At the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, our Royal Charter obliges us to demonstrate to a wide audience how an ergonomics and human factors approach adds value to virtually every aspect of life, from the devices you use at home, to the transport you take, to the work you do. I think this is incredibly important.

The case studies in this document highlight how a better understanding of people can make a positive difference. Keeping people central to design, focusing on their needs, and optimising how they nteract with others, with their workspaces, and with technology and equipment, leads to work being made easier and more efficient, and systems being made simpler and safer.

The Human Connection II, like the first edition published in 2015, is intended to assist people in industry, in government, and in any business, to understand and influence how work is designed. Good work is good for us but sometimes identifying how to effect change and what that change looks like needs some inspiration. If reading these case studies stimulates ideas on how you can influence or bring about change for the better, using ergonomics and human factors to inspire you, then our job is done.

Dr Claire Dickinson
CIEHF President 2017/18

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The case studies document is free to download.  Request a copy by completing the request form, after which you will receive a link to the document on screen and by email.

“The Human Connection” is a comprehensive set of clear and resonant stories that illustrate the impact of ergonomics and human factors. The 60-page document is intended to be of value to a wide range of audiences, including government, policy makers, industry, third sector groups, educators, research funders, regulatory bodies and collaborators. The case studies, available here as the complete set or individually, have been written to increase understanding of the complexity, range and value of the discipline of ergonomics and human factors.

 

The origins of the publication

Professor Sarah Sharples, CIEHF president 2015-2016, came up with the idea for this publication after discussions about the need for evidence that would help us to spread the word about the value of ergonomics to a broad audience. She says "We are very fortunate that ergonomics and human factors spans so many different contexts, from healthcare, energy, transport and manufacture, but this also presents a challenge in representing such a broad range of activities in an accessible way."
So after distributing a call for contributions to our membership, and receiving a number of submissions of work that had been done, in October, a small working group set about identifying criteria for selection of case studies, and worked through each submitted case study. They also worked through the key messages that we wanted to communicate to industry, educators, policy makers and research funders.
After effort from many people, this publication aims to demonstrate how ergonomics and human factors can improve lives, business and society. We have received endorsements for the document from Nicky Morgan, MP for Loughborough, and Professor Andrew McNaughton, Technical Director of HS2. The document begins with an outline of the priorities for industry, policy makers, research funders and educators which we identified during the thought leadership workshop. We then follow with a very brief overview of some of the goals of ergonomics and human factors, to enable people who are not so familiar with our discipline to understand our particular methods and approaches. We then present the 24 case studies that cover a wide range of sectors.

 

Download your free copy

The case studies document is free to download.  Request a copy by completing the request form, after which you will receive a link to the document on screen and by email.