ergonomist 537-march 2015 behavioural safety

No. 537 March 2015

The ErgonomistThe Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors

THE ROLE OF EXPECTATION IN DESIGN

COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIOURAL TRAINING DESIGN IN CONSTRUCTION

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND PUBLIC SPACES

Cybernomics and the implicationsof cyber-deception

2 The Ergonomist March 2015

Contents

www.ergonomics.org.uk

Features04 The role of expectation in design

Ron McLeod

08 Cognitive and behavioural training design in constructionPatricia Meiring & Ann Bicknell

12 Cybernomics and the implications of cyber-deceptionPeter Hancock, Gabriella Hancock & Ben Sawyer

16 Sexual harassment and public spacesJane Osmond & Andree Woodcock

Also in this issue03 From the President

06 Journal overview

07 Ergonomics Everywhere

10 Student Voice

15 Events

18 Institute News

20 Membership update

21 Membership matters

22 Recruitment

EditorialUnderstanding thought processes

As more young people head to Syria to join IS,

the question that keeps coming up is: why?

In our cover article, Peter Hancock and

colleagues discuss cybernomics and the way

in which cyber-deception is changing warfare.

Gone are the days, they argue, where the aim

of an enemy is to destroy. In the cyber world,

which is built on communication, the aim is to

persuade and control, to win the enemy over

to a certain mindset. That is certainly what we

are seeing with these young people, who are

convinced online that Islamic State will provide

them with the life they dream of. The article

discusses how we might combat this type of

warfare and how, just as information can be

a tool for destruction, it can also be a force for

good.

Ron McLeod explores how the erroneous

expectations of various stakeholders can lead to

the design of instruments that cause mistakes

rather than preventing them. He examines what

goes wrong in the design process from the point

of view of users, shareholders and managers

and discusses how being aware of expectations

can reduce human error.

Patricia Meiring and Ann Bicknell describe a

study that was carried out with construction

workers in the Middle East to determine

whether declarative or procedural training is

more eff ective in bringing about change in

safety behaviours.

Jane Osmond and Andree Woodcock discuss

street harassment and the ways in which

transport design can increase safety for women

while they are travelling.

If you have any ideas for feature articles on

research or practice in ergonomics and human

factors, news items, details of relevant events or

suggestions for new content for The Ergonomist,

please email us.

Email Tina: [email protected]

Email Frances: [email protected]

12

Chartered Instituteof Ergonomics& Human Factors

March 2015 The Ergonomist 3

From the PresidentMoving with the times

A launch event will be held at the beginning of March at St Pancras International station in London, to celebrate

the Institute becoming Chartered. Th e venue was chosen carefully. Steve Barraclough will say at the reception that St Pancras is “…a place where so many journeys have begun.” Gilbert Scott’s gothic masterpiece and the adjoining station have a fi ne history, having changed considerably with the times since the fi rst train arrived into St Pancras in 1868. With expansion, decline, the closure of the Grand Hotel in 1935, bomb damage in 1941, St Pancras has more recently transformed to become the magnifi cent international transport hub it is today. Important themes during the reception will be the Institute’s own proud heritage, the wide ranging and important contributions of EHF to modern life and issues we expect to be tackling in future.Th inking about the future prompts me to highlight two signifi cant challenges raised by contributors to our journals. Among papers shortlisted for the Institute’s Liberty Mutual Award this year is Hancock’s article ‘Automation: how much is too much?’ In his treatise, Hancock highlights a drive to automate because we can, not because we should. He argues for a more intelligent, purposeful approach to automation, giving greater heed to achieving collective, positive human experience. Driverless cars will be mentioned at the reception. My mother, still driving in her mid-80s, depends on this mobility to live an independent life to the full.

She is fi nding driving increasingly diffi cult however, and for her, fully automated vehicles would be of great benefi t. For my son though, in his early 20s, learning to drive and having his own car have been a hedonistic rite of passage. Addressing the consequences of ever more automation presents dilemmas for EHF in achieving artful compromise between widely confl icting user needs.In 2009, Straker and Mathiassen asked the question “Increased physical workloads in modern work – a necessity for better health and performance?” Th ese authors reasoned that addressing growth in sedentary work and its detrimental eff ects on health requires a shift from the traditional ergonomics paradigm of reducing risk by reducing physical loads. How then should EHF develop its approaches to function allocation, task, job and system design, in order to achieve good work and good jobs? Ought we to follow Barbieria and colleagues’ suggestion in January’s edition of Ergonomics that offi ce workers should clean their own offi ces?Th ere are other major EHF issues on the horizon of course, those arising from population change, climate change, renewable energy generation and the evolution of manufacturing, for example. As we begin our journey as a Chartered Institute, our discipline and its paradigms need to continue to develop with the times. We might refl ect on the words of Albert Einstein: “Th e world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”Best wishes

1604 08


Feature

ABOUT THE

AUTHOR

Ron is an

independent

human factors

consultant

and has been

a member of

the IEHF since

1982. This article

is an edited

extract from the

introduction to

Part III (Human

Factors in Barrier

Thinking) of his

forthcoming

book, Designing

for human

reliability:

Human Factors

Engineering

for the Oil, Gas

and Process

Industries due

for publication

by Elsevier in

April. Visit www.

ronmcleod.com.

The role of expectation in design

Ron McLeod

Th e image below illustrates the layout of an alarm panel installed in the engine room of a ship. Take a moment to study the layout of the alarms on the two left hand columns. Now, what alarm do you think the button marked ‘?’ is going to be?

Its not what you might reasonably think. It’s ‘FireEye Lockout’. Th e ‘Pump Oil Low’ alarm was actually located below the ‘Pump Oil High’ alarm, not beside it.In the actual panel, the two columns on the left hand side show performance parameters for a boiler. Th e alarms in these two columns are all arranged with the high level alarms on the left , and the low level alarms immediately to their right. But in the lower right hand quadrant, the Feedwater Pump Oil Low alarm is located below, not to the right of, the high level alarm.An engineer who was new to the ship noticed the ‘FireEye Lockout’ alarm lit up. Being aware of the left to right, high-low pattern for all the other boiler performance alarms, he responded as if the feedwater pump oil level was low. When he was questioned about the mistake, he insisted that he had read the alarm, thought it had said ‘Pump Oil Low’ and acted accordingly.If this mistake had led to an event that was serious enough to be investigated, the likely

conclusion would have been along the lines that the mistake was made because of the engineer’s inexperience, or not being suffi ciently attentive. It wasn’t. It was a design-induced human error. And it’s one that nearly anyone could have been predicted to make at some time. Th e company

who manufactured the panel can more than reasonably be expected to have anticipated and avoided the error by the way they designed the layout of the alarms.Th ere are many other examples of similar error-inducing designs in the published literature. And there are many good technical standards that provide principles and design guidance to avoid putting these kind of human error ‘traps’ into equipment. A

modern manufacturer of boilers and related instrumentation can reasonably be expected to ensure the layout of an alarm panel, or indeed, any piece of equipment intended for use in a safety critical application, does not incorporate such an obvious human error trap in a released product.

So what did they expect?

Fortunately the result of the error on the boiler alarm panel was minor: no-one was injured and there was no damage, environmental impact or operational loss. But it happened on a commercial sea-going vessel subject to strict regulations and controls as well as rigorous design and certifi cation standards, safety management systems and operating procedures. It cannot be dismissed lightly as being of no consequence, or ‘just one of those things’. It should not have happened. So let’s examine what might have been expected. Th ere are quite a variety of stakeholders who could reasonably have had expectations about


why it would be impossible for a qualifi ed engineer, considered competent to work in the engine room, to make this error. Some of the more obvious stakeholders include: the engineer himself; his immediate supervisor (probably the ship’s chief engineer); the ship’s captain; the organisation that owns the ship; the company that designed, manufactured and sold the boilers and associated instrumentation; and the person responsible for certifying the ship as being safe and seaworthy, as well as many others.Let’s assume that none of these stakeholders expected this mistake to happen; the core expectation of everyone involved has got to be – can only be – that no-one expected this mistake; the engineer was expected to perform this simple task correctly. So what did the various stakeholders expect? And did these expectations match up with reality? Th e engineer himself may have expected that the company would not allow equipment to be put into service that is likely to lead him to make a mistake. Unfortunately, companies frequently do allow such equipment to be put into service, even if unknowingly.Th e ship’s owner and their shareholders will have expected the engineer to read the label on the alarm and understand what it means before taking action. But this expectation is not consistent with how the human brain works, much of the time in the real world. Humans can ‘look without seeing’ and ‘read without understanding’. An operator scanning a familiar display is likely to use System 1 thinking, that is, fast, intuitive, instinctive thinking.Th e ship’s owner and shareholders will also have expected that critical equipment will be designed to industry standards and that critical workspaces and man-machine interfaces will comply to appropriate human factors design standards. In the real world, human factors standards are oft en called up in design contracts but are frequently not fully complied with.Th e company that designed, manufactured and sold the boilers may have expected that if there was anything seriously wrong with their designs, they would have been told by customers or fi eld engineers. In reality, most human errors do not lead to signifi cant incidents. Consequently, they are rarely investigated fully. And if they are, they rarely identify inherent design problems that are fed back to suppliers.Th e company may also have expected that, since they employ engineers with many years’ experience designing similar equipment, they

