Designing for sustainability: ergonomics –carpe diem.

Abstract

This literature review shows that ergonomics contribution to sustainability is limited but since there is congruence between the disciplines it calls for ergonomists to become more involved and to seize the day - carpe diem.

Ergonomics and sustainable development in the past two decades (1992–2011): Research trends and how ergonomics can contribute to sustainable development

“…Even though a few case studies on how ergonomics can help in achieving transition to sustainability have been reported (Wise, 2001;Rodriguez, 2004;Legg and Brown, 2010;Miller et al, 2012;Ryan and Wilson, 2013), a recent literature review conducted by Martin et al (2013) reported that only seven articles on ergonomics, design and sustainability were in ergonomics journals and thus there is a lack of clear published contributions from ergonomics to sustainable development, showing still very weak sign of ergonomists tacking sustainability issues.…”

“…Statements above indicate both ergonomics and sustainable development are human centered and concerned with the joint optimization of the elements of complex socio-technical systems (Legg and Brown, 2010;Zink, 2014), implying that ergonomics could play an important role in assisting the transition to sustainable development (Moray, 1995;Dekker et al, 2013;Martin et al, 2013;Zink and Fischer, 2013;Bolis et al, 2014). Even though a few case studies on how ergonomics can help in achieving transition to sustainability have been reported (Wise, 2001;Rodriguez, 2004;Legg and Brown, 2010;Miller et al, 2012;Ryan and Wilson, 2013), a recent literature review conducted by Martin et al (2013) reported that only seven articles on ergonomics, design and sustainability were in ergonomics journals and thus there is a lack of clear published contributions from ergonomics to sustainable development, showing still very weak sign of ergonomists tacking sustainability issues.…”

“…Since the demands in dealing with the issues related to sustainable development are increasing (IISD, 2013) and the goals of ergonomics and sustainable development are somewhat congruent, integrating ergonomics into the field of sustainable development might offer promising solutions to solve sustainability related problems (Moray, 1995;Ryan and Wilson, 2013;Zink and Fischer, 2013) and open a window of opportunity for the discipline of ergonomics to devote attention to global problems (Haslam and Waterson, 2013;Martin et al, 2013). A number of efforts have been initiated in recent years to call for ergonomics to become more involved with sustainability.…”

Opportunities for meeting sustainability objectives

“…It is emphasized that the Earth's population consumes natural resources faster than the Earth can replenish them (Martin et al, 2013). With the convergence of new technologies and increase in population, the poor replenishment rate and the scarcity of resources will affect every facet of the communities (Karwowski, 2008).…”

“…However, the continuous increase in population, introduction of modern agriculture and globalization of mass produced products and processes created concerns regarding the scarcity of resources. Literature review shows that methods for conservation, recycling and creating alternative energies will not solely replenish the natural resources (Martin et al, 2013). Every cycle of the design and production process must be monitored to safeguard natural resources.…”