Contribution Of Human Factors Research Articles

A framework to support human factors of automation in railway intelligent infrastructure

Technological and organisational advances have increased the potential for remote access and proactive monitoring of the infrastructure in various domains and sectors – water and sewage, oil and gas and transport. Intelligent Infrastructure (II) is an architecture that potentially enables the generation of timely and relevant information about the state of any type of infrastructure asset, providing a basis for reliable decision-making. This paper reports an exploratory study to understand the concepts and human factors associated with II in the railway, largely drawing from structured interviews with key industry decision-makers and attachment to pilot projects. Outputs from the study include a data-processing framework defining the key human factors at different levels of the data structure within a railway II system and a system-level representation. The framework and other study findings will form a basis for human factors contributions to systems design elements such as information interfaces and role specifications.

The Contribution of Maintenance Human Factors to no Fault Founds on Aircraft Systems Engineering

In the context of aircraft engineering and maintenance, No Fault Found (NFF) is a chain of events that develops from a pilot experiencing a system malfunction with post-flight maintenance failing to reproduce the reported symptoms. Without any repair being undertaken, the malfunction may be experienced again on subsequent flights. This paper presents research into aircraft maintenance human factors that are prevalent when aircraft maintenance engineers interact with aircraft systems whilst undertaking fault diagnosis maintenance. The aim of the research is to develop a set of recommended guidelines that focus on mitigating human factors implications that arise from engineers interacting with complex systems when conducting maintenance tasks. This was achieved by undertaking an empirical study that involved a maintenance engineer survey and identification of a NFF case study where a structured interview was conducted. The study revealed that key resources such as aircraft test equipment, integrated onboard maintenance systems and technical maintenance manuals failed to support engineers when undertaking diagnosis tasks. The combined effect of the research findings is that aircraft maintenance personnel are unable to consistently undertake accurate and timely fault diagnosis tasks and this results in unwanted NFF occurrences.

Contribution of Human Factors to Shipping Safety

This paper empirically determines “Contribution of Human Factors to Shipping Safety”. Human factors can be classified into three categories. They are organizational factor, group factor, and individual factor Based on its classification, a questionnaire was made. A questionnaire was tested to 30 respondents who are working at a shipping company (PT. Baruna Jaya) to determine its validity and reliability by using Ms.Excel program. After the test is done, results show that 17 organizational factor statements, 11 group factor statements, 12 individual factor statements, and 10 shipping safety statements are valid with a reliability value for each variables are 0860, 0.767, 0721, and 0.8. By using its valid statements, questionnaires distributed to 86 respondents who are working as passenger ship’s crew at two shipping companies (PT Baruna Jaya and PT. Lestari IndomaBahari). After obtaining data, analysis requirements test (normality, homogeneity, linearity and independence test between independent variables) needs to be done to determine the statistical method to be used. Correlation and regression method by using SPSS program was used to determine the contribution of human factors to shipping safety, either carried out independently between an independent variable to dependent variable, or together between three independent variables to the dependent variable. Analyzed data was found that there are 28.8% contribution of human factors to shipping safety with correlation coefficient is 0.488. This lower contribution of human factors to the shipping safety is one of the causes of ship accidents frequently happen in the case study area. During the last two years there were 22 cases of ship accidents. With respect to that all parties which involve in shipping include shipping companies, the ship’s owners, government, regulatory authorities, classification society and other parties should take a serious concern about safety in shipping by improving on all aspects of human factors.

Temporal variations of ecological security with soil and water loss stress in black soil region of northeast China: a case study on Baiquan County

The deterioration of ecological situation with serious soil and water loss in black soil region of northeast China has attracted more attention due to its significant role on food security of China. To investigate the temporal characteristics of ecological status in typical black soil areas, Baiquan County is selected. Based on the model of Press-Status-Response (P-S-R), indicators are established and the ecological security situations with soil and water loss of Baiquan County are evaluated for the years of 1979, 1990, 2000 and 2005. The results show that the ecological insecurity indicator changes from 0.701 to 0.435 from 1979 to 2005, with a decrease of 37.9% for Baiquan County. And the contributions of physical and human factors to the temporal variations of the ecological security are discussed in detail. Moreover, several problems are recognized to be the potential threats to the ecological security in Baiquan county, including reduction of the effective thickness, excessive application of the fertilizer and low efficiency of the agricultural irrigation system. It is found that effective soil and water loss control actions have made great contribution to the improvement of the ecological security in Baiquan county. All these results and discussions are very helpful for the further investigation on the quantitative relationship between soil and water loss and ecological security in black soil region of northeast China.

