Human Factors & Ergonomics (HFE) Hub

Rebecca Szabo - Translational Simulation and Patient Safety

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 13:00:00 +1000

Associate Professor Carlo Caponecchia is talking to Dr Rebecca Szabo an obstetrician/gynaecologist, medical educator and simulation leader based in Melbourne. She is Lead of the Gandel Simulation Service at the Royal Women’s Hospital which uses simulation as a tool for patient safety and systems improvement (translational simulation). She is an Honorary Senior Lecturer and PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, where her research focuses on embedding and sustaining simulation for quality improvement and patient safety in hospitals. Rebecca is passionate about how healthcare training and systems are designed, and the consequences this has for safety, performance, and equity. Her publication examining CPR manikins as a gender and human rights issue highlights the importance of designing systems and training that better fit the diverse populations they serve. She brings a practical lens, asking a simple question: if it doesn’t fit, can it work?

The HFESA 2026 conference in Sydney Australia, is now open for registration. Go to https://conf.ergonomics.org.au/

This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artifici...

Dr Stavros Prineas - Situational Awareness

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Dr Stavros Prineas is a consultant anaesthetist based in Western Sydney who has worked in both Australia and the UK. Sharon Todd and Stavros discuss Human Factors in the surgical setting.

Dr Prineas is Head of Anaesthetics at Blue Mountains Hospital. His fields of interest include complex airways and regional anaesthsia, but his main passion is Human Factors and Ergonomics as it applies to anaesthesia and healthcare systems more generally. Since 2004 he has been director of ErroMed, a human factors training consultancy aimed at raising awareness of HF/E among healthcare workers and executives.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Associate Professor Carlo Caponecchia and a Student Analysis of How Systems Can Fail

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +1000

A/Prof Carlo Caponecchia is an academic at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, He has a background in psychology and works in Human Factors and Safety across several domains, with particular expertise in psychosocial risks and safe systems of work.

This podcast Carlo’s talks with some of his 3rd year Aviation students from the course “Human Factors Tools and Methods” . During the workshop based course, students get hands on experience using a range of HFE tools, from task analysis and the Quick Exposure Check, to FRAM and STAMP.

In this podcast Carlo's students present their analysis of how systems can fail using AcciMap, and discuss what they learned about the incident, the tools and HFE as a discipline.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Justine McGillivray - Human Factors in Petroleum Safety and Dangerous Goods,

Sun, 02 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Kath Jones the current HFESA President chats to Justine McGillivray an Organisational Psychologist and human factors specialist with extensive experience in workplace health and safety and regulation. Justine is currently the Principal Inspector – Human Factors at WorkSafe Petroleum Safety and Dangerous Goods, where she leads the Human Factors Capability Strategy, strengthening regulatory practice through evidence-based approaches to the risk management of major accident events.

Justine is a co-founder and former National President of the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology Australia (SIOPA), where she played a key role in advancing the profession nationally and fostering strong links between research, practice, and policy. She brings deep expertise in psychosocial risk, organisational systems, and incident analysis, with a strong focus on improving outcomes for workers and organisations.

Across her career, Justine has worked at the intersection of psychology, regulation, and leadership, contributing to the development of practical, systems-focused approaches to safety and performance. She is widely recognised for her strategic leadership, technical credibility, and commitment to building capability in human factors and organisational psychology.

The link to access information sheets is here Human factors: Information sheets - WorkSafe – LGIRS, this incudes links to the Integrating human factors into major accident event investigations worksheet discussed as well as Safety critical communication worksheet.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Professor Tarcisio Saurin - Career challenges and System Complexity

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Professor Melissa Baysari is chatting with Professor Tarcisio Saurin a Full Professor in the Industrial Engineering Department at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering, and has been a visiting professor at Griffith University, Macquarie University, and the University of Salford. His main research interests include resilience engineering, work system design, safety management, and lean production. He has conducted research and consulting projects on these topics in healthcare, construction, electricity distribution, aviation, and manufacturing. He also serves as an associate editor of the Safety Science journal, and as a member of the executive committee of the Resilient Health Care Society. Since 2019, he has been listed annually among the top 2% most cited authors in human factors and ergonomics. He is the recipient of the 2025 International Ergonomics Association/Elsevier John Wilson Triennial Award for contributions to complexity management and designing for resilient performance.

