs to multidisciplinary programmes.
• Being sufficiently familiar with the technical language and jargon used by those with different professional backgrounds and training disciplines within an organisation, to improve dialogues, understanding and the acceptance of ergonomics and human factors.
• The development and mentoring of the ergonomics and human factors team working with or for you.
• The ability to interpret and sometimes adapt ergonomics and human factors standards and specifications.

Professional competencies

A checklist of Professional Competencies has been developed by CIEHF as a guide to expected competencies for qualification as an ergonomist and human factors specialist. It has been used for some time as an assessment tool for CIEHF accreditation of degree courses. It can be used in conjunction with a proficiency scale to show progress in breadth and depth of skills and expertise as your career progresses. See the guidance for this checklist.

The checklist now forms part of the application for Fellowship to help demonstrate breadth (through the number) and depth (through levels of proficiency) of claimed competencies. If you are planning to upgrade to Fellowship, it might help you to complete the checklist as soon as you can. This will allow you to see any areas where you might need to fill any gaps. You will need to give evidence for your proficiency claims and examples of these could be projects you have managed, training courses you have developed or a publication. You should ensure you provide at least one piece of evidence for each section of the checklist.

Chartered status

All successful applicants for Fellowship will also gain Chartered status. Maintenance of Chartered status is dependent on suitable CPD activities being recorded each year. You will be able to use the post-nominal C.ErgHF FCIEHF and you will receive a certificate.

Assessment of your application

Two suitably qualified members of the Institute’s Professional Affairs Board will assess your application. They might ask you to submit additional information if there are any areas which need clarification.

Your application will need to show that you have met the requirements for eligible experience and mentored supervision in your early career, and that you have given information equivalent to that which could be provided by log books. These are the requirements for Registered Membership, so you should check these before you begin your application.

The application form will request and the assessors will examine:

• Your list of academic publications, published reports and books.
• Your detailed job history.
• The details of your work and responsibilities over the last 10 years.
• Any awards and recognition you have received.
• Your CPD record, if you're not already Chartered.

They will look for service to the profession of ergonomics and human factors and significant contributions to practice

During the assessment of your application, all assessors follow specific written guidance and complete a checklist to ensure they work consistently and we maintain an clear record of your application. You should read these too before you apply to understand what the assessors are looking for, how they do their assessment, and to give yourself the best chance of success.

Questions you might have