Human Factors

Richard Tan
Human Factors Engineering
Swinburne University of Technology
(Sarawak Campus)

What is Human Factors?

It can be defined as the goal of human
interaction with systems which would:
1. Reduces error
2. Increases productivity
3. Enhances Safety
4. Enhances comfort

Involvement of Human Factors

It resolves around the study of factors
and development on or of tools that
would facilitate the achievement of
the stated goals.

User Centered Design

The whole principle is to centre the
design base around the user.
For example, easy to use software does
not just happen.
It requires focusing on the products
potential user from the very
beginning and checking every step of
the way to be sure they will like and
be comfortable with the final design.

Human Factors Specialist

They need to study the users job or
task performance, elicit their needs
and preferences, ask for their
insights and design ideas and request
their response to design solutions.

Control
It must be understood that user
centered design does not mean that
the user designs the product or has
control over entire design process.

The goal
The goal is to find a system that
supports the users needs rather than
making a system to which the users
must adapt.

Example
Questioning helps in designing for
example of a PLC software:
1. What do you want the product to do
for you?
2. In what sort of environment will you
be using the product?
3. What are the priorities when using
the software/product? For example
which functions will you use most?

Overall
In terms of design and analysis, a
human factors specialist would have
considered:
Design of individual pieces of
equipment from human factors
perspective
Hazards associated with equipment,
workstations, environment etc.

Overall

Safety procedures and policies.

Design of workstations.
Efficiency of plant layout.
Efficiency of jobs and tasks.
Adequacy of employee training.
Organisational design, job structures.
Reward/incentives or policies
Information change and
communication.

Useful guidelines
Simplify the structured tasks.
Make things visible, including the
conceptual model of the system, the
alterative actions, and the results of
the actions.
Make it easy to determine what
actions are possible at any moment.

Useful guidelines
Make it easy to evaluate the current
state of the system.
Exploit the power of the constraints
(e.g. if you can only do it one way - do
it the right way)
Design to allow for easy error
recovery.
When else fails, standardise.