Professor Tarcisio Saurin is one of the keynote speakers for the HFESA annual conference this year in Sydney. https://www.ergonomics.org.au

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Dr William (Bill) Marras - Back Injuries and Muscle Co-activation

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 19:00:00 +1000

William S. Marras, Ph.D., CPE chats to Sharon Todd about his reseach into back injuries and muscle co-activation.

William S. Marras Ph.D., CPE is the Distinguished University Professor and holds the Honda Endowed Chair in Integrated Systems Engineering, at the Ohio State University. He serves as the Director of the Spine Research Institute at the Ohio State University where he leads NIH, NSF, DoD, Ohio BWC and privately funded research eGorts. Dr. Marras also holds joint academic appointments in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Department of Neurosurgery, and the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

His research is focused on understanding multidimensional causal pathways for spine disorders through quantitative epidemiologic evaluations, laboratory biomechanical studies, personalized mathematical modeling, and clinical studies of the lumbar and cervical spines. His findings have been published in over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, hundreds of refereed proceedings, and numerous books and book chapters including a book entitled The Working Back: A Systems View. Professor Marras has been active in the National Research Council (NRC) having served on over a dozen boards and committees and has served as Chair of the Board on Human Systems Integration for multiple terms. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of Human Factors is currently Deputy Editor of Spine and has served as the President of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Dr. Marras holds Fellow status in six professional societies and is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine), recorded a TEDx talk entitled “Back Pain and your Brain” and has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-kJ4XD5xQk

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Emeritus Professor Michael (Mike) Regan - Driver Distraction - Feature Podcast

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd (CPE) is discussing "Driver Distraction" with Emeritus Professor Michael (Mike) Regan.

Emeritus Professor Michael (Mike) Regan, is an Emeritus Professor with the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI) at the University of UNSW, Sydney. Prior to that he was Professor of Human Factors at rCITI, and before that Chief Scientist-Human Factors at the Australian Road Research Board.

Mike has BSc (Hons) and PhD degrees in Psychology and Human Factors from the Australian National University and nearly 30 years’ experience in transport human factors and road safety research - in Australia, Europe and the US.

His key research interests include driver distraction and inattention, road user behaviour, human factors in road design and traffic engineering, vehicle human-machine interface design, and human interaction with intelligent transport systems. He is the author/co-author of around 200 peer-reviewed research documents, including 5 books, two of which are on driver distraction and inattention.

Mike has done much to help society, globally, to prevent and mitigate the effects of driver distraction: through his research; his contributions to international committees; his advice to governments and industry; as an expert witness in courts; and in the recent provision of technical input into the development of Australia’s new technology-neutral road rules for driver distraction and Australia’s National Driver Distraction Roadmap.

Mike is the co-founder and co-organiser of the biennial International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention, to be held this year for the 10th time in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Road Safety and a long-standing Member (and 25th President) of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Emeritis Professor Pascale Carayon - Patient Safety

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +1100

David Caple is discussing human factors with Professor Carayon. Professor Carayon's research belongs to the discipline of human factors engineering, in particular macroergonomics. Her scholarly contributions aimed at modeling, assessing and improving work systems (i.e. the system of tasks performed by individuals using various technologies in a physical and organizational environment) to improve system performance, safety and worker well-being. Her research has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes for Health, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Department of Defense, various foundations and private industry.

Professor Carayon is an outstanding scholar. She has published 203 scientific journal articles, 5 books, 253 conference papers and 30 technical reports, and was the Editor-in-Chief of Applied Ergonomics, a top journal in human factors and ergonomics. She is the editor of the Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety, and the author of the book on Human-Centered Design for Health Care Safety.

Professor Carayon developed the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) research program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to tackle the societal problem of patient safety.