can be trusted to get the design of the human interface right based on their experience. No engineer or designer wants to be associated with poor design. Th ough in the real world, engineers and designers have to make compromises. Th e challenge of making things work within all the constraints, trade-off s and compromises of time, budget and resources means the human interface oft en gets overlooked.Th e engineering manager responsible for the design of the instrumentation panel may have expected that the team who produced the design included an engineer competent in human factors, or that the design was reviewed by a human factors engineer. Unfortunately, many organisations adopt a much lower threshold for what they consider ‘competence’ in human factors than they would accept for other engineering disciplines. Being a human, and an engineer, does not make one a human factors engineer.Th is may seem like a big issue to be making out of such a simple mistake associated with one alarm being slightly out of position on an alarm panel. Perhaps it is. Th ough the purpose has been to use this simple example to illustrate the value and insight that can come from asking the simple question ‘what did they expect?’ in connection with a human error. And it is worth refl ecting again on the context: this mistake was made by a qualifi ed engineer working in a safety-critical facility. He may have been new to the ship, but there was no question either about his professional competence to be in the position he was assigned to, or his fi tness to work at the time. And no-one expected him to make the mistake. Indeed, it was expected not to happen. It should not have happened.So this simple example is merely an illustration. It illustrates how examining the expectations held by stakeholders throughout the value chain can provide insight into how people can be put into a position performing critical work where the chances of them making a design-induced mistake are unneccesarily high.In this case, expectations about how the design of the alarm panel would be assured were fl awed, with the result that a situation was created in a critical operational environment where any engineer, however competent, experienced and alert they were, and however strong and supportive the organisation and safety culture they worked in, was likely, at some time, to make the mistake.


Journal overview The Institute’s membership package includes instant access to

seven online journals. Simply go to ergonomics.org.uk, log in to

‘MyIEHF’ and click on ‘My journals’ to see the full list.

Each month we will list articles from a selection of the titles.

Ergonomics Volume 58, Issue 1, 2015

› State of science: mental workload in ergonomics

› Job rotation, musculoskeletal complaints and related work

› A review of HFE-based healthcare system redesign

› Biomechanical exposure variability in offi ce work

› Shift rotation and age - sleep and infl ammation

› Compensatory cognitive rehabilitation for stroke patients

› Noise eff ect on comfort in open-space offi ces

› Chinese text entry performance for mobile display interfaces

› Maximum acceptable eff orts for a thumb abduction task

› Arm movement variability in a repetitive precision task

› Postural stability and perceived exertion: backpacks

› SCBA facepiece for metabolic data collection from fi refi ghters

› Cycling skill, motor competence and BMI in children

Applied Ergonomics

Volume 47 March 2015

› Risk factors for carpal tunnel syndrome: work organization

› Heat strain evaluation of overt and covert body armour

› Breakdowns in coordinated decision making at incidents

› Pheromone responses to deception in a security interview

› Protective footwear and subjective sensations of fi refi ghters

› Prolonged arm elevation as a risk factor for shoulder pain

› Automation: Performance, workload and behaviour

› Infl uence of equipment on sprinting performance

› Physical ergonomics indices for partial pressure suits

› An evaluation of a qualitative culture assessment tool

› Physical load and musculoskeletal complaints among dentists

› Driver behavior in use of signs under distraction

› The impact of work time control on physicians’ sleep

› The collective construction of safety

› Cycling at varying load: measuring perceived exertion

› The patient work system: self-care performance barriers

› Vertical mouse, ergonomic mouse pads and carpal tunnel

› Designing a healthcare kiosk for the community

› A practical approach to glare assessment for train cabs

› Healthcare workers’ perceptions of lean

› Investigation of air supply nozzle use in aircraft cabins

› Self-rostering and psychosocial work factors

› Active seating and car passengers’ perceived comfort

› Vigilance decrements in closed circuit television surveillance

› Physical fi tness and air ventilation effi ciency in fi refi ghters

› Thermal discomfort and hypertension in bus drivers

› Standard inclinometry of set upper arm elevation angles

› Subjective responses to display bezel characteristics

› The eff ect of four pointing device designs in mousing tasks

› Work Domain Analysis with turing machine task analysis

› Integrated human error identifi cation techniques

› Lean production tools and innovative learning

› Glass cockpit displays in simulated fl ight training

› Emergency management multi-agency coordination

› Usability in product development practice: a case study

› A socio-technical approach to improving energy effi ciency

› The Threat-Strategy Interview

› Nursing strategies in the pediatric intensive care unit

Behaviour and Information Technology

Volume 34 Issue 3, 2015

› Beyond cognition and aff ect: sensing the unconscious

› Behavioural responses to risk on remote outcomes

› Information systems and performance

› Information systems satisfaction, loyalty and attachment

› Exploring managers’ intention to use business intelligence

› Individual characteristics and evaluation of IT

› Does computing anger have social elements?

› A neural network approach for user experience assessment

› Innovativeness, aesthetics and self-connection with brand

Journal of Sports SciencesVolume 33, Issue 6, 2015

› Aerobic exercise: no compensatory eff ects in type 2 diabetes

› Lower extremity kinematics of athletics curve sprinting

› High-intensity intermittent priming and cycling performance

› Erythropoietin treatment, mitochondrial and fat oxidation

› Development of the precompetitive appraisal measure

› Cardiorespiratory performance and weight in adolescents

› Visual perception measures in sports vision programmes

› The expert orienteer’s cognitive advantage

› Reductions in blood pressure following isometric exercise

› Judgement and decision-making in adventure sports

› Total body water and its compartments in elite judo athletes

› Cohesion, team mental models, and collective effi cacy

Publications


News

Ergonomics EverywhereLast Thursday I learned more about EEF, an organisation which

supports and lobbies on behalf of UK manufacturers, large and

small, many of whom make up a sizeable membership. The

mood within the UK manufacturing community represented on

that evening in London was decidedly upbeat, in sharp contrast

to that of fi ve years ago. Investment and hard work is evidently

beginning to pay off , in terms of reliability of manufacture,

quality of output, and importantly, the standing in which our

output, from excavators to cars to components are being held

again. Confi dence, a fragile commodity at the best of times,

was cautiously in evidence, together with the inevitable frisson

of uncertainty about what the coming election might deliver.

Vince Cable gave a very listenable insight into the notion of

partnership between government and manufacturing, and how

such an approach, depending as it does on joint initiatives and

commitment, has been encouragingly productive. There was a

pretty common feeling that, irrespective of your politics and to

a degree, irrespective on the outcome of the coming election,

that there is signifi cant merit in de-politicising manufacturing,

and ensuring that sectors like it receive even-handed support

from successive governments, regardless of colour. This would

ensure momentum is maintained, and our manufacturing base

strengthens as a core activity, providing continuity, work, and

the chance for people to learn skills through apprenticeship, a

concept that many of us who are longer in the tooth still shake

our heads about and wonder just how apprenticeship could

have slipped so far off our national agenda.

I found my way home drawing plenty of positives from

that evening. A strong manufacturing sector becomes ever

more likely to invest, now or for the fi rst time, in applying

ergonomics and human factors to further improve the safety

and faultlessness in which people can work together and

within complex systems. And to further sculpt the design

and safeguards that can be incorporated within equipment,

and the ways of using equipment. One major Japanese motor

manufacturer (and there were many vehicle makers in evidence

that evening) was animated about the way E/HF made a real

diff erence, and unspokenly, a commercial contribution to the

growing success of what they sell. That is our challenge: to

ensure E/HF is a routinely recognised part of the system that

underpins the success that our manufacturers are engineering,

now and in the future.

Steve Barraclough

CIEHF Chief Executive

Dear Editor

We’d like to reply to the excellent article in last month’s

issue by Laird Evans and others on the brief history of the

BAe Advanced Technology Centre.

The news of the closure of this excellent establishment is

very sad, but the article prompted happy memories of our

time there.

We both joined in the early 1980s as part of an intake of

‘graduate apprentices’. This was a brilliant scheme that

provided loads of training for people entering industry.

The work at ATC was fascinating and the colleagues both

excellent and supportive. It was the best possible start to a

career in human factors.

We’d like to say thank you to those colleagues for their

generosity and guidance to two apprentice ergonomists.

Ian Hamilton & Barry Davies

Dear Editor

The Journal, Basic and Applied Social Psychology (BASP) has

banned the null hypothesis signifi cance testing procedure

(NHSTP) and the use of Confi dence Intervals.

See http://bit.ly/1G36Uej

I propose that the Institute consider a similar ban for those

journals associated with it. A more ergonomic approach,

with consideration of design implications, would not be

impossible to devise. For research with aims of practical

application, the Evaluation Research literature off ers many

resources.

