Accident prevention is a common thread throughout every aspect of our society. However, even with the most current technological developments, keeping people safe and healthy, both at workplaces and at other daily activities, is still a continual challenge. When it comes to work environments, ergonomics and human factors knowledge can play an important role and, therefore, must be included in, or be a part of, the safety management as a cross-disciplinary area concerned with the understanding of actual work situations and potential variables. This multidisciplinary approach will ultimately ensure the safety, health, and well-being of all collaborators. The main goal of this book is to present theories and models, and to describe practices to foster and promote safer work and working environments. This book offers: * Examples of field practices that can be reproduced in other scenarios * Applications of new methods for risk assessment * Methods on how to apply and integrate human factors and ergonomics in accident prevention and safety management * Coverage of human factors and ergonomics in safety culture * New methods for accident analysis This book is a compilation of contributions from invited authors organized in three main topics from eleven countries and is intended to cover specific aspects of safety and human factors management ranging from case studies to the development of theoretical models. Hopefully, the works presented in the book can be an inspiration for translating research into useful actions and, ultimately, making a relevant and tangible contribution to the safety of our daily and work settings.

This book provides a socio-cultural analysis of the ways in which air traffic controllers formally and informally learn about their work and the active role that organisational cultures play in shaping interpretation and meaning. In particular, it describes the significant role that organizational cultures have played in shaping what is valued by controllers about their work and its role as a filter in enabling or constraining conscious inquiry. The premise of the book is that informal learning is just as important in shaping what people know and value about their work and that this area is frequently overlooked. By using an interpretative research approach, the book highlights the ways in which the social structure of work organisation, culture and history interweaves with learning work to guide and shape what is regarded by controllers as important and what is not. It demonstrates how this social construction is quite different from a top-down corporate culture approach. Technological and organizational reform is leading to changes in work practice and to changes in relationships between workers within the organization. These have implications for anyone wishing to understand the dynamics of organizational life. As such, this study provides insights into many of the changes that are occurring in the nature of work in many different industries. Previous research into learning in air traffic control has centred largely on cognitive individual performance, performance within teams or more recently on performance at a systems level. By tracing the role of context in shaping formal and informal learning, this book shows why interventions at these levels sometimes fail.

This book summarizes the activities of the Generic Intelligent Driver Support (GIDS) Consortium and offers recommendations for successful GIDS implementation. It is based on the GIDS Project, a part of the EC-funded Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in Europe Programme.

The potential of software applications to solve an array of office and administrative problems is increasing faster than the ability of users to exploit it. We need to make systems easier to learn and more comfortable to use. This book reports a major advance in the effort to accomplish both goals. Flexcel enables users to modify access and dialog dynamics to their specific requirements. Relying on a plan recognition feature, the system proposes adaptations or uses of adaptations. The ongoing conflict between the adaptive and the adaptable is resolved in an integration: user and system share the responsibility for the initiatives, decision-making and execution. A "critic" component of the system then analyzes the user's handling of the adaptation tools and suggests improvements. The system offers an environment in which users can explore as they learn. HyPlan implements the context-sensitive help that facilitates learning on demand. When the PLANET plan-recognition feature identifies the kinds of support for work that may possibly be required, HyPlan provides, on request, specific assistance in the form of hypermedia or animated displays and tutorials. Developmental research has shown that users take advantage of opportunities to adapt interfaces only in conjunction with help-functions -- which are accepted when they do not interrupt work. And studies by social scientists have shown that adaptations of technical systems have to be integrated into the overall process of organizational innovation and undertaken cooperatively. This book will stimulate all those concerned with software -- from computational, cognitive, ergonomic, or organizational standpoints -- to reconceive the relationship between design and user support.