Research expertise include:

Human Factors and Systems Engineering in Health Care and Patient Safety

Human Factors and Ergonomics; Occupational Safety and Health; Macroergonomics; Job and Organizational Design

Sociotechnical System Design and Change; Human-Centered Design.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Dr Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele - Virtual Digital Technologies

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 23:00:00 +1100

Kath Jones the current President of the HFESA is speaking with Dr Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele about her work in healthcare.

Dr Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele is a user-centred designer and human factors researcher whose work bridges design, technology, and healthcare. As a Lecturer in Design and Innovation at the University of Sydney, she applies human factors, inclusive design, and HCI methods to improve the usability and real‑world impact of digital health technologies. Her interdisciplinary work has shaped how digital systems are designed and used in practice; it has led to redesigned systems in Australia’s first virtual hospital, informed policy and workflow improvements, and contributed to commercialised digital health technology. With an increasing focus on supporting priority populations, she examines how clinicians, patients, and caregivers interact with digital tools – and how these tools can better support the realities of patient work and clinical practice. Adeola serves as EMCR Co‑Chair of the IEA Healthcare Ergonomics Technical Committee and as an Associate Editor for JMIR Human Factors.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Dr Andrew (Andy) Imada - Participatory HFE and Lessons learned

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd and Dr Andrew S. Imada discuss the Implementation of HFE and the lessons learned in his experience as a Consultant.

Dr Andy Imada is a macroergonomics consultant specializing in human and organizational change. He works with people and organizations to change their cultures, respond to scalability demands, implement disruptive technologies and survive generational transitions. He helps them meet these challenges by balancing organizational, safety, quality, and human needs.

Dr. Imada has provided consulting services to a wide range of clients including: AT&T, Aramark, British Columbia Telephone, Chevron Products Company, Chevron Production Company, Hamersley Iron, Iron Mountain, Los Angeles Dodgers, NASA, PG&E, Sheraton Hotels, Pacific Coast Building Products, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, U.S. Army, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. He served as Senior Scientific Advisor for the Steelcase User Center Design Group and worked on projects advising the National Research Council, International Labour Office, and the University of California.

He is a Certified Professional Ergonomist and has served as President of both the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society http://www.hfes.org and the International Ergonomics Association, http://www.iea.cc/ which represents 49 federated societies and more than 25,000 ergonomists. He received the Ergonomics Practitioner of the Year Award in 2016 from the Foundation for Professional Ergonomics. Dr. Imada won the 1998 Liberty Mutual Prize and the 2000 Liberty Mutual Medal in international competitions for occupational safety and ergonomics research.

Dr. Imada was a Professor of Ergonomics and Safety Sciences at the University of Southern California for 19 years. He also served as the Director of the USC Safety Science Center and the International Distance Learning Liaison at the USC Center for Scholarly Technology. He has published extensively and edited a book entitled, “Participatory Ergonomics”. He was a visiting scholar at Luleå University in Sweden where he taught graduate courses on participatory strategies for improving safety, ergonomics and productivity.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Roger Lewis - Ensuring Safe Work for Volunteers

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd discusses volunteers and provision of safe work with Roger Lewis a qualified engineer and safety specialist, with extensive experience in the application of engineering and human factors principles, product design, failure analysis and risk control.

Having over 25 year’s experience in automotive engineering and vehicle architecture with a strong focus on the safety of vehicle occupants and pedestrians Roger brings a wealth of knowledge to improve safety.

Roger routinely advises businesses across a broad range of the industries including transport logistics manufacturing construction and retail, safe systems, ergonomic improvements, injury prevention, as well as compliance with relevant legislation and codes of practice.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Professor Andrew Thatcher - Green Buildings, Sustainability, HFE Education and the IEA

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 20:00:00 +1100

David Caple from the HFESA chats with Professor Andrew Thatcher about Green Buildings and the Human.

Andrew Thatcher is a professor and chair of industrial/organisational psychology at the Un diversity of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, where he obtained his PhD in 2003. Andrew is currently the President in the International Ergonomics and Human Factors Association and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ergonomics. His research interests focus on integrating sustainability concepts into human factors and ergonomics. He has received numerous awards for this work including the national 2003 NSTF-South32 Green Economy Award and the 2025 Hal Hendrick Distinguished International Colleague award from the HFES.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Alison Heller-Ono and her Personal Journey in HFE Consulting

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd is chatting with Alison Heller-Ono, PT, MSPT, CPE, President and CEO of Worksite International, Inc.

