Being Bold: How HFES Can Encourage Responsible, Timely and Participative Ergonomics to Address Societal Issues

Abstract

Human Factors/Ergonomics (HF/E) is a systems discipline focused on jointly optimizing human well-being and overall system performance. Societal problems, including but not limited to health inequity, racism, poverty, and (lack of) sustainability, are inherently systems problems that involve humans, and so recent work has argued that HF IE can and should contribute to addressing these issues. This panel will bring together leaders of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) to discuss if and how HFES can encourage and support responsible, timely, and participative ergonomics to address societal issues. The session will be highly interactive as the organizers will moderate discussion to reflect on the progress the science and Society (i.e., HFES) have made in this space, identify areas for improvement, and creatively consider future actions to ensure our science and Society are responding to these issues in an ethical manner.

Developing the Human Factors/Ergonomics Discipline to Support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

“…Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) is increasingly recognized as having an important role to play in addressing important, systemic societal challenges, including issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI; Roscoe et al, 2019;Wooldridge et al, 2021). In the United States, we have seen a sustained pattern of sessions at annual meetings from 2016, supported by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) committee, focused on improving DEI, at times generally or specifically in HFES (Chiou et al, 2017;Gomes et al, 2020;Smith-Jackson et al, 2016;Stonewall et al, 2021;Wooldridge et al, 2019;Wooldridge et al, 2018;Wooldridge et al, 2021;Wooldridge et al, 2020). In February 2022, the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) issued a guidance that outlines how HFE can help to address issues related to equality, diversity and inclusion (Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, 2022).…”