Moving from theory into practical reality, ergonomics has come of age as a useful tool for generating safe, comfortable, and productive working environments. Tackling both the simple and complex aspects of a variety of workplaces, Office Ergonomics: Practical Applications demonstrates how to create offices that accommodate all workers. The book contains practical advice on how to maintain an office environment that promotes a healthy, safe, and efficient workforce. Covering workstation design, selection, layout, and use, the book details the impact of computers on worker well-being, particularly when used under unfavorable conditions, and discusses how ergonomics can accommodate disabled workers. The author emphasizes the need to offer 'protection' to people involved in manual handling in offices, an issue that is frequently overlooked, and offers advice on how to work satisfactorily in non-office environments. She explores the possible negative outcomes, such as back pain, headaches, and upper limb disorders, of a poorly designed workstation. Walking you through all the features of an office, the book provides insight into the potential problem areas that workers often encounter. The book explains how to identify suitable workstation furniture, test it, trial it, and introduce the final selection so the workforce accepts it. The author draws on first-hand experience dealing with difficulties in many types of office situations to provide straightforward, easily applicable advice on how to improve the workplace to reduce the likelihood of workers experiencing discomfort, ill-health, and dissatisfaction.

- Written by world-leading subject specialist in both sport management and artificial intelligence - Includes interviews with elite sports managers and coaches - Examines the competitive advantages offered by AI to a wide-range of areas including Recruitment, Performance & Tactics, Health & Fitness, Pedagogy, Broadcasting, eSports, Gambling, and Stadium Design

As computers proliferate and as the field of computer graphics matures, it has become increasingly important for computer scientists to understand how users perceive and interpret computer graphics. Experimental Design: From User Studies to Psychophysics is an accessible introduction to psychological experiments and experimental design, covering the major components in the design, execution, and analysis of perceptual studies. The book begins with an introduction to the concepts central to designing and understanding experiments, including developing a research question, setting conditions and controls, and balancing specificity with generality. The book then explores in detail a number of types of experimental tasks: free description, rating scales, forced-choice, specialized multiple choice, and real-world tasks as well as physiological studies. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each type and provides examples of that type of experiment from the authors' own work. The book also covers stimulus-related issues, including popular stimulus resources. It concludes with a thorough examination of statistical techniques for analyzing results, including methods specific to individual tasks.

Management of hazardous chemicals and materials-particularly during emergency release situations-is a critical part of routine training required for workers and professionals in the chemical, petroleum and manufacturing industries. Proper storage of highly reactive chemical agents, correct choice of protective clothing and safety issues in confined spaces are vital to operating facilities. Inattention to these and other issues covered in this book can result in a loss of life, dispersal of toxic chemical agents into the environment, or fire and explosion and subsequent legal liabilities.Emergency Response and Hazardous Chemical Management: Principles and Practices provides a concise reference for management and workers on the important issues regarding the use and management of hazardous chemicals as well as the critical issues in the emergency response management of uncontrolled releases of hazardous agents. This book combines practical information on hazardous chemical response and environmental management with scientific and management issues important in the development of sound chemical management planning. Important current topics such as hazardous chemical management in confined spaces are also covered in detail.

This volume presents world-leading ideas and research that explores some of the most prominent topics relevant to detecting terrorism. The book is divided into six key themes: conceptualising terrorism, deception and decision making, social and cultural factors in terrorism, modelling hostile intent, strategies for counter-terrorism, and future directions. Twenty two chapters cover the spectrum of detecting terrorist activities, hostile intent, crowded public spaces and suspicious behaviour. The work draws from high impact research findings and presents case-studies to help communicate concepts. Specific areas of interest include methodological issues in counter-terrorism, counter terrorism policy and its impact on end users, novel research methods and innovative technologies in counter-terrorism. A variety of disciplines are represented by this work, including: ergonomics/human factors, psychology, criminology, cognitive science, sociology, political theory, art/design, engineering and computer science. This book not only expands the knowledge base of the subject area and is therefore of prime relevance to researchers investigating counter-terrorism, but provides a valuable resource to security stakeholders at policy and practitioner levels.

