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Textbook Ergonomics and Human Factors For A Sustainable Future Andrew Thatcher Ebook All Chapter PDF
Textbook Ergonomics and Human Factors For A Sustainable Future Andrew Thatcher Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Edited by
Andrew Thatcher
and Paul H. P. Yeow
Ergonomics and Human Factors
for a Sustainable Future
Andrew Thatcher
Paul H. P. Yeow
Editors
Ergonomics and
Human Factors for a
Sustainable Future
Current Research and Future Possibilities
Editors
Andrew Thatcher Paul H. P. Yeow
Psychology Department School of Business
University of the Witwatersrand Monash University Malaysia
Johannesburg, South Africa Bandar Sunway, Malaysia
1 Introduction 1
Andrew Thatcher and Paul H. P. Yeow
v
vi Contents
Index391
Notes on Contributors
ix
x NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
and Human Factors awarded him the Otto Edholm Medal in 2001 for his
contribution to basic and applied ergonomics research, the President’s
Medal in 2008 to the HFI-DTC, and the Sir Frederic Bartlett Medal in
2012 for a lifetime contribution to ergonomics research. In 2007 the
Royal Aeronautical Society awarded him the Hodgson Medal and Bronze
Award with colleagues for their work on flight deck safety.
Laerte Idal Sznelwar is a Professor in the Department of Production
Engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo,
Brazil. He is a member of the team of the Laboratoire de Psychologie du
Travail et de l’ Action at CNAM.
Andrew Thatcher is Chair of Industrial/Organisational psychology in
the Psychology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, South
Africa. He is Chair of the Human Factors and Sustainable Development
Technical Committee of the International Ergonomics Association. He is
one of the editors of the journal Ergonomics and is the ergonomics expert
on the World Green Building Council’s technical committee on wellbe-
ing, health, and productivity in green buildings. He is the immediate past
president of the Ergonomics Society of South Africa.
Fandy Tjiptono is currently an Associate Professor at the School of
Business, Monash University Malaysia.
Paul H. P. Yeow is an Associate Professor at the School of Business,
Monash University Malaysia. He was the former Head of Discipline in
E-Business/Information Systems and Marketing Department at Monash
University. He was a recipient of Monash University’s Pro-Vice
Chancellor’s Research Award. He has been a guest editor and an editorial
board member for the journal of Applied Ergonomics.
Klaus J. Zink is a Professor at the Institute for Technology and Work at
the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. He was President of the
Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft from 1997 to 1999. He was also a
member of the Council of the International Ergonomics Association from
1995 to 2000 and 2004 to 2009, and a member of the Executive
Committee of the International Ergonomics Association from 2000 to
2003. In 2000 he became a Fellow of the International Ergonomics
Association.
List of Figures
xiii
xiv List of Figures
xv
xvi List of Tables
Introduction
A. Thatcher (*)
Psychology Department, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa
P. H. P. Yeow
School of Business, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia
1. Resources asymmetries:
Water, food, land, sanitation, Poverty, hunger, disease, Land degradation,
energy, housing, education, cultural subjugation and drought, deforestation,
jobs, healthcare, cultural intolerance, exploitative water pollution,
expression labour practices; health monocultures, GMO,
atmospheric pollution
2. Asymmetries in accumulation and distribution of waste:
CO2, CO, O3 depletion, VOC, Food security, health, disease Global climate change,
heavy metals, e-waste spread desertification, oceanic
and land dead zones,
ocean garbage patches,
species extinction
3. Legislative asymmetries:
Worker protections, Exploitative labour practices Land degradation,
technology transfer, labour (e.g. child labour, modern freshwater depletion,
broking, operational slave labour, unequal unequal global
relocation, environmental compensation for work), distribution of waste,
protections culturally and species threatened and
anthropometrically extinction
inappropriate technology,
social conflict, health
and coral reef degradation (Pratchett, Hoey, & Wilson, 2014). Legislative
asymmetries refer to the fact that there is little global consistency in legal
protections for human and environmental rights. Some geographical
regions have robust legislation and effective enforcement, other regions
have good legislation but poor enforcement, and other regions have nei-
ther good legislation nor effective enforcement. This situation is made
more complex by changing political regimes that use worker and environ-
mental protections as political tools (see Sarfaty, 2017). The consequences
for people are exploitative labour practices, social conflict, and poor health.
The environmental consequences include land degradation, species extinc-
tion, and unequal waste distribution.
As implied before, these issues are complex and highly interconnected.
For example, land resource availability (a resource asymmetry) may also be
influenced by legislation which gives some people more land rights than
others (a legislative asymmetry) or by waste if the land had previously been
a toxic waste dump (an asymmetry in the accumulation and distribution of
waste). Land degradation is also exacerbated by other resource asymme-
tries. For example, financial resource limitations are likely to result in the
over-exploitation of land resources through overgrazing, deforestation for
agricultural land and fuel, the degradation of limited arable land through
poor agricultural methods, and the use of outdated industrial machinery
that is inefficient (Thatcher, 2013). The relationships between “problems”
and “consequences” are also multi-directional. Deforestation contributes
to climate change, which exacerbates land asymmetries. Deforestation for
fuel results in atmospheric pollution, which exacerbates the asymmetries in
the accumulation and distribution of waste, which leads to respiratory
health problems that are exacerbated by asymmetries in the provision of
healthcare systems. Table 1.1 summarises the asymmetries and some of
their likely human and environmental consequences.
