Description
Book SynopsisThis book provides a great collection of work design testimonies with transferable lessons across many industry sectors and domains. It discusses physiological and cognitive parameters, teamwork, social aspects, organizational, and broader factors that influence work design initiatives.
It is important to learn from practitioner stories and real-world conditions that affect the theoretical applications of work design. Readers will benefit from understanding the struggles and successes of the authors. The chapters cover a wide spectrum of human factors and user needs, including decision making in (ab)normal and safety-critical situations, physical ergonomics, design-in-use modifications, and tailored training. The text examines holistic approaches that lead to improved work methods, worker engagement, and effective system-wide interventions.
Ergonomic Insights: Successes and Failures of Work Design is primarily written for professionals and graduate students in the
Trade Review
"Ergonomic Insights is an erudite, timely, and important contribution on the pathways to success and failure when applying ergonomics theory, principles, and methods in work design. Karanikas and Pazell have assembled a stellar cast of contributors who cover all manner of ergonomic work design issues, ranging from equipment and workspace design, training, and procedures, to workplace safety, incident reporting, and abnormal operations. The book will be an excellent resource for ergonomics researchers and practitioners who wish to help understand and optimise sociotechnical work systems. Buy it now, and the work systems of the future will benefit".
- Professor Paul Salmon, Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems, University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia)
"Ergonomic Insights edited by Dr Nektarios Karanikas and Dr Sara Pazell is an excellent addition to the literature as its chapters genuinely reveal each author’s work, who wrote from the trenches. Each contributor reflects on the lessons learned through success and failures in addressing the issues at hand, and the writing style is lucid and very much practitioner-oriented. I am confident that any reader who wants to understand the journey of what it takes to implement good work design will immensely benefit from this easy-to-read collection."
- Dr Rammohan Maikala, Subject Matter Expert at the National Safety Council (United States) and Editor for Ergonomics in Design & the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics.
"It is surprisingly rare in Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) to read about the messy reality of real practice, including practitioners' experiences, embedded as they are in diverse organisational, social, economic, technological, regulatory, and legal contexts. While diverse, these contexts and experiences are quite different to those of researchers embedded in academic contexts, who produce the overwhelming majority of written works on HFE. In this edited book, Nektarios Karanikas and Sara Pazell - who themselves have decades of experience in the world of practice - have brought together a diverse range of authors to cover ergonomics in a various sectors, in primary, secondary and tertiary industries. In the 21 chapters, the authors give honest and straightforward accounts real practice, via case studies and reflections. The book will be of great interest and value to practitioners, students, educators, and researchers who wish to understand the practice of HFE in the many contexts and constraints in which practice is embedded".
- Dr Steven Shorrock, Senior Specialist Safety & Human Factors at Eurocontrol (Europe) and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Sunshine Coast (Australia).
"What a great idea, a book that focusses on real world experiences of applying human factors and ergonomics principles. The examples cover a wide variety of industries from office environments through health, manufacturing, mining, construction and rail; and the authors all bring a wealth of experience to share. This is a thought-provoking book for student and practitioner alike."
- Robin Burgess-Limerick, PhD CPE FHFESA, Professor of Human Factors, Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane Qld 4072 Australia
Table of Contents1. Human impacts on work design. 2. The underestimated value of less-than-ideal and proactive ergonomic solutions. 3. Return-to-work and 24/7 warehouse operations. 4. Designing a visually comfortable workplace. 5. Opportunities and challenges for designing quality work in residential aged care. 6. When success is not success, and we strive to do better. 7. Reshaping lifestyle changes in a heavy weight world. 8. Indian farm tractor seat design assessment for driver's comfort. 9. Off-The-Road tyre management: the good, the bad and the ugly. 10: The Human Factors practitioner in engineering contractor managed investment projects. 11. Deciphering the knowledge used by front-line workers in abnormal situations. 12. The tyranny of misusing documented rules and procedures. 13. Creating ownership and dealing with design and work system flaws. 14. Stuck in a holding pattern: human factors training development for sports and recreational aviation. 15. Undertrained workforce and poor system designs. 16. The ergonomics consultants lot is not an easy one. 17. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams: Reflections on a poorly designed tram driver-cab. 18. Creating conditions for successful design-in-use. 19. New scientific methods and old school models in ergonomic system development. 20. It’s only a reporting form. 21. SAfER way to design work.
