Introduction to Human Factors

I
n a midwestern factory, an assembly-line worker
had to reach to an awkward location and position a heavy component for assembly.
Toward the end of a shift, after grabbing the component, he felt a twinge of pain in
his lower back. A trip to the doctor revealed that the worker had suffered a ruptured
disc, and he missed several days of work. He filed a lawsuit against the company for
requiring physical action that endangered the lower back.
Examining a bottle of prescription medicine, an elderly woman was unable to
read the tiny print of the dosage instructions or even the red-printed safety warning
beneath it. Ironically, a second difficulty prevented her from potentially encounter-
ing harm caused by the first difficulty. She was unable to exert the combination of
fine motor coordination and strength necessary to remove the “childproof ” cap.
In a hurry to get a phone message to a business, an unfortunate customer found
herself “talking” to an uncooperative automated voice response system. After impa-
tiently listering to a long menu of options, she accidentally pressed the number of
the wrong option and now has no clue as to how to get back to the option she
wanted, other than to hang up and repeat the lengthy process.

WHAT IS THE FIELD OF HUMAN FACTORS?

While the three episodes described in the introduction are generic in nature and
repeated in many forms across the world, a fourth, which occurred in the Per-
sian Gulf in 1987, was quite specific. The USS Vincennes, a U.S. Navy cruiser, was
on patrol in the volatile, conflict-ridden Persian Gulf when it received ambigu-
ous information regarding an approaching aircraft. Characteristics of the radar
system displays on board made it difficult for the crew to determine whether it
was climbing or descending. Incorrectly diagnosing that the aircraft was de-

From Chapter 1 of An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering, Second Edition. Christopher D. Wickens,
John Lee, Yili Liu, Sallie Gordon Becker. Copyright © 2004 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.


 Introduction to Human Factors

scending, the crew tentatively identified it as a hostile approaching fighter. A

combination of the short time to act in potentially life-threatening circum-
stances, further breakdowns in communication between people (both onboard
the ship and from the aircraft), and crew expectancies that were driven by the
hostile environment conspired to produce the captain’s decision to fire at the ap-
proaching aircraft. Tragically, the aircraft was actually an Iranian passenger air-
line, which had been climbing rather than descending.
These four episodes illustrate the role of human factors. In these cases
human factors are graphically illustrated by breakdowns in the interactions be-
tween humans and the systems with which they work. It is more often the case
that the interaction between the human and the system work well, often exceed-
ingly so. However, it is characteristic of human nature that we notice when
things go wrong more readily than when things go right. Furthermore, it is the
situation when things go wrong that triggers the call for diagnosis and solution,
and understanding these situations represents the key contributions of human
factors to system design.
We may define the goal of human factors as making the human interaction
with systems one that
■ Enhances performance.
■ Increases safety.
■ Increases user satisfaction.
Human factors involves the study of factors and development of tools that facil-
itate the achievement of these goals. We will see how the goals of productivity
and error reduction are translated into the concept of usability, which is often
applied to the design of computer systems.
In considering these goals, it is useful to realize that there may be tradeoffs
between them. For example, performance is an all-encompassing term that may
involve the reduction of errors or an increase in productivity (i.e., the speed of
production). Hence, enhanced productivity may sometimes cause more opera-
tor errors, potentially compromising safety. As another example, some compa-
nies may decide to cut corners on time-consuming safety procedures in order to
meet productivity goals. Fortunately, however, these tradeoffs are not inevitable.
Human factors interventions often can satisfy both goals at once (Hendrick,
1996; Alexander, 2002). For example, one company that improved its worksta-
tion design reduced worker’s compensation losses in the first year after the im-
provement from $400,000 to $94,000 (Hendrick, 1996). Workers were more able
to continue work (increasing productivity), while greatly reducing the risk of in-
jury (increasing safety).
In the most general sense, the three goals of human factors are accom-
plished through several procedures in the human factors cycle, illustrated in
Figure 1, which depicts the human operator (brain and body) and the system
with which he or she is interacting. At point A, it is necessary to diagnose or
identify the problems and deficiencies in the human–system interaction of an
existing system. To do this effectively, core knowledge of the nature of the physical
body (its size, shape, and strength) and of the mind (its information-processing