My preferred resource for the topic of statistical inference

is Oakes, M (1986). Satistical Inference: Commentary for the

Social and Behavioural Sciences. New York Wiley. Perhaps

the BASP policy will result in the book being back in print.

Brian Sherwood Jones

Correction

In last month’s issue of The Ergonomist, the piece ‘From

the President’ included an incorrect version of the word

Portakabin®, which is a registered Trade Mark of Portakabin

Limited of York and is not a generic term.


Feature

ABOUT THE

AUTHORS

Patricia is an HSE

Training Lead in

the Sultanate of

Oman. Ann is a

Tutor Practitioner

for the University

of Leicester and

a consultant for

Pera Training,

Leicester.

Cognitive and behavioural

training design in construction

Patricia Meiring & Ann Bicknell

Protecting workers from injury is the aim of safety awareness training when controls like elimination or substitution of hazardous work activity have been addressed. On construction sites, assessments of competency prior to hire and training on project can demand an extremely fast turn-around time. For researchers, there are many variables in play and many diff erent kinds of people to assess. Stringent experimental conditions may not seem feasible. How can research align with existing safety training measures and how can training design can be enhanced with evaluation measures to drive accident rates down? A recent study conducted in the Middle East provides some answers.It is estimated that only 10% of all training experiences are transferred from the training environment to the job. Failure of transfer may be due many reasons: high attentional demands for a learner in a diverse work environment; infrequent safety controls on site; or the mixing of procedural and declarative knowledge. Th e separation of training design attempts to investigate some of these failures, and understand their contribution in aff ecting learning.Th is study aimed to train two diff erent groups of construction workers, using two diff erent types of training: declarative and behavioural. Declarative training is believed to have a better far-transfer outcome, with behaviours being demonstrated across a range of contexts, whereas behavioural training is seen to have a better near-transfer outcome, with behaviours being displayed reliably in the contexts covered by the training itself.Th e fi rst group received declarative training on heat stress, while the second group received behavioural training on how to maintain 100% tie-off , that is, how to remain safely tethered when working at height. Because the heat stress training was declarative, its aim was for the learners to understand the concepts of heat and how to protect themselves. It is delivered inside a classroom using powerpoint presentations

and Q&A in order to facilitate learners’ understanding. Classroom-based learning is particularly well-suited to declarative content and large audiences, provided the right language trainer is used. 100% tie-off training on the other hand focused on protecting participants working at height by simulating the behaviours in the exact contexts they would be in. Th e training contains procedural knowledge and is carried out in a simulated work environment, which is well-suited to procedural knowledge as the method replicates real-world environments. It also relies less heavily on language.Immediate evaluation measures of pre- and post-test testing, and behavioural observations were used to measure understanding. Th ese measures form part of the NIOSH Training Evaluation framework (and are comparable to Levels 2 and 3 of the now industry standard Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation, 1959). Additional challenges include global projects with a large and diverse construction workforce. Participants receiving declarative training totalled 586 from seven countries, with 82% from the Indian subcontinent. Participants receiving behavioural training were smaller in size at 195, 53% from the Indian subcontinent and 30% from Nepal.Declarative training participants showed a signifi cantly higher measure of existing knowledge in pre-tests. Procedural training participants scored better on longitudinal behavioural observation measures although not signifi cantly. Evaluation measures corresponding to the type of knowledge delivered is a seemingly better indication of understanding. Where declarative and procedural knowledge is found together, the mix of knowledge type may necessitate a careful consideration of the evaluation methods used, and is an important feature for a holistic understanding of competency. Th is fi nding displays the breadth of evaluation measures that are sometimes necessary within training design and why this is oft en not completed in applied studies.


Declarative training is assumed to result in far less demonstration of near-transfer. No transfer was found for the declarative training group on post-test and behavioural observations scores. Interestingly, following the delivery of training in June, there was a large increase in the number of heat-related patients admitted to the clinic, from zero in 2013 to a total of 253 in 2014. Th is is a positive indicator of far-transfer as participants demonstrated an awareness of training content and an increased ability to keep themselves safe. However, the evaluation measures prescribed desired site behaviours, but did not account for clinic admissions and so did not adequately refl ect the actual outcome of cognitive training. Evaluation measures that have the capability to record unknown outcomes would be benefi cial. Future research could investigate how an individual leaps from declarative knowledge to procedural knowledge and then behavioural performance.

Future research on training evaluation measures

No signifi cant relationships between scores were identifi ed for the procedural group, although their measures of central tendency were high – and therefore an indication of safe performance. Procedural evaluation measures were cross-sectional in nature, and therefore had no opportunity for identifying changes prior to and following training. Future research should consider longitudinal evaluation measures, which use leading indicators or predictive measures such as daily observations, or near-miss reporting programs.Th ere is opportunity for far more research to be undertaken if company agreements, ethical concerns, and quality of delivery are addressed. Having the resources necessary to

train, administer, test and score individuals can very quickly enhance the research process and provide the right people with the right training at the right time, as well as inform project management with the much needed outputs of safety data.Th e training design separated knowledge types, associated instructional methods and evaluation tools associated with transfer of training.Key takeaways: › Safety data is ample – when conducting

research where stringent experimental conditions cannot be controlled, make the amount of data work for you by closely aligning existing practices with research need.

› Use evaluation measures that align with knowledge content to understand the full breadth of competency levels.

› Make sure data scored for behavioural performance is longitudinal and wide enough to accommodate scores on all behaviour stemming from knowledge gain.

› Investigate how knowledge leaps occur between declarative training into behavioural performance on an individual level. Th is could revolutionise existing conventions in company training design.

› Investigate unique populations that already rely on training systems. Th e process of implementation in novel environments can be challenging but may off er specifi c opportunities for improvement within the process.

Th e practical implementation of training research is a complex task; from planning to delivery, evaluating competency, and recording and reporting of data on large and diverse projects with many stakeholders. No defi nitive correlations between training and accident frequency rates exist, however training remains a valued tool for changing the way in which work is performed, and perhaps, the culture of the project too.In the Middle East, international companies may experience a unique opportunity in the way they organise and create applicable training design and report it in a timely fashion through well-informed research design. Th is is an important aspect of making training (both formal and informal) sustainable to new populations, and systems that account for safety rates as they evolve in a global context.


Changing cultures - my life and researchIn 2010, when I had fi nished my Bachelor of Science in

Engineering back in the US, I worked in surgery as a procedure

support technician on night shift. This experience gave me the

opportunity to see fi rst-hand the procedures that American

doctors use when anaesthetising patients for surgery.

After moving to the UK to pursue my MSc and PhD, I focused

my research on the surgical suites of the local NHS hospitals.

In the UK, general anaesthesia is given to the patient in the

anaesthetic room (AR), a room adjacent to the operating

theatre, where the patient falls asleep, is disconnected from

monitoring, and is transferred into the operating theatre to be

reconnected to the anaesthetic machine in the theatre. The US

standard is to anaesthetise the patient directly in the operating

theatre. Arguments advocating for the use of AR in the UK

include increased effi ciency of operating lists, reduced patient

anxiety, and providing functional space for the anaesthetic

team. However, some major issues with the AR include the

high cost of duplicated equipment, staffi ng, and transferring an

unconscious and unmonitored patient between rooms resulting

in a risk to the patient’s safety.

My research investigates the cultural context of the existence

of ARs in UK hospitals by evaluating surveys and interviews of

consultant anaesthetists and managers. From previous surveys,

it was clear that existing hospitals have ARs built on to most

or all theatres and an overwhelming majority of anaesthetists

prefer to use them. I will examine this unquestioned

commitment to ARs. I will also incorporate quantitative

analyses of effi ciency and cost metrics to determine the costs of

utilising the AR, and if the proposed time-saving benefi ts truly

outweigh the costs. A fi nal study will bring together clinicians

in a series of focus groups to reach consensus of a range of

evidence showing the costs and benefi ts of ARs. The clinicians

will also be asked to rank patient safety, effi ciency, cost and

other factors relating to the use of ARs in anaesthetic practice,

to determine which priorities are dictating clinical decision-

making.

The results of my research will be benefi cial for any healthcare

workers, managers, or researchers, to understand more fully

the persistence of cultural norms, and how that may aff ect

the possibility for infrastructure changes and improvement

of practice. I am currently in the third year of my PhD and

I’m eager to meet other international healthcare researchers

and ergonomists with whom I can share the experiences I’ve

gained from researching within the NHS, and the lessons I’ve

learned in the US from both the healthcare and manufacturing

industries.

Jeena Velzen

Situation awareness and self-explaining roadsA body of literature has been growing in the Self-Explaining

Roads (SER) domain in Europe, New Zealand and elsewhere.

SER is based on the concept that roads should evoke safe

driving behaviour simply through through their design.

Situation awareness (SA) on the other hand is a well-

established human factors construct and is critical to safety.

Both SER and SA though are currently disconnected aims for an

environment which needs no further explanation or learning

process to know what it means and what to expect.