Alison is passionate about how people work! As an entrepreneur, pioneer, and bold industry leader in the ergonomics marketplace since 1993, Alison helps small- to mid-size multinational and global employers keep employees healthy so they can work to their full potential. Alison is a trusted advisor and consultant to clients who desire a safe, comfortable, and productive workforce. She is also a coach and mentor to professionals desiring to learn about occupational ergonomics. Alison has presented her high-impact work on ergonomics to global audiences on four continents.

Ms. Heller-Ono is a veteran Physical Therapist with dual credentials as a Certified Industrial Ergonomist (CIE) and Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE), as well as a Certified Disability Analyst. Her sought-after expertise is in preventing and managing work-related musculoskeletal disorders while finding reasonable solutions to drive change within organizations. Worksite International helps employers to save thousands of dollars while boosting morale and productivity through the science of ergonomics. WI’s focus is on office, home, remote, lab, and industrial ergonomics.

Under Alison’s guidance, Worksite International launched the Worksite International Ergonomics Training Academy in 2018, featuring online classes targeted for employers and employees to learn about ergonomics at work. The Academy also offers professional courses to become certified ergonomics specialists (CASp, COESp, CRESp) using the Worksite International System of Ergonomics Evaluation (WISEE)® and the Worksite International Ergonomics Process (WIEP)®.

She recently launched Worksite International’s first cloud-based software solutions. The Ergo-Case Tracker for individual ergonomic case management and ergonomics process metrics tracking. The Chair Assessment System (CAS) is a chair asset management software used to determine the quality and competency of chair assets in the workplace.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Ken Catchpole - Imparting Systems Thinking to Healthcare

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd chats to Dr Ken Catchpole one of the HFESA's keynote speakers for the annual conference in Tasmania Australia in December. So who is he, what does he do and what can we expect?

Dr Ken Catchpole is a cognitive scientist and human factors practitioner who seeks to understand and improve human performance in complex systems. After leading a nationwide project developing human abilities in weapon detection at UK airports, he began research in healthcare in 2003 at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, examining the mechanisms of teamwork and safety in surgery. He now works with clinicians to develop and scientifically evaluate interventions to improve performance, while taking a semi-ethnographic approach to understanding the complex nature of safety, quality and human error in healthcare.

In the past he has contributed to healthcare research and improvement at hospitals in the UK, Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand; and has assisted a number of UK groups, including Royal Colleges of Anaesthetists and Surgeons, in the establishment of human factors principles in healthcare. His work with the Ferrari racing team on handovers from surgery to intensive care was short-listed for the Times Research Project of the Year in 2007, was adopted internationally by a variety of hospitals and quality improvement organisations, and was exhibited in the Science Museum in London.

After working at the University of Oxford for nearly 6 years, he was invited to join Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles to embark on new projects in trauma, handovers, teamwork, and systems redesign. Subsequently, he moved to the Medical University of South Carolina, where he has lead major grants in medication safety, surgical technology, instrument reprocessing, and retained foreign objects, with a large number of smaller projects. Through popular and scientific articles, keynote addresses, and media coverage, he has sought to engage a worldwide audience in the evaluation and improvement of safety in healthcare from a human factors perspective.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Sidney Irwin - Trash Talk and Fatigue in Esports

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +1100

Sidney Irwin is an early career researcher and lecturer at the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences at Central Queensland University. She received her doctorate from the same university. Her focus is on the normative rules of trash talk in esports and is expanding her expertise towards esport psychology, human factors and user experiences.

Currently, Sidney is focused on investigating the impact of jet lag on professional player performance. She has a qualitative research background and has grown her field of research towards rail, forestry and shiftwork sectors.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Samantha Jackson and Gemma Read - Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) safety

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +1000

Gemma Read from the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems (UniSC) chats to Samantha Jackson about Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) safety.

