State of Science: ergonomics and global issues

Abstract

In his 1993 IEA keynote address, Neville Moray urged the ergonomics discipline to face up to the global problems facing humanity and consider how ergonomics might help find some of the solutions. In this State of Science article we critically evaluate what the ergonomics discipline has achieved in the last two and a half decades to help create a secure future for humanity. Moray's challenges for ergonomics included deriving a value structure that moves us beyond a Westernised view of worker-organisation-technology fit, taking a multidisciplinary approach which engages with other social and biological sciences, considering the gross cross-cultural factors that determine how different societies function, paying more attention to mindful consumption, and embracing the complexity of our interconnected world. This article takes a socio-historical approach by considering the factors that influence what has been achieved since Moray's keynote address. We conclude with our own set of predictions for the future and priorities for addressing the challenges that we are likely to face. Practitioner Summary: We critically reflect on what has been achieved by the ergonomics profession in addressing the global challenges raised by Moray's 1993 keynote address to the International Ergonomics Association. Apart from healthcare, the response has largely been weak and disorganised. We make suggestions for priority research and practice that is required to facilitate a sustainable future for humanity.

Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018)

“…The ergonomics/human factors community is concerned not only about its own conditions and perspectives, but also with those of people at large and the place we all live, as Neville Moray (Tatcher et al 2018) taught us in a memorable address at the IEA Congress in Toronto more than twenty years, in 1994.…”

On Future Occupational Safety and Health Challenges

“…It led to enhancements in general equipment design, personal protective equipment design, accident prevention, accident and injury analyses, system ergonomics, system reliability, safety training, and behavior analysis (Hofmann et al, 2017). In addition to the continued emphasis on physical ergonomics, the 1990s saw the maturation of cognitive ergonomics (Thatcher et al, 2018). In the late 1900s, the team surrounding individual workers, leaders, and the broader organization received more attention, resulting in more multilevel, systems views of safety (Hofmann et al, 2017).…”

Ergonomic intervention combined with an occupational and organizational psychology and sociology perspectives in production systems

“…In the last years, ergonomics approach has extended its interdisciplinarity including knowledge management approaches, occupational health and safety, risk management and organizational psychology and sociology perspectives [1]. Furthermore, the research results and interventions have a greater impact on improving working conditions in the industrial systems and better adapt human operators to their working environment, by reducing risks f all categories [2,3,4,5,6]. Moreover, participatory ergonomics requires more attention to be payed to organizational psychology and sociology in human behavior characterization.…”