Coupling SA to SER in the name of inherent safety created

important new opportunities to explore the systematic

relationship between drivers and the road environment.

These became manifest in the course of a pilot study. In it an

approach to enable endemic features of a road to be extracted

using propositional networks was developed. The work formed

the basis of a much larger Naturalistic Driving Study.

A large pool of drivers who matched the demographic profi le

of Scottish drivers was recruited. The study required them to

drive and think aloud on a real-world test route comprised

of roads local to Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh campus.

Using propositional networks the key innovation was being

able to extract a number of cognitive salient features, those

elements of the built environment which are instrumental to

a road being self-explaining and for it to aff ord correct speed

behaviour.

Do these cognitively salient features really have an eff ect? In

the validation study reported it was possible to demonstrate

that they did work. A group of 20 participants undertook a

picture rating task and the results showed that roads which

contained more cognitively salient features were associated

with reductions in overall speed and/or reduced speed variance,

depending on whether the road was a motorway or A-road.

The thesis integrated all the results into a road drivability tool

which can specify areas high and low on cognitively salient

features. This enables areas of cognitive compatibility and

incompatibility to be identifi ed.

This step not only contributes to the body of knowledge but

provides engineers with a user-centred view of the built

environment. The discovered relationship between SER and

SA is a powerful one that can be advanced even further to the

ultimate benefi t of road safety, usability and performance.

It would be great to get more feedback regarding my research

and meet people with similar research interests, so please feel

free to email me at [email protected].

Ipshita Chowdhury

Student Voice


The PhD Blogby Steph Eaves

On 11th February I presented at an

Association of Researchers in Construction

Management Doctoral Workshop on Health,

Safety and Wellbeing at Edinburgh University. The workshop

was made up of several PhD students at various stages in their

research, with some invited industry experts, including my PhD

supervisor Professor Alistair Gibb.

The various presentations provided an excellent platform for

some in-depth discussion about how the notion of health and

wellbeing could be approached in an industry where typically

it is all about safety. It reminded me of a quote which often

appears in my presentations from Lawrence Waterman, Trustee

of the British Safety Council: “for too long we have shouted

safety but whispered health”.

I believe ergonomics has a huge role to play in bringing health

to the forefront of construction workforces. Utilising the

experience and knowledge of workers across the industry to tap

into healthy working behaviours and practices could potentially

enable workers to remain in their trades for longer.

Feedback and communication are key in participatory

ergonomics, however, from my own research with interviews

and focus groups with construction workers, it’s clear that there

is a large gap where good communication channels between

the workforce and management should be.

The Doctoral Workshop was very helpful in allowing discussion

about how we can change the culture and perceptions of

workers in the construction industry, to encourage individuals

to consider their behaviour at work, including unsafe acts such

as intentionally removing their protective equipment.

It has certainly given me some direction for the impending

thesis write-up! I would like to Dr Simon Smith and Dr Fred

Sherratt for organising the day.

New student representativeWe have a new student representative,

Joe Smyth, from Goldsmiths University

of London. If you are studying on an

ergonomics-related course, like Joe, get

in touch!

“I graduated from Loughborough University in 2014 with a BSc

in Ergonomics and Human Factors. I’m now studying for an MA

in Design Critical Practice at Goldsmiths, University of London.

I’m interested in the automotive and transport sector and the

fi elds of HMI, Connected Vehicle Technologies, and Ergonomics

within Design. I’m using my design degree to improve my

knowledge and ability in design methods and processes with

the aim of applying these to future ergonomics projects.”

Girls in Engineering event a great successRecently, BAE Systems Military Air and Information business

hosted a group of 80 female students at a ‘Girls in Engineering’

open evening at its site in Warton, Lancashire. The event aimed

to inspire the 15-18 year olds and provide them with an insight

into the exciting world of engineering.

This event was a fantastic opportunity for us, as human factors

engineers, to raise awareness about the diversity of the human

factors domain and provide more information about career

routes for budding ergonomists or human factors engineers.

We know from experience how diffi cult it can be selecting

A-level subjects or university degree courses and how useful an

event like this would have been for us when we were making

these decisions.

There were two human factors engineers at our stand, both

members of the CIEHF. The stand comprised a variety of human

factors equipment, videos and presentations associated with

manned and unmanned aircraft systems both current and

forward looking.

Practical demonstrations focused on two elements: the

physical environment, giving the students an opportunity to

try on fl ight suits, and and the cognitive environment, giving

the students an opportunity to test out novel interaction

technologies such as the Oculus Rift for potential use in future

cockpits or Unmanned Air Vehicle Ground Control Stations

where the pilot and the vehicle are remote from one another.

We had a great response at our stand with one student

deciding on the night that she wanted to pursue a career in

human factors!

Jaina Mistry & Fiona Cayzer


Feature

Cybernomics and the implications

of cyber-deception

Peter Hancock, Gabriella Hancock & Ben Sawyer

As digital technologies proliferate and the points of direct and indirect infl uence between computer-mediated operations and the physical world increase, issues of cyber-security have burgeoned commensurably. Here, we argue that the critical criterion of interest proves to be each individual user’s state of mind, as mediated by the technologies with which they now necessarily interact. In consequence, human factors and ergonomics lie at the very heart of all ‘cyber’ endeavours.‘Cyber’ might well be the scientifi c word of the decade. Everything cyber is now hot and many researchers (including ourselves) want in. Authorities in many nations are now worried, or even downright terrifi ed of what this new and rather amorphous ‘threat’ might represent. Labels such as ‘cyber-threat’, ‘cyber-terrorism’, and ‘cyber-attack’, dominate our airwaves and our general social discourse. Each of these terms appear to embody the very darkest interpretation of what actually represents the material expression of our modern, interconnected world. At the end of this article however, we off er a perspective which emphasises that ‘cyber’ need not necessarily be so threatening, nor possess so doom-laden a connotation as is now attributed to it. Rather, it could be a very hopeful term, especially with respect to the resolution of contemporary forms of asymmetric and akinetic human confl ict.

Cyberhealth

Th e penetration of electronic devices around our planet has now reached staggering levels. Th e number of mobile phones alone is set to surpass world population in the present year, and thus it is very probable that there are, even now, more personal electronic devices in existence than there are people in the world to use them. Th e modern generation oft en carries two or three versions of such technologies on them, but the evolutionary vector here is towards one single, simple and portable portal to all of the electronic realm. Few individuals in the developed world live beyond the reach of the computer and, as the number of devices continues to increase, the

percentage of the human race that exist beyond computer infl uence will become a vanishingly small number. In short, as a species we now live connected.Like all forms of information exchange such intercourse can be benefi cial or damaging, contingent upon your perspective and the respective goals of each contribution to that communication event. In the same way we can view physical contact as a potential source of kinetic and biological threat in the process of all forms of physical intercourse, so we can see the transmission of information in social intercourse also as a matter of individual and public (cyber) ‘health’.In circumstances where trust is low and the level of perceived threat high, we can and should erect semi-permeable, selective barriers to ensure that interaction is accomplished to the safest possible degree. Indeed, we anticipate a new and coming phase of omnipresent encryption, or ‘omnicryption’, of the all basic electronic data elements, in order to further erect such selective barriers. We have to ensure that these barriers are not so impenetrable that mutual communication cannot occur, or are so prohibitive as to preclude eff ective communicative behaviour.In short, cyber security can well be viewed through the lens of public health, and as with many apparently diverse areas of human understanding, as we dig deep enough, we can always fi nd intriguing and intellectually useful commonalties. Barriers to cyber-attack might then well be conceived of as forms of exclusion guarding at interface thresholds, and the notion of a cyber-condom (or any eff ective form of regulated exclusion zone around your own personal information cache) is both an appropriate and apposite one. In many ways, this is what current forms of security such as passwords, fi rewalls, etc., seek to achieve. But the mimetic commonality we have identifi ed actually provides insight into many more methods of achieving such ends. However, we must specify the forms of threat to such

ABOUT THE

AUTHORS

Peter Hancock

is Provost

Distinguished

Research

Professor in the

Department of

Psychology and

the Institute

for Simulation

and Training at

the University

of Central

Florida. Gabriella

Hancock is

a doctoral

candidate in

the University

of Central

Florida’s Applied

Experimental and

Human Factors

Psychology

program

studying

the psycho-

physiological

underpinnings

of vigilance

performance.

Ben D Sawyer

is an Industrial

Engineer

and Applied

Experimental

Psychology

Doctoral

Candidate at

The University of

Central Florida.

His work on

attention and

distraction in

human-machine

systems can

be accessed

at www.

bendsawyer.com.


boundary layers and how to ensure that only relevant, appropriate, and useful information fi lters through.