 Introduction to Human Factors

Performance

A Identification of Problems
Analysis
Techniques
Task
Statistics
Accident

Brain

System
Human

Body

DESIGN
B
Equipment
Task
Implement
Solutions
Environment
Selection

Training

FIGURE 1
The cycle of human factors. Point A identifies a cycle when human factors solutions are
sought because a problem (e.g., accident or incident) has been observed in the human–
system interaction. Point B identifies a point where good human factors are applied at the
beginning of a design cycle.

characteristics and limitations) must be coupled with a good understanding of

the physical or information systems involved, and the appropriate analysis tools
must be applied to clearly define the cause of breakdowns. For example, why did
the worker in our first story suffer the back injury? Was it the amount of the
load or the awkward position required to lift it? Was this worker representative
of others who also might suffer injury? Task analysis, statistical analysis, and in-
cident/accident analysis are critical tools for gaining such an understanding.
Having identified the problem, the five different approaches shown at point B
may be directed toward implementing a solution (Booher, 1990, 2003), as shown
at the bottom of the figure.
Equipment design changes the nature of the physical equipment with which
humans work. The medicine bottle in our example could be given a more read-
able label and an easier-to-open top. The radar display on the USS Vincennes
might be redesigned to provide a more integrated representation of lateral and
vertical motion of the aircraft.
Task design focuses more on changing what operators do than on changing
the devices they use. The workstation for the assembly-line worker might be re-
designed to eliminate manual lifting. Task design may involve assigning part or


 Introduction to Human Factors

all of tasks to other workers or to automated components. For example, a robot

might be designed to accomplish the lift of the component. Of course, automa-
tion is not always the answer, as illustrated by the example of the automated
voice response system.
Environmental design implements changes, such as improved lighting, tem-
perature control, and reduced noise in the physical environment where the task
is carried out. A broader view of the environment could also include the organi-
zational climate within which the work is performed. This might, for example,
represent a change in management structure to allow workers more participa-
tion in implementing safety programs or other changes in the organization.
Training focuses on better preparing the worker for the conditions that he
or she will encounter in the job environment by teaching and practicing the nec-
essary physical or mental skills.
Selection is a technique that recognizes the individual differences across hu-
mans in almost every physical and mental dimension that is relevant for good
system performance. Such performance can be optimized by selecting operators
who possess the best profile of characteristics for the job. For example, the
lower-back injury in our leading scenario might have been caused by asking a
worker who had neither the necessary physical strength nor the body proportion
to lift the component in a safe manner. The accident could have been prevented
with a more stringent operator-selection process.
As we see in the figure, any and all of these approaches can be applied to
“fix” the problems, and performance can be measured again to ensure that the
fix was successful. Our discussion has focused on fixing systems that are defi-
cient, that is, intervening at point A in Figure 1. In fact, the practice of good
human factors is just as relevant to designing systems that are effective at the
start and thereby anticipating and avoiding the human factors deficiencies be-
fore they are inflicted on system design. Thus, the role of human factors in the
design loop can just as easily enter at point B as at point A. If consideration for
good human factors is given early in the design process, considerable savings in
both money and possibly human suffering can be achieved (Booher, 1990; Hen-
drick, 1996). For example, early attention given to workstation design by the
company in our first example could have saved the several thousand dollars in
legal costs resulting from the worker’s lawsuit. Alexander (2002) has estimated
that the percentage cost to an organization of incorporating human factors in
design grows from 2 percent of the total product cost when human factors is ad-
dressed at the earliest stages (and incidents like workplace accidents are pre-
vented) to between 5 percent and 20 percent when human factors is addressed
only in response to those accidents, after a product is fully within the manufac-
turing stage.
The Scope of Human Factors
While the field of human factors originally grew out of a fairly narrow concern
for human interaction with physical devices (usually military or industrial), its
scope has broadened greatly during the last few decades. Membership in the pri-


