The development of a scenario-based human-machine-environment-procedure (HMEP) classification scheme for the root cause analysis of helicopter accidents.

The current study analyzed the root causes of 22 helicopter accidents/incidents that took place between 1998 and 2019. Each root cause was coded using three commonly used classification models in aviation HFACS, ATSB, and IATA to identify recurring factors for better targeting of future prevention strategies. The frequency analysis revealed that not following procedure (22 observations), training inadequate or unavailable (17), inadequate regulatory oversight (17), inadequate procedure guidance (16), company management absent or deficient (10) and incorrect manuals/charts/checklists (9) were the most frequent contributing factors.

Models of the effect of teleoperation transmission delay on robot movement time.

Recent research of [Scholcover and Gillan ( 2018 )] has shown experimentally that system transmission delay has a linear effect on the time taken to perform a complex tracking task with a simple teleoperated robot. This note shows that, for the case of moving a robot through a straight path, this relationship is predicted. The result is a simple modification of Drury's law to take into account the system delay.

Development of ergonomics audits for bagging, haul truck and maintenance and repair operations in mining.

The development and testing of ergonomics and safety audits for small and bulk bag filling, haul truck and maintenance and repair operations in coal preparation and mineral processing plants found at surface mine sites is described. The content for the audits was derived from diverse sources of information on ergonomics and safety deficiencies including: analysis of injury, illness and fatality data and reports; task analysis; empirical laboratory studies of particular tasks; field studies and observations at mine sites; and maintenance records. These diverse sources of information were utilised to establish construct validity of the modular audits that were developed for use by mine safety personnel.

Human factors/ergonomics implications of big data analytics: Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors annual lecture.

In recent years, advances in sensor technology, connectedness and computational power have come together to produce huge data-sets. The treatment and analysis of these data-sets is known as big data analytics (BDA), and the somewhat related term data mining. Fields allied to human factors/ergonomics (HFE), e.

Verification of models for ballistic movement time and endpoint variability.

Unlabelled: A hand control movement is composed of several ballistic movements. The time required in performing a ballistic movement and its endpoint variability are two important properties in developing movement models. The purpose of this study was to test potential models for predicting these two properties.

Performance in one-, two- and three-dimensional terminal aiming tasks.

Arm movement times were measured to targets with independent constraints (target sizes) in one, two or three directions (width, height and depth). In each case, modified forms of Fitts' law give a good fit to the data, with the best form being dependent on all constraints in the 'Weighted Euclidean' model of Accot, J. and Zhai, S.

Comment on "Visual layout modulates Fitts's law: the importance of first and last positions".

Pratt, Adam, and Fischer (2007) investigated the effect of surrounding targets on the time it took to move to an individual target and found that the movement time to a central target was above the Fitts's law line related to the first and last targets. They explained their results in terms of a "visuomotor hypothesis." Here, an alternative explanation is given in terms of a previously validated model of the "available target width" that is determined by the size of the target and the width of the finger pad that is being used to hit the target.

Change of search time and non-search time in X-ray baggage screening due to training.

As found in studies of aircraft structural inspection, the time used for judging if a part of an aircraft shows tiny cracks is composed of search time, used for actively scanning, and non-search time, used for matching and decision while fixating a region of interest (Drury et al. 1997). These findings can be applied to detection of threats by X-ray screening of passenger bags at airports.

The impact of joint responses of devices in an airport security system.

In this article, we consider a model for an airport security system in which the declaration of a threat is based on the joint responses of inspection devices. This is in contrast to the typical system in which each check station independently declares a passenger as having a threat or not having a threat. In our framework the declaration of threat/no-threat is based upon the passenger scores at the check stations he/she goes through.

Human factors in industrial systems: 40 years on.

Objective: I evaluate the contribution of a pioneering Human Factors special issue on human factors in industrial systems.

Background: Papers on the content of the journal's first 10 years showed that industrial human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) in 1969 was quite a rarity in the journal and the society.

Method: The 12 papers in the special issue are reviewed briefly and show a wide range of topics, including traditional industrial engineering, physical HF/E, and more mainstream applications of HF/E in this domain similar to those in military and aerospace domains.

Biomechanical, physiological and psychophysical evaluations of clean room boots.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significance of boot sole properties on reducing fatigue, to evaluate the effects of load carrying and walking (over a 1 h period) on biomechanical, physiological and psychophysical responses, and to investigate the correlations between the measurements. The results indicated that elasticity and shock absorption of the boot had significant effects on outcome variables. Significant load effects were seen in most measurements.

Vicarious perception of postural discomfort and exertion.

Perceived exertion and discomfort have been used extensively in ergonomics practice. Job incumbents typically rate their exertion on scales such as Borg's rated perceived effort (RPE) and their discomfort on scales such as Corlett and Bishop's body part discomfort scales (BPD). This study asks whether exertion and discomfort can be perceived by an external observer, i.

Task demands and human capabilities in door use.

Doors are ubiquitous in the built environment, bur despite their frequent use by people and their involvement in over 300,000 injuries per year (USA), they are little studied from a human factors perspective. This paper provides a classification scheme for doors based on human/door interaction and a prototypical task analysis of door use. Two observational studies were performed on a particular type of door.

Medical error and human factors engineering: where are we now?

The goal of human factors engineering is to optimize the relationship between humans and systems by studying human behavior, abilities, and limitations and using this knowledge to design systems for safe and effective human use. With the assumption that the human component of any system will inevitably produce errors, human factors engineers design systems and human/machine interfaces that are robust enough to reduce error rates and the effect of the inevitable error within the system. In this article, we review the extent and nature of medical error and then discuss human factors engineering tools that have potential applicability.

Using simulated investigations for accident investigation studies.

Regardless of the actual causes of particular accidents, it is the causes identified by the analyst that determine what responses are made, and how safety is managed in industry. Past authors have suggested that investigation might be biased, but studies were limited by the lack of similarity to real-world investigation tasks in which investigators must decide what information to acquire as well as analyse and interpret it. A technique was developed to use simulated investigations rather than attribution judgements about causation.

The effects of probe length on Fitts' law.

Experiments were aimed at determining the effect of a human using an extended probe when making movements that required accuracy at the completion of the movement. Ten subjects performed 64 conditions of varying amplitude of movement, final accuracy and probe length. Movement time increased with probe lengths from 100 to 400mm for all conditions of amplitude and required accuracy.