Cyberdeception and cybervigilance

Th e comparison between cybersafety and public health might well go beyond the concept of a metaphorical equivalence. Now, we can ask whether cyber-related issues are actually rather simple mimetic extensions of biological isolation. So we can link cybersecurity to other ‘hot’ current issues such as the present, news-dominating Ebola outbreak. Is it reasonable to suggest that cyber-attack and cyber-defence strategies replicate, employ, and adopt certain standard forms of defensive and off ensive actions in the same way that biological entities interact?In the realm of both attack and defence, much of this activity involves deception. Th e degree to which such deceptive activity is ‘intentional’, especially at the micro-biological level of analysis, actually becomes very problematic to distinguish. Th is diffi culty in distinction is especially true if only the consequences of the deception are observable. Appearing to be what you are not for accidental or intentional purposes characterises deception, and for online realms we fi nd that the natural (direct) perceptual capacities which humans have developed in order to detect deception can be circumvented in an alarmingly easy manner. Deception here ranges from the unintentional and benign, to the intentional and vastly destructive. As a general principle, deception detection in artifi cial realms which characterise the cyber-world follows forms of pattern-based search. Scientists and researchers involved in human factors and ergonomics understand much about these human search capacities but in the cyber-world, the rate of event occurrence is, on a human-scale, prohibitive. Nevertheless, if technological speed forms a major part of the problem, it also provides us with the key to potential solutions.In cyber-vigilance, for example, the fi rst-pass processing necessarily occurs through the fi lters of ever-more sophisticated electronic

search algorithms. What these forms of search produce are a series of potential candidates which now need human eyes to distil the particular meanings. Th is latter, human-centred assessment is presently required because, on virtually a necessary basis, these types of attack are currently initiated by human agents in the fi rst place. As in the never-ending interplay between predator and prey, where the ante is always being upped in some fashion, we fi nd humans at both ends of this cyber-predator, cyber-prey channel of intention. When mutual aims and goals are not aligned or indeed are in direct contrast, we see the genesis of confl ict.

Cyberconfl ict

As presciently predicted by Bertrand Russell, the demise of one of the two great stand-off super-powers has left the other in the not necessarily envied position of global domination, but rather one in which history and circumstance have imposed upon them the default function of the world’s policeman. Promulgating the cultural and social norms of a single country upon individuals in various diverse nations in diff ering parts of the globe has brought widespread disapprobation and disapproval to the actions of the United States government. In its turn, America has not essentially grasped and understood this disapproval. Indeed some

segments of the US body politic are frustrated by what appears to them to be simply rank ingratitude for essaying an unpleasant but putatively necessary role. Inevitably, this power imbalance means

that the head-to-head confl ict of traditional kinetic warfare has been largely obviated by the prevailing superpower’s over-dominance. Th is leads to standard forms of asymmetric or ‘guerilla’ type response whose tactics are now mediated through improved and improving technologies. Cyber avenues prove very useful conduits for attack for those faced by such overwhelming kinetic force. But in a cyber-world, victory is indexed by states of belief, for example, your own and that of your interlocutor, not necessarily states of destruction. While interference to societal, operational processes, for example, interruptions to power supplies, transportation infrastructures, banking


capacities, communications networks and the like in the physical world are the shibboleth of current thinking. Th e very notion of physical disintegration of people, materials, and infrastructure is becoming an outmoded aspiration for all confl ict in our world. (Although, we readily accept that such vestigial forms of aspiration still predominate, especially in the reporting of the visually hungry news media).A more modern warfare goal, which looks especially vulnerable to cyber-manipulation is information gathering and veracity. Indeed, it can even be diffi cult to determine if such cyber ‘extract and withdraw’ operations have even occurred as, by defi nition, any such well-executed attack leaves no evidence. To refl ect back to our previous ‘condom’ metaphor, in order to understand the true magnitude of the present exchange of information between governments, corporations and private individuals, we likely have to wait for their off spring, if any, to appear. However even this informational extraction is only an adjunct to the true goals of cyber-confl ict.Th e real aim of modern confl ict is the ‘control’, which might perhaps be even more polemically expressed as the ‘education’, of the ‘other’s’ mind. An enemy persuaded to become an ally represents a much more potent victory than one who is merely exterminated. Aspirations for unmitigated destruction merely lend persistence to our traditional confl ict narrative, which is oft en still underwritten by the scourge of religious intolerance. Attached to potent weapons which enable mass civicide, such maladaptive states of understanding must be dissipated if our species is to persist. However, it is at this juncture we believe that the information carrying capacities of cyber penetration can morph from its spectral worst to its opportune best.

The other side of cyber

If the anachronistic and outmoded concept of evil actually lies in human ignorance, then cyber communication could well be the most powerful extant tool for the dissolution of such ignorance today. To a reasonable extent, knowledge is power. Further, the acquisition and sustenance of both acute and chronic expressions of knowledge via cyber sources have now found manifest expression in large-scale social movements, such as Tahrir Square. Oppressive tyrannies and manipulative

oligarchies fear knowledge and education since it undercuts the foundation of their power base. Arguably, burgeoning knowledge and inter-communication of that knowledge has fueled most of the recent popular social upheavals. Th e cyber world is the accessible repository of such knowledge that with convivial interfaces and effi cient machines can be accessed by all. Perhaps instead of intelligent munitions, our modern-day military should be dropping iPads?Some have argued that all technologies are inherently morally neutral, being able to be used for good or ill as their user intends. However, we believe the modern challenge in creating ‘cyber’ as a weapon against ‘the dark side of the force’, lies in the intentional design of morally embodied technologies. Th ese could take the form of what we can now begin to conceive of as moral orthotics. We believe that, for the foreseeable future, cyber will be the primary battlefi eld upon which the war between knowledge and ignorance will be played out. Surely, those in ergonomics and human factors can, should, and do mediate this crucial battlespace?Our world will soon be spending trillions in its search to secure cybersafety. Rather like the contentious ‘theatre’ of airport security, this will be imposed upon a confused populous by uncertain politicians and certain capitalists. While the spectre of the potential threat is real, and we cannot pretend that it is not. If we do not recognise, emphasise and exploit the positive elements of cyber-communication then our world will spiral toward a global dysfunctionality. In human factors and ergonomics, we have accepted that communications channels present no inherent ‘quality’. Th e message that is transmitted can be destructive, constructive, or gibberish; the mathematical theory of communication specifi es how the message is communicated but neither the value nor the utility of that message.Now is the time to step beyond such a ‘neutralist’ stance to focus on those very issues of value and quality that underwrite cyber communication. We must wed process to purpose and it is those who mediate between mind and machine who must lead this next evolutionary step of science in general. Royal imprimaturs and approbation notwithstanding, if we do not embrace this challenge our science fails in this, the fundamental test of its true import.


Hall of Fame for London & South East Regional Group On 11th March 2015 System Concepts and URS are hosting

a meet up on behalf of the Group from 18:00 at the AECOM

offi ces at 6-8 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1PL.

Networking and drinks provided. Come and share in an

ergonomists’ seven minutes Hall Of Fame. Each of four speakers

will have seven minutes, no more and no less, to share with you

their experiences in the fi eld. To book go to http://tinyurl.com/

lg7fnco.

Accident investigation talks for South Wales Regional Group meetingA presentation called ‘How to use human factors techniques in

accident and incident investigation’ will be given on 12th March

2015 at Tata’s Training Academy in Port Talbot.

Eryl Marsh and Simon Monnington will be using case studies

from their experience to illustrate some human factors

approaches to investigation and the results that they yield in

getting to the root cause. To attend, please email Eryl.Marsh@

hse.gsi.gov.uk.

Scottish Regional Group go on tour at Forth Crossing BridgeThe next forum meeting will involve a visit to the Forth Crossing

Bridge site and will include a project overview presentation and

a site tour.

The meeting will take place on 8th April 2015 and starts at

09:00 at the Ferrytoll main project offi ce at King Malcolm Drive,

Rosyth, KY11 2DY, and fi nishes at 13:30. There will be a Project

Overview Presentation (Progress, Challenges, Programs),

followed by a Visitor’s Safety Induction, then a Site Tour –

Visitor vantage points: North Queensferry and Inchgarvey

House Garden, South Queensberry.

For more details email [email protected].

Call for participation: Frontiers in Cognitive Science

Macrocognition: The Science and Engineering of Sociotechnical

Work Systems. The aim of this topic is to highlight the exciting

psychological research on macrocognition in cognitive science,

cognitive ergonomics, and cognitive systems engineering.

Areas include: cognitive adaptations to complexity; improving

work system performance; developing measures and metrics

for analysis at the work systems level; developing performance

support technology; human-technology interaction; human-

centred design; and developing policy and funding priorities.

In addition, we are interested in research that addresses

multiple levels of analysis, particularly those relating

macrocognition to microcognition or higher levels (for example

social networks) of system performance.

Further details are available at http://journal.frontiersin.org/

ResearchTopic/3782.

Road Safety

18 March 2015, London

The UK Road Safety Summit will support the Government’s

launch of its new road safety legislation, bringing together

politicians, civil servants, police, equipment providers, safety

marketing experts and other key stakeholders. Student

members can attend at a special rate of £65+VAT, email Jo

Mackel at [email protected].

For more information visit http://bit.ly/17RQnuW.