This is a short guide on sit-stand working in the office. It reviews the research on sitting and standing at work from the 1950s to present and provides guidance for specialists, therapists, practitioners, and managers. The book is illustrated with many photos and figures, provides guidance for active working at the end of every chapter, and is understandable to the layman as well as the specialist. With the increased emphasis on healthy lifestyles, coupled with the obesity and overweight epidemic, many are claiming that we should spend more time standing at work. Some have even claimed that sitting is the new smoking. Readers of the book will learn and understand what is behind these claims, what stacks-up, what doesn't, and be able to make informed decisions about whether to invest in new facilities, and what to invest. This book is of value to human factors specialists, physical therapists, chiropractors and occupational health practitioners, architects, and facilities managers. Features Explains the origins of sedentary office work Summarizes the health risks of sitting and standing and how to avoid them Reviews new research on active working and practical ways of developing active working habits in the office Discusses the obesogenic workplace, and how to avoid it Includes over 60 key points to help you decide how to be more active at work

Human error is involved in more than 90 percent of traffic accidents, and of those accidents, most are associated with visual distractions, or looking-but-failing-to-see errors. Human Factors of Visual and Cognitive Performance in Driving gathers knowledge from a human factors psychology standpoint and provides deeper insight into traffic -user behavior and the ways drivers acquire information from the road. Emphasizes Drivers as Visual Information Processors Because driving is an eyes-wide-open task, drivers are exposed to a multitude of visual stimuli along their journey. This information must be correctly processed in order to make the right decisions and perform precise safety maneuvers. With contributions from more than 20 leading experts, this detailed resource discusses road and markings design, new technologies, signage, distraction, safety, situation awareness, workload, driving experience, fatigue, and driving interventions with the goal of improving driving behavior and preventing accidents. Addresses These Key Areas: Visual attention and in-vehicle technologies Interventions to reduce road trauma Avoiding collisions and the failures involved in that endeavor Using jargon-free language that is easily understood, this book compresses research from the past few decades into one accessible resource. It clearly and cohesively provides ergonomics and human factor engineers, industrial designers, and highway and roadway engineers with an overarching understanding of the incessant visual demands drivers face.

This book focuses exclusively on ergonomics in the design and use of hand tools. Hand tools have been an integral supplement to the human hand since the beginning of civilization. Recently, they have been pinpointed as a prominent cause of workplace disease. Cumulative Trauma Disorders such as Tendonitus, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and Raynaud's Syndrome are caused by the specialization of motion employed when using a screw driver, the shock to the hand and wrist when a hammer strikes a nail, or the vibration of a power saw. Ergonomics and Safety in Hand Tool Design explores the relationship between Biomechanics, Safety, and Ergonomics allowing the reader to recognize, evaluate, and control ergonomic risk factors and improve hand tool design. After a history of hand tool use and design, the book is broken down by the various disciplines as they apply to hand tools, taking a broad approach. The author gives special attention to safe design and use, illustrated with detailed diagrams. The text serves as a guide to the human factors in safety and ergonomics for safety professionals.

As a safety manager in today's work environment, you wear hats in many different fields. Sometimes you need only a specific formula or drawing to understand the current situation. This resource supplies it. Or maybe you want to know where to find more information on a specific subject. This resource has it. The Safety Officer's Concise Desk Reference covers the basics in a user-friendly format and provides specific references of where and how to obtain additional information on each subject. While there are entire books devoted to almost every item in this book, nowhere else will you find these issues covered in a concise reference format. It gives you the essentials to get through the task immediately before you, providing the necessary information and references, while not burdening you with unimportant information. And, after a specific crisis is contained, it provides you with resources for where and how to obtain additional information. Need to make doctor's reports and fill out workers compensation forms? Detailed explanations make these easy to reference, understand, and explain. Need a mathematical formula or conversion? Again, available in an easy-to-find format. During a crisis, you need a resource that puts information at your fingertips. You need go no further than The Safety Officer's Desk Reference.

