Ergonomics in the Future World: Perspectives from Australia and New Zealand.

Abstract

The International Ergonomics Association is a professional association for human factors and ergonomics (HFE) professionals. Australia and New Zealand are two of 52 Federated Societies within the IEA. This paper describes an Ergonomics and the Future World (EFW) workshop held at the IEA Triennial Congress in 2018 (IEA2018), and reports the findings of the Australia / New Zealand (Southern Cross) Cluster (SCC). Four questions were developed by the IEA EFW committee to evaluate the ergonomics state-of-play in various world regions. Southern Cross delegates (N = 17) participated in a 90-minute workshop discussion at IEA2018 (45% participation rate for SCC delegates). A summary was presented during the IEA2018 closing ceremony and as a written report for the IEA. Three themes emerged from the SCC discussions: (i) the impact of technology advances on HFE professional practice;(ii) communication with internal and external stakeholders; and (iii) HFE education. The workshop findings are similar to issues raised at local discussions in Australia and New Zealand over past decades and mirror comments and opinions published by authors in the HFE profession. They provide a benchmark for current SCC opinion and may provide direction for future discussion of these recurring issues.