Clinical Safety

28-30 September 2015, Vienna, Austria

The 4th World Congress is organised by IARMM to improve and

promote high advanced safe and clean science and technology

in both risk and crisis management and governance. The

congress covers a wide range of topics such as patient safety,

medication safety, infectious disease outbreak, and other

related subjects. Abstracts must be submitted by 15 May 2015.

For more information, visit www.iarmm.org/4WCCS/.

Designing Systems, Products and Services to Make

them Easier, Safer, and More Eff ective for Human

Use

27 July - 7 August 2015, Michigan, USA

The fi rst week of this two week human factors course,

‘Designing Systems, Products and Services to Make them Easier,

Safer, and More Eff ective for Human Use’, focuses on human

factors concepts. Human-computer interaction is the focus for

week two and presents an overview of major topics through

workshops that provide the foundation for design of eff ective

human-computer systems and web applications. Learn more

and register for upcoming courses at isd.engin.umich.edu/

HumanFactors.

Nominations for IEA triennial awards open

The IEA Awards Committee is receiving nominations for eight

IEA Triennial Awards, including two new awards – the IEA

Human Factors and Ergonomics Prize and the IEA/Elsevier John

Wilson Award.

Please submit your nominations to [email protected] by 30

March 2015. Full details of the award categories are available at

www.iea.cc/award/triennial.html.

Events


Feature

ABOUT THE

AUTHOR

Jane Osmond is a

Research Fellow

at Coventry

University. Her

current research

includes Art &

Design pedagogy

and threshold

concepts;

Metpex - an

EU passenger

measurement

tool - and gender

and public

spaces. Jane is

hoping to secure

funding to

continue research

in this area. Email

her at

arx162@

coventry.ac.uk.

Sexual harassment and public

spaces

Jane Osmond & Andree Woodcock

Street harassment by men represents perhaps the most common and frequent type of sexual harassment encountered by women. However, little research has been conducted into this problem and it is oft en dismissed as a trivial and natural fact of life that women must tolerate. Th e resulting impact has very real consequences for women’s mobility as their travel choices are routinely circumscribed by safety concerns: being unwilling to travel alone aft er dark, walk through badly lit car parks, ignoring harassment waiting for or on public transport and feeling uneasy in a taxi.Th ese consequences were refl ected in a 2013 study by Coventry University and Coventry Women’s Voices. 193 women completed an online survey and 16 telephone interviews were undertaken. Most respondents were between 17 and 29 and 90% lived, worked or were attending educational institutions in the city.Just over 60% had experienced some form of harassment in the preceding 12 months, including unwanted comments, wolf-whistling and groping. Very few reported incidents to police, and most did not challenge them as the situation could negatively escalate: “the sad truth is that your only option is to ignore it, put up with it and internalise the self loathing that doing this brings with it”.Further, participants reported that they were oft en blamed by others for being “too pretty, being out alone aft er dark or in the wrong place at the wrong time”. Th e location of incidents included outside bars, the street, cycling, waiting outside work, in city arcades, taxis and public transport, with one woman commenting: “hundreds of incidents, too many to articulate, this is the reality of day to day life”.From these results it seems that women experience harassment at levels which signifi cantly aff ect their mobility: “It has almost become a part of life that us as women have to accept and put up with it as it is not tackled”.

Th ey felt unsafe when alone, especially at dusk/night-time, near groups of men, at bus stops, in public spaces, car parks, taxis, deserted precincts, underpasses and poorly lit areas.Only 6% of participants said they felt ‘very safe’ in public and the following comment relating to public transport was typical: “On a bus I was made to feel intimidated by two males sitting behind me wolf whistling, calling me sexy and asking me to talk to them, “at least now we have something sexy to look at” was one of the comments. Aft er ignoring them I suddenly became a “stuck up slag” and when I got off the bus they were discussing the way my jeans made my bum look”.At the time of writing, although there is some academic recognition of the problem of public harassment of women, there is little evidence that UK transport operators are specifi cally addressing the issue. However, there are police-led initiatives such as Project Guardian (London) where police are working closely with Transport for London to reduce such behaviour (British Transport Police 2014), and Project Empower (West Midlands) which is training transport staff to spot incidents and support passengers to report, underpinned by an on-board/in-station marketing campaign. To date, West Midlands police have investigated nearly 100 allegations and made 26 arrests, 11 of which have led to convictions. Although attempts to address harassment on public transport are welcome, the focus seems to be on policing behaviour rather than specifi cally addressing existing transport systems and culture.It is obvious that the cultural acceptance of public harassment of women needs to be tackled, epitomised by this participant’s comment: “Until society’s attitudes change I don’t think there’s anything that can be done to make us feel safe. I’m getting really tired of being told as a woman that it’s not safe for me to walk alone especially at night: why not tell men it’s not okay to treat us the way they do? It angers


me that society has the ability to make women feel like victims just because of our gender”.One way to begin may be by sharing stories to understand the severity and extent of the problem and then plan appropriate solutions, refl ecting on and sharing best practice from other countries. Education can also play a key part - from primary school upwards - as it’s as young passengers that children start to absorb cultural norms. Th is cultural shift should be accompanied by a focus on the whole journey, that is the door-to-door experience, rather than separate journey events.

Woodcock proposes the use of the hexagon spindle (H-S) model as a means of representing this, based on an ergonomic model of starting with the user then representing the factors which infl uence successful task completion. Translating this to transport design, the user becomes driver or traveller, who may have a super ordinate goal of reaching their destination as safely, comfortably or conveniently as possible. Th is goal is infl uenced by factors such as the design of the vehicle, transport infrastructure, and behaviour of other passengers. Th erefore, the model proposes that a journey contains several segments, and experience on any of these may have profound eff ects on mobility behaviour. It also diff erentiates between factors that can aff ect journey experience: planning and purchasing tickets, travelling on vehicles, and arrival at transport gateways and destinations, all of which need to be optimised for each traveller. Th e fi ndings of this study are refl ected in recommendations from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which published, in 2013, results of an inquiry into harassment of disabled people on public transport. Although the focus was on disabled people,

the recommendations speak of principles of inclusive design, which aim to minimise exclusion of diverse groups.It is therefore recommended that all transport designers, providers and operators include, at the very least, the following in any new transport design or initiatives. Th ese recommendations can then be plotted against the H-S model, under headings such as: ‘External Environment’, for example development of zero tolerance areas; ‘Transport Work Setting’ for example, anti-harassment regulations on vehicles and stations; and ‘Transport Work Place’ for example empowering staff to act against harassers. › Designers should routinely take into account

a diversity of users when considering design of vehicles.

› Providers should identify ways to design out potential for confl ict in new fl eet and transport infrastructure design. Th ey should review vehicles and waiting areas to ensure adequate lighting, seating and staffi ng.

› Operators should develop reciprocal reporting arrangements between providers so that people can report harassment experienced at stops, stations and on transport to whichever operator they encounter. Th ey should also develop systems to allow repeat perpetrators to be refused entry to each other’s vehicles, similar to those already used by licensed premises.

› Regular equality training should be provided for frontline staff on handling harassment, and clear guidance to staff on routes to take when reporting an incident. Th is should be included as part of core training, before transport staff work with the public.

› A wide range of groups should be involved in public transport policy development and transport providers should work in partnership with criminal justice agencies to reduce risk on and around transport provision.

› Data on high-risk areas and subsequent actions to reduce risk should be collated. Based on this data they should provide adequate protection where known high risks exist, in the same way as other provision is made, for example, around football matches.

Th e survey carried out in 2013 has been replicated by Sheffi eld University and the results of 1500 responses are currently being analysed.


Ergonomics &Human Factors201513 - 16 April 2015, Daventry

Chartered Instituteof Ergonomics& Human Factors

Ergonomics & Human Factors 2015 is rapidly approaching,

taking place from Monday April 13 to Thursday April 16.

This year it is being held at the DeVere Staverton Park in

Daventry, Northamptonshire, just 10 minutes from the M1 or a

short taxi journey from the rail station in Daventry centre.

Let’s take a look at what you can expect.

A chance to learn...There will be a series of informative lectures, presentations,

posters, workshops and discussions. Presenters will be on hand

to talk to throughout the event, so you can put your questions

to them and learn from their expertise. With over 70 sessions

making up the conference the opportunities to gain new and

applicable knowledge are readily available.

Don’t forget that even if you look at the programme and decide

that there is nothing about your specifi c line of work, there

are always transferable skills to be learnt and applied to other

sectors. A presentation about safety in the oil industry for

example would provide valuable information to anyone who

works in other high hazard industries so take a look beneath

the surface and you could learn some key points from work that

has already been undertaken.

With presentations covering ergonomics and human factors

in healthcare, manufacturing, occupational health, transport,

design, safety and many more there is a real diversity of

knowledge to be gained.

...and a chance to relaxWe know that listening to a full day of presentations can be

a tiring, which is why we take our ‘social responsibility’ very

seriously, with a programme of evening entertainment to help

you relax and unwind.