A practical guide to industrial safety. It seeks to assist specialists in managing operations in industrial settings, including high-risk personal exposure such as inhalation hazards and direct chemical contact. It covers hazards in the chemical process industries, inhalation hazards in refineries, indoor air quality management, personal protective equipment, process safety emergency preparedness, safety in the laboratory, and more. There are Web site listings, NFPA hazard ratings, and other sources of information.

Muscle strength is an important topic for ergonomics practitioners and physiologists to understand, especially as it relates to workplace injuries. Muscle strength and function is at the heart of many injuries that lead to reduced productivity and economic strain on the worker, the company, and society as a whole. This comprehensive source of information and data relating to muscle strength is the first to present such information in a single source. Muscle Strength explains the general determinants of muscle strength such as gender, age, and muscle type. It illustrates physical data in the context of theoretical background and examines the protocols, techniques, devices, and data used to record muscle strength in various parts of the body. This is followed by a discussion of overexertion, strength prediction, strength and endurance, torque and EMG relationship, and muscle fatigue. Finally, the material is applied to the use of muscle in jobs, to product design, and to studies of job accommodation and the effect of disability on strength. Professionals in ergonomics, biomechanics, sports science, and physiology will find that this unique text provides insight and data on an important subject in their field.

Small and big persons, disabled and elderly, expectant mothers and children. Everyone will fall into one of these categories at least once in their lifetime. In fact, demographics show that at least two of every five people vary from the norm in height, width, and weight at any given time. Yet customarily, designers design for adults of regular size with standard abilities. Written by an expert in human factors and ergonomics, Extraordinary Ergonomics explores designing for population groups that do not meet the customary standards in age, size, and abilities. Underscoring the need for extraordinary ergonomics, the book illustrates various approaches to measuring the characteristics, capabilities, and limitations of those who differ from the norm. It provides the how-tos of designing for people who are smaller, weaker, or bigger, discusses specifically the design for persons with disabilities and the aging population, and covers human factors engineering for expectant mothers and ergonomics for children and teenagers. The author explains how to assess and determine abilities and needs and demonstrates how to design tools, homes, and environments to make working space safe and living space easy.

Most books on standardization describe the impact of ISO and related organizations on many industries. While this is great for managing an organization, it leaves engineers asking questions such as "what are the effects of standards on my designs?" and "how can I use standardization to benefit my work?" Standards for Engineering Design and Manufacturing provides hands-on knowledge for incorporating standards into the entire process from design bench to factory floor. The book's five self-contained sections consider the scope of design and manufacturing, standards for the design of discrete products, standards for the manufacture of discrete products, standards for the use of discrete products, as well as support standards. The authors survey in detail the major standards-setting organizations and outline the procedure for developing standards. They consider standards from the perspective of product, equipment, and end-user, using this as a platform to explain the economic benefits of standardization. Case studies in every section illustrate the concepts and offer practical insight for using standards in CAD/CAM, selection of components, process planning, human/machine interaction, and computer interfacing. With its modular approach and practical wisdom based on the authors' years of broad experience, Standards for Engineering Design and Manufacturing supplies the tools to incorporate standards into every stage of design and manufacturing. For a summary of chapters, as well as illustrations and tools from the book, visit

A comprehensive review of international and national standards and guidelines, this handbook consists of 32 chapters divided into nine sections that cover standardization efforts, anthropometry and working postures, designing manual material, human-computer interaction, occupational health and safety, legal protection, military human factor standards, and sources for human factors and ergonomics standards. The book delineates the role standards and guidelines play in facilitating the design and optimal working conditions in regards to occupational safety and health as well as system performance in the context of technological advances and opportunities for economic development worldwide.

