Introduction:

Human Factors Engineering is the discipline of applying what is known about human capabilities and limitations to the design of products, processes, systems, and work environments. It can be applied to the design of all systems having a human interface, including hardware and software. Its application to system design improves ease of use, system performance and reliability, and user satisfaction, while reducing operational errors, operator stress, training requirements, user fatigue, and product liability. Select from the topics below for more detailed information:

Design for Maintainability
When human factors engineering is applied to minimize the time and effort required to perform preventive and unscheduled maintenance, it is referred to as designing for system maintainability. Hardware accessibility is optimized for the most frequent maintenance tasks, removable components are designed for human lifting, and field service manuals are designed for ease of use. Field observation techniques can also be developed to ascertain the level of effort required to maintain existing systems and to identify opportunities for system improvement.


Hardware and Software Design
Knowledge of human perceptual systems aids in designing or selecting display techniques or technologies in system interfaces. Human factors engineering applies what is known about human cognitive and motor output characteristics to the design and selection of required responses and control technologies used in human-machine systems. In preventing mismatches, this approach improves the communication between the human and the system.


Usability Testing
Usability testing is a technique used to quantitatively evaluate a given prototype design. It can range in rigor from conducting interviews and focus groups to detailed simulations using representative human subjects and system-related tasks. The metrics recorded during testing can be used to evaluate performance or to make comparisons among several candidate designs.


Human Reliability Analysis
Estimates of the likelihood that a human error will occur in a human-machine system scenario are useful in both quantifying system reliability and in identifying better designs that reduce the potential for human errors. The CSR has experts in several human reliability analysis techniques on staff.