Samantha Jackson is a registered psychologist, human factors professional, and PhD candidate. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology)(Honours), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Safety and Accident Investigation.

She served in the Australian Army for 24 years, holding both generalist and specialist officer roles across full-time and part-time service. Her career spanned multiple domains, including communications and information systems, aviation, health, and policy. In her final role, she served within Army Aviation’s Psychology and Human Factors team, where she provided specialist advice on system safety, human performance, role suitability, occupational selection, task and systems analysis, incident investigation, and fatigue risk management.

She is currently pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her research aims to enhance the safety performance of Australia’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) by applying systems thinking through a many-models approach. Specifically, she aims to identify key leverage points within the sociotechnical safety management system to optimise its overall effectiveness.

Associate Professor Gemma Read and Professor Paul Salmon are supervising Samantha’s research. Gemma and Samantha discuss her recent study which analysed 14 RPAS incident investigation reports. The article is available open access here:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687025000043

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Mary Patterson - Florida Simulation Projects in Health

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1000

Mary Patterson MD, MEd is a pediatric emergency medicine physician and the Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and the Lou Oberndorf Professor of Healthcare Technology at the University of Florida where she has directed the Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation since 2018. She is past- president of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and has served on the BOD for the Society of Simulation in Healthcare and the International Pediatric Simulation Society. In addition, she is the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Resilient Healthcare Society.

She was the founding medical director of the Cincinnati Children’s Center for Simulation, Education and Research. In addition, she was the Associate Vice Chair Medical Education and Executive Director of Simulation at Children’s National Medical Center.

Mary has served as the Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Florida since 2021.

Mary has been a federally funded investigator in simulation, team performance and patient safety and publishes in the areas of patient safety, team performance, human factors and Resilience Engineering. She is a past chair of the Healthcare Safety and Quality Improvement Research Study Section of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of the Society of Simulation in Healthcare in 2018

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Craig Fletcher - Using VR to Reduce Suicide & other HFE projects

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +1000

Craig Fletcher and Sharon Todd explore the world of designing HFE into projects including some recent work on the use of VR to reduce suicide on the rail network.

Craig has 25 years experience in the area of ergonomics and human factors, both in Australia and the UK. He is experienced in conducting human factors assessments for a broad range of industry and application. Craig is focussed on delivering practical solutions to human factors problems and is experienced in managing a wide range of human factors projects.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

IEA & The Human Factors Edge Resource

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 22:00:00 +1000

Karen Lange-Morales, David Caple and Andrew S. Imada discusses the work of the IEA and their new publication "Giving your business the Humans Factors Edge - Making it Happen" to improve productivity, quality of products and the wellbeing of employees.

The International Ergonomics Association (IEA) is a non-profit international federation of ergonomics and human factors societies from around the world. This document was developed as part of the Science, Technology and Practice Standing Committee (2021-2024)

Karen Lange-Morales is associate professor at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She has worked as a consultant in ergonomics and design in public and private sectors including farming, oil, manufacturing, education, banking, and food areas, among others.

David Caple has led an independent health, safety and ergonomics practitioner company since 1985. He has conducted Work Health and Safety research and practice projects in Australia and internationally for Governments, industry groups, companies and unions. He was an Adjunct Professor at Latrobe University in the Ergonomics and Health and Safety programs for the last 20 years. David was the 16th President of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) 2006-2009 and represented the IEA at conferences and meetings in 30 countries.

Andrew S. Imada is a macroergonomics consultant specializing in human and organisational change. He works with people and organisations to change their cultures, respond to scalability demands, and implement disruptive technologies. He helps them meet these challenges by balancing organisational, safety, quality, and human needs.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the invaluable support received from Nancy Black, Rosemary Seva, Nancy Larson, Glenn Azevedo in reading and providing feedback on the document, as well as Yushi Fujita and the IEA standards committee. We also appreciate the feedback on the structure received from Andrew Thatcher, Klaus Zink, Pascale Carayon, Ole Broberg, and Gabriel Garcia-Acosta. Finally, we highlight the valuable support of Dixie Imada in achieving a "more readable" document, Sharon Herbstreit for her support in the feedback process, Senana Brugger for her pertinent formal appreciations and Lukas Garcia-Lange for his advice on the use of AI.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Donna Duffy - Design Improves Life

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd is chatting to Donna Duffy who is a Human Factors Engineering Specialist with over 25 years of experience in human factors and psychology. As a founding Co-Director of Human Engineered, Donna brings deep expertise to industries including Defence and aviation where she likes to drive organisational change and system design excellence.