Residual anaesthesia drugs in intravenous lines – a silent threat?

Residual anaesthesia drugs in intravenous lines – a silent threat?

Analyzing the relationship between car generation and severity of motor-vehicle crashes in Denmark

While the number of fatalities on Danish roads has decreased in the last 40 years, research has not investigated the contribution of legislation changes, enforcement measures, technological enhancements, infrastructural improvements and human factors to this reduction. In the context of a Danish car market with remarkably high registration tax that causes potential buyers to hold longer onto old cars, the relationship between technological enhancements of vehicles and severity of crashes requires particular attention.The current study investigated the relationship between car generation (i.e., car's first registration year) and injury severity sustained by car drivers involved in accidents in Denmark between 2004 and 2010. A generalized ordered logit model was estimated while controlling for several characteristics of the crash, the vehicle and the persons involved, and a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the effect of car generation on drivers’ injury severity. Results illustrate that newer car generations are associated to significantly lower probability of injury and fatality, and that replacing older cars with newer ones introduces significant and not to be overlooked benefits for both population and society.

Proposal of a Methodology to Integrate the Human Factor in the Service Blueprint

In the field of service design, modeling is often used to visually represent the structures, flow, and operations of a service. This modeling, usually referred to as a “workflow” or “service blueprint”, is usually conceptualized in a linear or matrix form. These models, while useful for visualizing the structures and processes involved in service production, fail to consider the contribution of human factors – motivation, emotion, satisfaction, etc. – that are also essential elements of service interactions. It is therefore necessary to focus on the satisfaction and behavior of customers and employees. The ultimate goal is to try to eliminate the obstacles and conflicts of human order to generate an improvement of the whole service. We propose the development of an “enhanced” service blueprint which includes human factors dimensions, and attempt to compare its use to that of a traditional blueprint.

The role of human factors and ergonomics in mining emergency management: three case studies

Mining is a complex and hazardous work domain. This paper presents three related research studies in mining emergency management, highlighting the contribution that human factors and ergonomics are making to this field. The first study investigates the challenges associated with the collection and management of information during underground coal mining emergencies from a human-centred perspective. The second and third case studies build on the first study: the second one focuses on decision making deficiencies in incident management teams and the final one examines organisational issues related to mining control rooms during emergencies. In each of these three research studies, the broad problem is first defined, then the work undertaken and results produced are described, and finally the implications and future work are presented. Following this, the human factors contributions to help create safe and efficient mining emergency management systems are discussed.

Geographical variability in propagule pressure and climatic suitability explain the European distribution of two highly invasive crayfish

AbstractAimWe assess the relative contribution of human, biological and climatic factors in explaining the colonization success of two highly invasive freshwater decapods: the signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) and the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii).LocationEurope.MethodsWe used boosted regression trees to evaluate the relative influence of, and relationship between, the invader's current pattern of distribution and a set of spatially explicit variables considered important to their colonization success. These variables are related to four well‐known invasion hypotheses, namely the role of propagule pressure, climate matching, biotic resistance from known competitors, and human disturbance.ResultsModel predictions attained a high accuracy for the two invaders (mean AUC ≥ 0.91). Propagule pressure and climatic suitability were identified as the primary drivers of colonization, but the former had a much higher relative influence on the red swamp crayfish. Climate matching was shown to have limited predictive value and climatic suitability models based on occurrences from other invaded areas had consistently higher relative explanatory power than models based on native range data. Biotic resistance and human disturbance were also shown to be weak predictors of the distribution of the two invaders.Main conclusionsThese results contribute to our general understanding of the factors that enable certain species to become notable invaders. Being primarily driven by propagule pressure and climatic suitability, we expect that, given their continued dispersal, the future distribution of these problematic decapods in Europe will increasingly represent their fundamental climatic niche.