 Introduction to Human Factors

mary North American professional organization of the Human Factors and Er-
gonomics Society has grown to 5,000, while in Europe the Ergonomics Society has
realized a corresponding growth. A survey indicates that these membership
numbers may greatly underestimate the number of people in the workplace who
actually consider themselves as doing human factors work (Williges, 1992).
This growth plus the fact that the practice of human factors is goal-oriented
rather than content-oriented means that the precise boundaries of the discipline
of human factors cannot be tightly defined. One way of understanding what
human factors professionals do is illustrated in Figure 2. Across the top of the
matrix is an (incomplete) list of the major categories of systems that define the
environments or contexts within which the human operates. On the left are
those system environments in which the focus is the individual operator. Major
categories include the industrial environment (e.g. manufacturing, nuclear
power, chemical processes); the computer or information environment; health-
care; consumer products (e.g., watches, cameras, and VCRs); and transporta-
tion. On the right are those environments that focus on the interaction between

Contextual Environment of System

Nature of Individual Group

Human Computer & Health Consumer
Components Manufacturing Information Care Products Transportation Team Organization

Visibility

Sensation
Human Components

Perception
Communications
Cognition &
Decision

Motor Control

Muscular
Strength
Other
Biological Factors

Stress
Training
Individual
Differences
Task Analysis

FIGURE 2
This matrix of human factors topics depicts human performance issues against contextual environments
within which human factors may be applied. The study of human factors may legitimately belong within
any cell or combination of cells in the matrix.


 Introduction to Human Factors

two or more individuals. A distinction can be made between the focus on teams
involved in a cooperative project and organizations, a focus that involves a wider
concern with management structure.
Figure 2 lists various components of the human user that are called on by
the system in question. Is the information necessary to perform the task visible?
Can it be sensed and adequately perceived? These components were inadequate
for the elderly woman in the second example. What communications and cogni-
tive processes are involved in understanding the information and deciding what
to do with it? Decisions on the USS Vincennes suffered because personnel did
not correctly understand the situation due to ambiguous communications. How
are actions to be carried out, and what are the physical and muscular demands
of those actions? This, of course, was the cause of the assembly-line worker’s
back injury. What is the role of other biological factors related to things like ill-
ness and fatigue? As shown at the far left of the figure, all of these processes may
be influenced by stresses imposed on the human operator, by training, and by the
individual differences in component skill and strength.
Thus, any given task environment listed across the top of the matrix may
rely upon some subset of human components listed down the side. A critical
role of task analysis that we discuss is to identify the mapping from tasks to
human components and thereby to define the scope of human factors for any
particular application.
A second way of looking at the scope of human factors is to consider the re-
lationship of the discipline with other related domains of science and engineer-
ing. This is shown in Figure 3. Items within the figure are placed close to other
items to which they are related. The core discipline of human factors is shown at
the center of the circle, and immediately surrounding it are various subdomains
of study within human factors; these are boldfaced. Surrounding these are disci-
plines within the study of psychology (on the top) and engineering (toward the
bottom) that intersect with human factors. At the bottom of the figure are
domain-specific engineering disciplines, each of which focuses on a particular
kind of system that itself has human factors components. Finally, outside of the
circle are other disciplines that also overlap with some aspects of human factors.
Closely related to human factors are ergonomics, engineering psychology,
and cognitive engineering. Historically, the study of ergonomics has focused on
the aspect of human factors related to physical work (Grandjean, 1988): lifting,
reaching, stress, and fatigue. This discipline is often closely related to aspects of
human physiology, hence its closeness to the study of biological psychology and
bioengineering. Ergonomics has also been the preferred label in Europe to de-
scribe all aspects of human factors. However, in practice the domains of human
factors and ergonomics have been sufficiently blended on both sides of the At-
lantic so that the distinction is often not maintained.
Engineering psychology is a discipline within psychology, whereas the study
of human factors is a discipline within engineering. The distinction is clear: The
ultimate goal of the study of human factors is toward system design, accounting
for those factors, psychological and physical, that are properties of the human