For those who just want a quiet drink and a chat with friends

and colleagues there is a confortable bar. In there on the

Monday evening will be the fi rst ever CIEHF pool competition

and there will also be a golf tournament using a state of the

art golf simulator. Tuesday night sees the return of the ever-

popular Quiz Night, followed on the Wednesday evening by the

pinnacle of the event - the Chartership Celebration Evening!

To celebrate the award of Chartered status, we will be holding

a champagne and canapé reception followed by an awards

ceremony and a three course dinner accompanied by a jazz trio.

The night will be rounded off with after dinner entertainment.

We would be delighted to welcome you to the Celebration

evening even if you are not attending the conference. The

whole evening is available for just £79+VAT.

New speaker bookedThe Rt Hon Sir Charles Haddon-Cave

will be addressing the conference

on Wednesday April 15. He is

author or instigator of reports into

the Kegworth M1 air crash, the

Marchioness and Herald of Free

Enterprise maritime disasters and

most famously the RAF Nimrod crash

of 2006.

Sir Charles chaired the enquiry into the RAF Nimrod disaster

which found failings of a catastrophic nature in the safety

processes leading to the loss of the aircraft. RAF Nimrod QV230

was fl ying a reconnaissance mission over Iraq when it caught

fi re and crashed killing all 14 crew members. It was the biggest

single loss of service personnel since the Falklands War in 1982.

The 586-page enquiry report described the ‘safety case’ carried

out between 2001 and 2005 (intended to identify potential

problems) as “a lamentable job from start to fi nish” and “fatally

undermined by a general malaise: a widespread assumption

that the Nimrod was ‘safe anyway’ because it had successfully

fl own for 30 years”.

The investigation uncovered technical failure which was

“an accident waiting to happen” underpinned by deeper

organisational and managerial causes, the human factors

aspects of which will be discussed during what promises to be a

truly fascinating presentation.

A limited number of places are available for those who would

like to listen to this presentation but not attend for the full

day. Places are available at just £79+VAT including lunch

immediately afterwards.

Institute News


www.ehf2015.org.uk

Gold Sponsor

Exhibitors

Sponsors & supporters

Taylor & Francis Group publishes more than 1700 journals and

around 1800 new books each year, operating from a global

network of 20 offi ces including New York, Philadelphia, Oxford,

Melbourne, Stockholm, Beijing, New Delhi, Johannesburg,

Singapore and Tokyo. We boast a growing, wide-ranging and

high calibre journals portfolio in ergonomics. Our journals

are edited by some of the most prominent academics in the

fi eld and our journal Ergonomics is the offi cial journal of the

Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors.

Full details of the whole event, including the up to date programme, booking options and prices, are available on the event

website now. Please take a look and book now to be part of this special occasion. If you have any queries, please call us on 01509

234904.


Membership updateThe Institute welcomes those listed below who have recently

been accepted as new members, and congratulates those who

have upgraded.

Registered MembersVictoria Kendrick from Leicestershire.

Employed as a research fellow. “I am a

passionate Human Factors Researcher.

Educated at Loughborough University, I

hold a BSc Psychology with Ergonomics,

an MSc Occupational Psychology and

a PhD in crowd experience. Within academia, I worked as a

research associate at Loughborough University investigating

older passengers and teenage rail safety, funded by the Rail

Safety Standards Board and Network Rail. Within industry,

I have provided freelance consultancy in medical device

usability for Firsthand Experience, Team Consulting Ltd and

Cambridge Design Partnership. Currently, I’m a Research

Fellow at the University of New South Wales, funded by the

Australian government to investigate crowd experience within

transportation hubs.”

Claire Launchbury from Avon. Employed at BAE Systems Ltd.

Graduate MembersAmy James. Employed as a User Experience Consultant.

Nadia Jouni from Avon. Employed as a Human Factors

Consultant at Environmental Resources Management.

Nu’maan Kala from Greater Manchester. Employed as a

Human Factors Engineer at BAE Systems Ltd.

Adrian Holmes from New Zealand.

Sudeep Pournami from Edinburgh. Employed as an Assistant

Data Scientist.

Associate MembersDonna Phillips from Swansea. Managing Director at Therapy

Solutions.

Susan Sharpe from West Sussex. Employed as a Senior Human

Factors Consultant at Mott MacDonald Ltd.

Gary Comolly from Dorset. Employed as a Customer

Development Manager at Osmond Ergonomics.

Simon Garcia from Dorset. Employed as a Customer


Kevin Webb from Dorset. Employed as a Customer


Richard Lane from Dorset. Employed as a Customer


Marion Edwin from New Zealand. Ergonomist and Director at

Optimise Ltd.

Tim Peter Hunter from Kent. Employed at Fluto Ltd.

Samantha Bravo from Middlesex.

Student MembersJohn Galvin from Cardiff .

Zoe Cooper from Devon.

Katie Buckley from Australia.

Have you been involved in a project that you are particularly

proud of and demonstrates the application of ergonomics to

a high level? Would you like to see your work recognised by a

wide community? If the answer is yes, then please enter the

competition for the 2015 Ergonomics Design Award.

Visit the new website at www.ergonomicsdesignaward.org.uk,

where you will fi nd full details of the award and how to enter.

The deadline for entries is 30th June. Six shortlisted entries,

selected by a review panel, will then go before an impressive

line up of judges on 22nd September at the Design Council in

London, when a winner will be selected.

The judging session will take place at the same time and venue

as our new Ergonomics Design Seminar, an opportunity for

designers to learn about tools and techniques that will help

to ensure their designs are truly user-centred. The shortlisted

entrants for the award will be invited to display their designs

during the seminar and delegates will have the chance to talk

to them about their work. The announcement of the winner

and the presentation of the award will be made at the end of

the seminar. Further details of the seminar will be available

soon.

This event will be part of the 2015 London Design Festival

which runs from 19 to 27 September. For more details of the

Festival visit www.londondesignfestival.com.

The Ergonomics Design Award is the only award to recognise

excellence in the application of ergonomics to design. So if

you’ve developed a product, workplace or graphic design

which has included ergonomics input in the development

and off ers outstanding usability, then why not submit an

entry to showcase your innovative thinking, your design

skills and above all, your ergonomics insight? Visit www.

ergonomicsdesignaward.org.uk and submit your entry.

MAKING LIFE BETTER

Ergonomics in Design


Membership mattersA fond farewell from Clare...

In 2008 I attended my fi rst Institute conference. At that

time, the only interaction I had with the Institute was as a

Registered Member, paying my subs and fl icking through this

magazine every month. Actually as an aside that’s not exactly

true – all three jobs I’ve had as a consultant have been through

advertisements in this publication!

So, back to the conference. On checking out the Institute stand

I met Barbara Haward, then Chair of Membership Recruitment,

who managed to convince me to take on the role of the vacant

Chair of Membership Services. How did Barbara manage to

convince me? By pointing out she needed help. It was that

simple. You meet a nice person, you off er to help and then you

take on a role. Seven years later and here we are at my fi nal

article.

My role as Chair of Membership Services is to ensure all

members are fully represented in all decisions made by the

IEHF and to ensure we are off ering an appropriate amount

of support and amenities to our members. Together with

Nick Taylor, Chair of Membership Recruitment, I chair the

Membership Committee. Over the years the Committee has

led and delivered a number of projects: both one-off s like

development of careers information for schools, colleges and

universities, to ongoing support for regular events, such as the

Ergonomics Careers Day.

My time at the Institute has been challenging, rewarding and

at times frustrating but that’s just part of the job. One of the

most positive aspects is the sheer number of people I have met.

I have spent my entire career thus far in the nuclear industry

but now my network extends across sectors and academia and

the number of new people I now know thanks to the Institute

is vast.

Another rewarding aspect is engaging with the co-ordinators

of the Regional and Special Interest Groups. All of these guys

provide an amazing service to the Institute and its members by

spending their spare time organising events and I would like

to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them.

Some of these groups are successful year on year, extremely

well attended by a core gang of supporters. Others are not

quite so fruitful and my fi nal request to members is to support

these groups and their co-ordinators. They do an amazing job

and all they need in return is a miniscule amount of your time

– maybe amounting to 5-6 hours a year. Not much to ask, is it?

There are many people I would like to thank: the IEHF staff ,

past and present, and all the council members who support

the membership function on a daily basis. I would also like to

thank the Membership Committee, which includes the Student

Committee, for volunteering their time. Your eff orts behind the

scenes make our Institute a success. I would like to wish you all

the best of luck for the future.

Finally, a special mention to Nick Taylor, who’s been a great

support, has worked extremely hard and has kept me laughing

over the years. Thank you.

...and Nick

My fi rst experience of a Council meeting was at the September

2009 meeting of the still simply named ‘Ergonomics Society’.

I had to wait outside the door while the offi cial business took

place. A vote of Council was to be undertaken to formally co-

opt me into their number. Within a few moments, the smiling,

moustachioed face of Dave O’Neill, then Chief Executive,

peeked round the heavy Georgian door and said: “You’re in.