The contributions of human factors and ergonomics to a sustainable minerals industry

This article describes examples of the application of human factors research and development work to a sustainable minerals industry. It begins by outlining human-related aspects of the minerals industry and the key human factors work previously undertaken in this domain. The focus then switches to sustainability in the minerals industry. Sustainability principles are introduced and illustrations provided of how human factors research and development work fits within such a framework. Three case studies of human factors in the minerals industry research are presented and the sustainability implications in each case study are highlighted. Finally, future trends related to human factors work in a sustainable minerals industry are addressed, in particular the opportunities and possible adverse consequences that increasing deployment of mining automation might bring. Practitioner Summary: Minerals industries are a major global activity with significant sustainability implications. Aspects of sustainability in mining are examined using three case studies. These illustrate the contribution of human factors/ergonomics in reducing risks; developing emergency response management systems; and the value of participatory ergonomics in improving the design of mining equipment.

Human Factors in the Wild: dilemmas and solutions from human factors engineers working in healthcare

The session will focus on the solution side of human factors contribution into real world problems in healthcare. Five practitioners who work within systems will present real world challenges which were discovered by HF methods, or which have heavy HF implications, but wheredirect HF influence on design lead to the ultimate effective solution. The session will be designed to lead to a discussion about how HF professionals can highlight the success of their science. Five practitioners, each with extensive experience working from within a healthcare organization, will present real world challenges which were discovered by HF methods, or which have heavy HF implications, but where direct HF influence on design lead to the ultimate effective solution. Thesession will be designed to lead to a discussion about how HF professionals can focus their impact, and how they can highlight the success of their science.

Online Surveys: A Potential Weapon Against clinician Non-compliance

Over the last two decades, our understanding of the pathogenesis of central line associated blood steam infections has improved significantly. Also, increased attention has been focused on reducing healthcare worker exposure to infectious agents. Best practice protocols have been developed to eliminate unnecessary morbidity, mortality and costs associated with these infections and exposures. Adoption of these best practices has been incomplete and non-compliance is a major factor preventing our infectious complication rates from reaching zero. Getting at the root cause of noncompliance is complex. Online surveys are uniquely positioned to help understand the human factors contributing to non-compliance. This article reviews some of the pros and cons associated with the use of online surveys. Using several relevant recent examples, this article explores how these surveys can be used to identify those factors that create barriers to compliance. By better understanding all the issues involved with non-compliance, we will be able to create strategies and engineer products to improve best practice protocol compliance and reduce the human factor contribution to our patient's infectious complications.

The Impacts of System and Human Factors on Online Learning Systems Use and Learner Satisfaction

ABSTRACTSuccess in an online learning environment is tied to both human and system factors. This study illuminates the unique contributions of human factors (comfort with online learning, self‐management of learning, and perceived Web self‐efficacy) to online learning system success, which is measured in terms of usage and satisfaction. The research model was tested employing SEM on a sample of 674 college students enrolled in at least one online course. The factors of comfort with online learning and perceived Web self‐efficacy were significant predictors of satisfaction. Comfort with online learning was significant in predicting usage. The impact of demographic variables was examined.

Discussion Panel: Establishing in house Human Factors expert teams to enable comprehensive design of medical work units

The present discussion panel addresses the need and possible approaches for providing integrative and inclusive human factors design of medical work units. An associated question is whether such a design perspective can be achieved without the instantiation of in house human factors teams. While recognition of the general importance and possible contribution of human factors to efficiency and safety of health care is on the rise and is accompanied by a rapidly growing body research and publications; to date its focus has been mainly on individual systems and isolated work procedures. An important overlooked requirement is for a coherent and inclusive design of the global work unit (operating theater, hospital ward, neonatal unit, etc, etc), much the same way in which the overall configuration of an airplane cockpit or a process control room are considered. Furthermore, can such an inclusive perspective of work units be achieved, unless health care institutes establish in house human factors teams? These are the topics to be evaluated.

Human Factors Contributions toward Medication Safety

Preventable patient harm due to errors in medication ordering, transcribing, dispensing and administration is a significant problem as discussed in the Institute of Medicine's 2007 report “Preventing Medication Errors”. Additionally, the report states that there are “enormous gaps in the knowledge base with regard to medication errors” and that the current methods available to solve this problem are inadequate (IOM, 2007, p2). Consequently, human factors research can contribute to the solution for this national problem by addressing the complexity in current medication systems and by designing user-centered solutions that support the real complex cognitive work of the clinicians. Panelists in this session, who have been funded by the federal government, private industry, and fellowships, will briefly share their human factors research on medication systems and then discuss how human factors researchers and practitioners can contribute to medication safety goals.