Scientifically there is little doubt that human activities have been primar-
ily responsible for these devastating human and environmental consequences
(Cook et al., 2013; Incropera, 2016; Maibach, Myers, & Leiserowitz, 2014;
Oreskes, 2004). In fact, the latest synthesis of the assessment report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2015) suggests that the
human and environmental consequences are worsening. The important
questions that arise are whether the positive developments initiated by the
industrial revolution can be sustained into the future, whether the gains can
be equitably distributed to all people, and whether this can be achieved
without destroying our life-supporting ecosystems.
INTRODUCTION 5
Meadows, 2004), there are very real ecosystemic carrying capacity limits
to growth. In fact, Meadows et al. (2004) have suggested that human
growth has already exceeded the carrying capacity of earth’s ecosystems
and what is actually needed is degrowth (Fournier, 2008). Redclift (2005)
noted that too much human development inevitably means environmental
degradation. This argument rests on the fact that while economic and
social developments seemingly have no limits, there are very real limits to
the carrying capacities of the supporting ecological systems that provide
nutrients, water, air, and materials for our survival. As we discussed in the
introduction to this chapter when discussing asymmetries, the question
becomes how do we achieve equitable human development within the
carrying capacity of earth’s ecosystems?
Johnston et al. (2007) noted that sustainability and sustainable devel-
opment are frequently used interchangeably and yet we have shown that
they have subtly different meanings. Both terms refer to the threat to
continued human existence, at least within acceptable levels of health and
wellbeing. We prefer to use the term sustainability when referring to gen-
eral issues related to the continuance of a particular human system and
sustainable development when referring to a need to address an issue of a
perceived social inequity that requires corrective action. In essence though,
both terms refer to human (as a species) survivability under resource
constraints.
meaningful work and work-life b alance (e.g. Docherty, Forslin, & Shani,
2002). Other micro-ergonomics interventions might include the design
of human-tool interactions that facilitate and encourage sustainable behav-
iour (e.g. Adams & David, 2007; Revell & Stanton, 2016). At the meso-
ergonomics level, it is important to consider resource-efficient work for
teams and groups. Similarly, to the micro-ergonomics level, this would
include sustainable teamwork systems and systems that facilitate sustainable
behaviour for teams/groups (e.g. Torres, Teixeira, & Merino, 2009).
Sustainable systems at the macro-ergonomics level involve issues with
entire organisations such as the design of lean manufacturing systems (e.g.
Genaidy, Sequeira, Rinder, & A-Rehim, 2009). At the mega-ergonomics
level, HFE would be involved with systems that stretch across organisa-
tional and/or national boundaries. This might include approaches such as
lifecycle and supply chain ergonomics (e.g. Zink, 2014). These hierarchical
levels are necessary simplifications since it is also possible to have hierar-
chies of complexity, longevity, size, and geographical reach within a level
(e.g. within micro-ergonomics).
Wilson (2014) uses the terms target system, sibling systems, parent
systems, and child systems to describe the hierarchical relationships
between the different system levels in the HFE hierarchy. The target sys-
tem is the specific system of interest for the HFE investigation. Sibling
systems are the systems at the same relative level of complexity, size, lon-
gevity, and geographical reach as the target system. Parent systems are the
systems that encompass the smaller, underlying systems and child systems
are those systems encompassed by the broader, parent system. In this
parent-sibling-child SSoS model of HFE, the target system interacts with
the surrounding systems and can have impacts on (and can be impacted
upon by) systems seemingly distant (in geographical space and time). The
sustainability of the target system will depend on the strength of the inter-
relationships (multiple, strong bonds build system resilience), the ability
of parent systems to provide support and system “memory”, and the
necessity of child systems to create opportunities to adapt to changes
(Thatcher, 2016).
The chapters in this book are organised in a similar manner. Chapter 2
extends on the rather brief explanation of the SSoS for HFE given in this
chapter. In Chap. 2, Thatcher and Yeow explore different methods for
practitioners and researchers to use in order to find systems of relevance
and importance for an HFE investigation or intervention. Chapters 3, 4,
5, and 6 each look at different components of the micro-ergonomics
INTRODUCTION 13
The book concludes with two chapters that give a critical review of the
work completed so far in the HFE field and attempt to lay out an agenda
for future work. Moore (Chap. 14) encourages us to ensure that HFE
foregrounds human wellbeing and meaning in its deliberations about sus-
tainability. After all, if we are to escape our current predicament, we are
going to need complete commitment from the vast majority of earth’s
human inhabitants. In Chap. 15, Thatcher and Yeow provide a set of pri-
orities required of the HFE field in addressing the challenges of the
twenty-first century. The organisation of the book in relation to the SSoS
is given in Fig. 1.2.