 Introduction to Human Factors

Experimental
Statistics Psychology

Social
Psychology Displays
Training
Workload
Decision Making
Biological
Communications ENGINEERING Psychology
Personality PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology Selection Stress
Cognitive
Science COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS Bioengineering
ENGINEERING
Industrial
Psychology Biomechanics
HUMAN
FACTORS Anthropometry
Management
Job Workplace
Design Layout Operations
Engineering
Industrial
Engineering
Aeronautical Computer
Science Artificial
Industrial Intelligence
Design Nuclear

Information

Transportation Systems

FIGURE 3
The relationship between human factors, shown at the center, and other related disciplines of study.
Those more closely related to psychology are shown at the top, and those related to engineering are
shown toward the bottom.

component. In contrast, the ultimate goal of engineering psychology is to un-

derstand the human mind as is relevant to the design of systems (Wickens & Hol-
lands, 2000). In that sense, engineering psychology places greater emphasis on
discovering generalizable psychological principles and theory, while human fac-
tors places greater emphasis on developing usable design principles. But this dis-
tinction is certainly not a hard and fast one.
Cognitive engineering, also closely related to human factors, is slightly more
complex in its definition (Rasmussen et al., 1995; Vicente, 1999) and cannot as
easily be placed at a single region of Figure 3. In essence, it focuses on the com-
plex, cognitive thinking and knowledge-related aspects of system performance,
whether carried out by human or by machine agents, the latter dealing closely
with elements of artificial intelligence and cognitive science.


 Introduction to Human Factors

The Study of Human Factors as a Science

Characteristics of human factors as a science (Meister, 1989) relate to the search
for generalization and prediction. In the problem diagnosis phase (Figure 1) in-
vestigators wish to generalize across classes of problems that may have common
elements. As an example, the problems of communications between an air traf-
fic control center and the aircraft may have the same elements as the communi-
cations problems between workers on a noisy factory floor or between doctors
and nurses in an emergency room, thus enabling similar solutions to be applied
to all three cases. Such generalization is more effective when it is based on a deep
understanding of the physical and mental components of the human operator.
It also is important to be able to predict that solutions designed to create good
human factors will actually succeed when put into practice.
A critical element to achieving effective generalization and prediction is the
nature of the observation or study of the human operator. Humans can be stud-
ied in a range of environments, which vary in the realism with which the envi-
ronment simulates the relevant system, from the laboratory for highly
controlled observations and experiments, to human behavior (normal behavior,
incidents, and accidents) of real users of real systems. Researchers have learned
that the most effective understanding, generalization, and prediction depend on
the combination of observations along all levels of this continuum. Thus, for ex-
ample, the human factors engineer may couple an analysis of the events that led
up to the USS Vincennes tragedy with an understanding, based on laboratory re-
search, of principles of communications, decision making, display integration,
and performance degradation under time stress to gain a full appreciation of the
causes of the Vincennes’ incident and suggestions for remediation.

OVERVIEW
Several fine books cover similar and related material: Sanders and Mc-
Cormick (1993), Bailey (1996), and Proctor and Van Zandt (1994) offer com-
prehensive coverage of human factors. Norman (1988) examines human factors
manifestations in the kinds of consumer systems that most of us encounter


 Introduction to Human Factors

every day, and Meister (1989) addresses the science of human factors. Wickens
and Hollands (2000) provide coverage of engineering psychology, foregoing
treatment of those human components that are not related to psychology (e.g.,
visibility, reach, and strength). In complementary fashion, Wilson and Corlett
(1991), Chaffin, Andersson, and Martin (1999), and Kroemer and Grandjean
(1997) focus more on the physical aspects of human factors (i.e., classical “er-
gonomics”). Finally, a comprehensive treatment of nearly all aspects of human
factors can be found in Salvendy’s (1997) Handbook of Human Factors and Er-
gonomics, and issues of system integration can be found in Booher (2003).
Several journals address human factors issues, but probably the most im-
portant are Ergonomics, published by the International Ergonomics Society, and
Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Sciences, both published in the United Kingdom,
and three publications offered by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in
the United States: Human Factors, Ergonomics in Design, and the annual publica-
tion of the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Er-
gonomics Society.