Come on in.”

I had been brought in to fi ll the vacant role of Chair of

Membership Recruitment and as I took a seat at the table,

alongside an esteemed roll-call of ergonomists that read

like my textbook shelf at University, the matters of Council

continued.

I have been extremely lucky to be present during one of the

most signifi cant periods of change for our professional body.

As the vision has expanded and the recognition of the subject

has risen, so the Society has become an Institute, ‘Ergonomics

OR Human Factors ’has resolved into ‘Ergonomics AND Human

Factors’, ‘Associates’ have become ‘Technical Members’ and Her

Majesty the Queen has granted us a Royal Charter.

Along with the growing fortunes of the Institute have been

many changes to the staff and Council members. They have all

shown great enthusiasm for the subject and for all members

who need support or who look to give back to their professional

body. Through the eff orts of so many and, in my view because

of the importance of the Institute to its members, we have seen

membership numbers consistently rally and prevail, against

the trends in the marketplace and during one of the deepest

recessions in decades.

I have had the good fortune to see the development of the

new strategy for the Chartered Institute and marvel at the far

reaching targets and bold innovations included for the next fi ve

years and beyond.

In the spirit of the recent Oscars, I would like to say a fi nal,

heartfelt thank you to everyone, past and present, who has

been involved with me on Membership Committee. Saving the

best till last - I want to thank the extremely committed and

hardworking Chair of Membership Services, Clare Pollard, who,

to this day, has been the real driving force behind achievements

in the membership arena and who has been the unfailing

guardian of this column. I wish the new Council and new

Chairs the very best of luck and look forward to being an active

member for the rest of my career.

Clare Pollard,

Chair of

Membership

Services

Nick Taylor,

Chair of

Membership

Recruitment

Th e Editors would like to thank Clare and Nick for their hard work as Chairs and for their regular and always on time contributions to this magazine over the years. Th ey have been unfailing in their enthusiasm for the Institute and its work and in getting this across to members in their writing. We wish them the very best in their next endeavours and look forward to any contribution to this magazine they might wish to make in the future.


Academic vacanciesDoctoral Training Studentships in Human-

Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous Computing and

Digital Civics

Newcastle University

We have 16 fully funded 4-year doctoral studentships in the Digital

Interaction Group of the School of Computing Science (commencing

September 2015).

We are seeking applicants with an interest in undertaking a PhD in

human-computer interaction (interaction design, media computing

and interaction techniques and technologies) and ubiquitous

computing (computational behaviour analysis, wearable computing,

pervasive sensing and machine learning).

Deadline: 20 March 2015

See www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AKL816

PhD Studentship: Sensemaking on Design

Projects

University of Bath

Engineering design projects create an enormous digital footprint of

communications and of incremental designs. Can this footprint be

processed and visualised to enable project management as well as the

design work itself?

The student could study: work practices in design projects; automatic

computational techniques for the extraction of communication-

features from digital footprints; or new interactive techniques for

visualising complex data to facilitate decision making by individuals or

by collaborating teams.

Deadline: 1 May 2015

See www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AKO660

PhD Studentship: Knowledge Media Institute

Open University

We are currently off ering fully-funded studentships commencing in

October 2015 to study on the following projects:

› Automated Linking between Media

› Collective Intelligence for the Common Good

› Discovery of meta-properties of data

› Learning from Watching TV

› The Semantically Quantifi ed Self

› Semantic Sentiment and Behaviour Analysis of Social Media

› Visual Food Log Analysis

› Web of Things

Deadline: 13 April 2015

See www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AKN864

‘The Ergonomist’The membership magazine of the CIEHF

Publisher: The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors

ISSN: 0268-5639

Editors: Tina Worthy, telephone 07930 320593, email [email protected] Brown, email [email protected]

Printer: Premier Print Group, London. Printed on matt art paper, manufactured from recycled fi bre.

Advertisement Rates (ex VAT, dimensions

HxWmm)

Quarter page (127 x 88) £450

Half page horizontal (127 x 180) £765

Half page vertical (257 x 88) £765

Full page (257 x 180) £1225

Colour: All advertising is off ered as full colour

and is included in the rates.

Discounts: Institute members and Registered

Consultancies are off ered a discount of 15% on

the rates above.

Format: Copy should be supplied as a high

resolution PDF emailed to Tina Worthy. Copy can

also be emailed as a Word document by prior

request.

Inserts: Inserts, in the form of a PDF, will be

made available to all members via our web portal

on the day the issue is published. Contact us for

further details.

Deadlines: Adverts and inserts should be booked

by the 20th of the month preceding publication.

Copy deadline is normally 25th of the month

preceding publication.

Booking: Please contact Jackie West in the

Institute offi ce on 01509 234904 or email

[email protected].

Online listing: All recruitment adverts published

in The Ergonomist will also be listed on the CIEHF

website at www.ergonomics.org.uk.

Opinions expressed in The Ergonomist are not necessarily

those of the Institute. Whilst every care is taken to provide

accurate information, neither the editors, staff , Council nor

the Institute undertakes any liability for errors or omissions.

The mention of a service or product or inclusion of an advert

does not imply endorsement by the Institute.

Recruitment


DIVERSIONS...For those spare moments...

Time magazine’s 50 best websites of 2014 includes:

10 Minute Mail sets you up with a self-destructing email

address that expires in 10 minutes. Just right for registering for

websites that you might only want to visit once.

Can I Stream.It? is a single search engine that works across

Netfl ix, Amazon, iTunes and other providers, telling you whether

you’ll need to subscribe, rent, buy or wait for your favourite things

to watch.

Vox provides deep background on the biggest news stories. It’s a

great starting point if you’re lost on topics like the Israel-Palestine

confl ict or the battle over net neutrality.

If it’s all getting a bit much Calm.com lets you toggle through

peaceful backgrounds and ambient music, with the ability to set

a timer for up to 20 minutes. Chill out on your own, or choose a

“guided calm” peppered with soothing spoken instructions.

To see links to these sites and the full list, visit http://time.

com/3054279/50-best-websites-2014/.

HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEER London UndergroundSalary from £44,000 depending on skills, knowledge and experience

tfl.gov.uk/jobsTransport for London is delivering one of the biggest investment programmes in Europe on one of the busiest transport networks in the world. You’ll be joining at a particularly exciting time, with a broad range of projects to deliver.

Your responsibilities will be to provide human factors engineering across a variety of upgrades and world class capacity improvements within London Underground’s Capacity Optimisation Programme. This will entail the delivery of robust human factors solutions and assurances to extend the life of existing rail systems and to optimise new high capacity rail systems.

For this post, you’ll be expected to have a minimum of a relevant degree in applied psychology/human factors and you’ll be nearing chartered/full membership of a professional body. This should be accompanied by experience of delivering pragmatic human factors solutions on large multi-disciplined engineering projects in safety critical industries.

Excellent benefits include:• 29 days holiday plus public and bank holidays; • final salary pension scheme;• free oyster travel on TfL network including a nominated

person that resides in your address;• 75% discount on National rail; Season Ticket and interest

free loan;• retail, health, leisure and travel offers;• discounted Eurostar travel;• private medical benefit.

To find out more about this position and apply, please visit tfl.gov.uk using job number 0139528.

Closing date: 23rd March 2015.

We aspire to be as diverse as the city we serve, we welcome applications from all sections of the community.

At Amec Foster Wheeler, we have the largest nuclear focused human factors consultancy team in the UK. Together, we shape a safe, sustainable future.

Take your career to the next level by joining our team of experts.

Human Factors Consultants (all levels) job ID: 21876BR

To learn more and apply, visit amecfw.com/careers

Further opportunities in the nuclear sector.

connectedexcellencein all we do

amecfw.com

Oil & Gas

Clean Energy

Environment & Infrastructure

Mining

Registration is now open for this prominent international rail industry human factors event. It brings together scientists, consultants, regulators, operators, infrastructure managers, manufacturers and suppliers to share knowledge.

The conference programme will cover topical issues including:

• In-cab signalling• Traffic management• Non-Technical Skills• Platform-Train Interface• Safety Culture

You are invited to participate in the conference by submitting an abstract for a paper, workshop, discussion or poster. We welcome submissions on any rail human factors related topic and these must be received by 20 March. Abstracts must be no more than 500 words. If accepted, full paper submission deadline is 19 June.

The early bird price (until 13 July) is £650 plus VAT. Full price is £750 plus VAT. Six student places are available at £450 plus VAT. Registration closes on 4 September.

To find out more or to register for the event see the conference website at www.rssb.co.uk/railhf2015 or contact us at [email protected] .

The conference is organised by RSSB, Network Rail and the University of Nottingham, and in association with the European Rail Agency (ERA), the International Union of Railways (UIC) and the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (IEHF).

Fifth International Rail Human Factors ConferenceVictoria, London, UK14-17 September 2015www.rssb.co.uk/railhf2015

ergonomist 537-march 2015 behavioural safety

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