The development of a human factors classification framework for patient safety

IntroductionNumerous taxonomies have been developed to attempt to identify the human factors contribution to adverse events in complex industries. In healthcare these taxonomies have often focused on outcomes, do not...

Disentangling the relative effects of environmental versus human factors on the abundance of native and alien plant species in Mediterranean sandy shores

AbstractAim Mediterranean coastal sand dunes are characterized by both very stressful environmental conditions and intense human pressure. This work aims to separate the relative contributions of environmental and human factors in determining the presence/abundance of native and alien plant species in such an extreme environment at a regional scale.Location 250 km of the Italian Tyrrhenian coast (Region Lazio).Methods We analysed alien and native plant richness and fitted generalized additive models in a multimodel‐inference framework with comprehensive randomizations to evaluate the relative contribution of environmental and human correlates in explaining the observed patterns.Results Native and alien richness are positively correlated, but different variables influence their spatial patterns. For natives, human population density is the most important factor and is negatively related to richness. Numbers of natives are unexpectedly lower in areas with a high proportion of natural land cover (probably attributable to local farming practices) and, to a lesser degree, affected by the movement of the coastline. On the other hand, alien species richness is strongly related to climatic factors, and more aliens are found in sectors with high rainfall. Secondarily, alien introductions appear to be related to recent urban sprawl and associated gardening.Main conclusions Well‐adapted native species in a fragile equilibrium with their natural environment are extremely sensitive to human‐driven modifications. On the contrary, for more generalist alien species, the availability of limited resources plays a predominant role.

A importância dos fatores humanos no desenvolvimento de produtos com elevado desempenho ambiental: estudo de casos

Este artigo analisa a incorporação de critérios ambientais no desenvolvimento de produtos, a partir da verificação das contribuições dos fatores de recursos humanos para esse processo. Para tanto, após a revisão teórica, conduziu-se um estudo de casos em duas empresas brasileiras. Há indícios de que, quanto maior o nível de excelência em desenvolvimento de produtos com elevado desempenho ambiental, maior é a interação desse processo com os fatores de recursos humanos. Por fim, são registradas as principais oportunidades para a continuidade dessa linha de pesquisa.

Workshop-based methodology to understand the risks in grain export inspection and certification

Much of the human factors contribution in risk assessment and risk management has been focused on systems or product safety; the profession has a much smaller research base regarding risks to do with regulation, certification and public policy, for example. This paper discusses an explicitly human factors contribution to understanding and managing risk for the inspection and export certification of grain and plant products in Australia. Training and awareness workshops, incorporating elements of focus groups, were run for 12 groups of staff and managers from the government department concerned. As well as training in risk management the workshops were used to come to an understanding of the work of the inspectors and other staff, to identify the sources of risk to the successful completion of their work and to develop the basis for a risk assessment framework and tool. The paper is methodological in focus and describes the development and running of the workshops and explains how a human factors oriented risk register was developed on the basis of identification of potential threats and errors in the system. Whilst the contribution of ergonomics is increasingly important as regards safety risk assessment, professionals have been less active as regards business, public policy and even engineering risk. This paper describes an approach within which a new domain was studied and the risks of all kinds identified, preparatory to development of a risk assessment tool.

Understanding safety and production risks in rail engineering planning and protection

Much of the published human factors work on risk is to do with safety and within this is concerned with prediction and analysis of human error and with human reliability assessment. Less has been published on human factors contributions to understanding and managing project, business, engineering and other forms of risk and still less jointly assessing risk to do with broad issues of ‘safety’ and broad issues of ‘production’ or ‘performance’. This paper contains a general commentary on human factors and assessment of risk of various kinds, in the context of the aims of ergonomics and concerns about being too risk averse. The paper then describes a specific project, in rail engineering, where the notion of a human factors case has been employed to analyse engineering functions and related human factors issues. A human factors issues register for potential system disturbances has been developed, prior to a human factors risk assessment, which jointly covers safety and production (engineering delivery) concerns. The paper concludes with a commentary on the potential relevance of a resilience engineering perspective to understanding rail engineering systems risk. Design, planning and management of complex systems will increasingly have to address the issue of making trade-offs between safety and production, and ergonomics should be central to this. The paper addresses the relevant issues and does so in an under-published domain – rail systems engineering work.