A difficult and recalcitrant phenomenon, medical error causes pervasive and expensive problems in terms of patient injury, ineffective treatment, and rising healthcare costs. Simple heightened awareness can help, but it requires organized, effective remedies and countermeasures that are reasonable, acceptable, and adaptable to see a truly significant drop in the intolerable rate of medical mistakes. Only with better understanding, knowledge, and directed techniques can there be rapid and marked improvement in medical error management discipline. Since medical error is situation specific and involves diverse variables in equipment, environment, and human performance, the correct choice of preventive and corrective techniques is critical. Providing a wealth of useful ideas, concepts, and techniques, Medical Error and Patient Safety: Human Factors in Medicine uses abroad perspective to present more than 500 remedies that can be applied and tailored to your unique circumstances. This detailed review of so many measures enables you to correctly identify needs and undertake appropriate actions to achieve a success that can be measured in avoided injuries, improved healthcare, and reduced cost. Thought provoking and useful, this book considers the potential for error and the possibility for improvement in every aspect of healthcare. After an introduction to general concepts and approaches, it examines vulnerabilities in medical services, including emergency services, healthcare facilities, and infection control. It covers risks in medical devices and product design; human factors such as fatigue and stress; management errors; errors in communication at all levels of the healthcare hierarchy; as well as mistakes in drug delivery including faulty labels and warnings. The authors also compare and contrast several analytical methods, their interpretation, and their translation into a plan of action.

By 2030, 20 percent of the world's drivers, 60 million in all, will be over the age of 65. Consequently, safe and efficient mobility for older adults is a complex and pressing issue. Maintaining Safe Mobility in an Aging Society addresses the complexities surrounding the booming number of aging drivers and practical solutions for sustaining safe transportation for this growing group. This plainspoken resource informs safe mobility discussions on a variety of areas, including: Necessary skills for safe driving and how age affects them Current evidence on how medical conditions and medication hinder driving skills Comprehensive screening description and assessment practices, issues, and tools Sensitive ways to help older drivers transition into driving cessation Impact of advanced vehicle technology on aging drivers Approaches to strengthening safety-conscious licensing policies Draws the Significant Link Between Mobility and Well Being In addition to discussing how age impacts both the risk and severity of accidents and the link between mobility and well-being, this authoritative work discusses means to achieve safer mobility, including roadway design and community transportation options. Authored by driver safety and awareness experts, it covers psychological and physical changes associated with age (both normal and pathological), including an important but rarely explored aspect of dementia known as wandering behavior. It also addresses the role of emerging technology. Maintaining Safe Mobility in an Aging Society is a concise reference that encompasses an impressive breadth of ready-to-access information. Thorough and systematically organized, it is a groundbreaking and indispensable resource for those prov

Preparation and Restoration is the second volume of Resilience Engineering Perspectives within the Ashgate Studies in Resilience Engineering series. In four sections, it broadens participation of the field to include policy and organization studies, and articulates aspects of resilience beyond initial definitions: - Policy and Organization explores public policy and organizational aspects of resilience and how they aid or inhibit preparation and restoration - Models and Measures addresses thoughts on ways to measure resilience and model systems to detect desirable, and undesirable, results - Elements and Traits examines features of systems and how they affect the ability to prepare for and recover from significant challenges - Applications and Implications examines how resilience plays out in the living laboratory of real-world operations. Preparation and Restoration addresses issues such as the nature of resilience; the similarities and differences between resilience and traditional ideas of system performance; how systems cope with varying demands and sometimes succeed and sometimes fail; how an organization's ways of preparing before critical events can enable or impede restoration; the trade-offs that are needed for systems to operate and survive; instances of brittle or resilient systems; how work practices affect resilience; the relationship between resilience and safety; and what improves or erodes resilience. This volume is valuable reading for those who create and operate systems that must not only survive, but thrive, in the face of challenge.

Even when products and systems are highly localized, rarely is there one design suitable for a single, mono-cultural population of users. The products and systems created and used are cultural artifacts representing shared cognitions that characterize mental models that result from interactions with physical environments. Thus, culture is embedded and impacts the extent to which products are usable, accessible, useful, and safe. Products and systems that deviate from users' mental models may have negative consequences for users, ranging from minor annoyance to more serious consequences such as severe injury or death. Both an introduction and a primer, Cultural Ergonomics: Theory, Methods, and Applications demonstrates how cultural ergonomics can be applied in research and practitioner contexts. It covers selection of theories, descriptions of research designs, methods to analyze the results, case studies, and strategies used to draw inferences and conclusions in a vast array of areas including occupational safety, global issues, emergency management, human-computer interaction, warnings and risk communications, and product design. Human factors/ergonomics, as a discipline, is slowly integrating cultural ergonomics into efforts to explore human capabilities and limitations in the context of design and evaluation. Edited by experts and containing contributions from pioneers in this area, this book provides examples and methodologies within a human factors framework. It provides systematic methods to apply what is learned from analysis of culture to the design, development, and evaluation of products and systems.

The goal for ergonomics has always been to adapt work, work environments, and machines to humans. But is this goal still sufficient? Does it satisfy the needs of the individual or of societies and organizations as they operate now? Constructive Ergonomics provides an answer to these questions. Rooted both in the academic world and in the world of practitioners of the domain, it details a constructive, developmental view where ergonomics seeks to eliminate the factors and conditions that impede performance and development. This book advocates that ergonomics cannot remain content with a limited and static view of adaptation, a view that would restrict its goal to designing systems that are suited to work as it is defined at a certain point in time, to workers as they are at a particular moment, and to organizations as they operate here and now. Author Pierre Falzon argues that the objective of ergonomics must be the development of individuals, based on setting up situations of action that lead to increased success and to the acquisition or construction of know-how, knowledge, and skills. The global framework presented in this book revises profoundly the goals of the discipline, elucidating a novel approach to work, health, and performance shored up by integration models from economics and management theory. An exploration of an innovative, developmental view of ergonomics, the book redefines the ambition of the discipline and describes the elements of its scope. It provides a solid and new conceptual background and methodological tools for intervening in real-life contexts.

Are you ready and willing to get to the root causes of problems? As Medicare, Medicaid, and major insurance companies increasingly deny payment for never events, it has become imperative that hospitals and doctors develop new ways to prevent these avoidable catastrophes from recurring. Proactive tools such as root cause analysis (RCA), basic failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), and opportunity analysis (OA) are useful in preventing error, but in healthcare, such tools are often constrained by reticence to share information about mistakes and other problems inherent to the industry. ...well written and extremely applicable to health care. Every healthcare professional should have a copy. - Matthew C. Mireles, President / CEO, Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety, Bellaire, Texas Patient Safety: The PROACT (R) Root Cause Analysis Approach addresses the proactive methodologies and organizational paradigms that must change in order to support and sustain such activities in the interest of patient safety. Written by reliability expert Robert J. Latino, this book provides a perspective on patient care from outside the health industry and culture. It teaches a proven approach that measures its effectiveness based on patient safety results, rather than compliance, and demonstrates the Return-On-Investment for using RCA to reduce and/or eliminate undesirable outcomes. Addressing the contribution of human error to physical consequences, Latino explores ways to identify conditions that are more prone to result in human error. It also uses FMEA to proactively identify unacceptable risks, and then uses the concepts of RCA to prevent risks from materializing. Are you ready to be tenacious in your approach and completely honest in your assessment?Root Cause Analysis requires courage and honesty. When

The effective and interrelated functioning of system reliability technology, human factors, and quality play an important role in the appropriate, efficient, and cost-effective delivery of health care. Simply put, it can save you time, money, and more importantly, lives. Over the years a large number of journal and conference proceedings articles on these topics have been published, but there are only a small number of books written on each individual topic, and virtually none that brings the pieces together into a unified whole.