Previously Donna was an Associate Technical Fellow and Principal Human Factors Specialist at Boeing Defence Australia. Her contributions to programs such as the MQ-28 Ghost Bat, E-7A Wedgetail, and Helicopter Aircrew Training System have shaped the future of human factors engineering and how this is applied as well as the requirement for HFE in design of autonomous systems.

Donna has also led the development of global HFE practices and training, grown Australia’s HFE capability, and continues aims to influence the profession through national industry associations. With qualifications in psychology and human factors, Donna is a passionate advocate for systems that truly work for people and keep them safe.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Prof Robyn Clay-Williams Designing Emergency Departments

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd chats to Professor Robyn Clay-Williams about Emergency Department design for underserved cohorts.

Robyn leads a research program at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, in the field of human factors in healthcare.

Over a career spanning nearly 45 years in aviation and healthcare, Robyn has worked extensively to develop and evaluate systems to make them fit for purpose and easier to use.

Robyn provides expert advice to policymakers, clinicians, researchers and consumers across Australia and globally, and has made international contributions, including invited lectures, to universities in the US, Europe and South America.

Currently Robyn is leading a team to develop new models of care to improve Emergency Department performance, and patient experience and outcomes for five vulnerable patient cohorts: older adults, ethnic minorities, people living with disability, people living with mental illness, and Indigenous Australians.

Her 2019 TEDx talk on human factors is available on the global TED.com platform. Prior to her academic career, Robyn was a Royal Australian Air Force test pilot.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Sam Gerges - Ergonomics in Vehicle Manufacturing

Fri, 16 May 2025 23:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd is chatting to Sam Gerges about his ergonomics programs to minimise injuries and reduce injury costs in Vehicle Manufacturing.

Sam is a qualified physiotherapist, egonomics and occupational health and safety specialist with over 15 years experience working in Australia, Japan and America. Experienced across many industries including manufacturing, oil and gas, forestry, retail and logistics, Sam possesses expert, practical knowledge of ergonomics and human factors, part, process and ewuipment and plant design, hazard identification, risk analysis, control implementation, compliance and auditing.

The Current HFESA Victorian Committee Chairperson and Director of Absolute Care Group, Sam's goal is to progress the knowledge of ergonomics in safety and health professionals and partner with organisations to prevent development of musculoskeletal injuries in their workplsve while progressing their safety maturity journey.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Heather Kahle - A systems approach to her Canadian Manual Handling Projects

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +1000

Heather Kahle talks with Sharon Todd about her work, her manual handling projects and the tools that she uses.

As a Human Factors consultant and previous president of the Association of Canadian Ergonomists, Heather helps companies apply human organizational performance/human factors and ergonomics principles and methods. In 30 years with WorkSafeBC, she applies experience with investigations, MSI prevention, and error mitigation across many diverse industries.

Heather's journey into the world of Human Factors (HF) and System Safety began in the picturesque town of Lund, Sweden, where she earned my MSc from Lund University.

Three Decades at WorkSafeBC

For three decades, Heather had the privilege of working at WorkSafeBC, where her role spanned across various pivotal functions:

- Educator and Mentor: I educated investigators, applied scientific methods, and mentored officers in conducting complex and serious industrial investigations.

-HFE Expertise: Provided human factors and ergonomics (HFE) expertise to multidisciplinary teams across engineering, investigations, education, and prevention field services.

- Developer and Deliverer: Developed and delivered courses, webinars, and workshops to enhance understanding and application of methodologies such as

Appreciative Inquiry, Cognitive Interviewing, Fatigue Risk Management, and Human-Machine Interface to prevent struck-by incidents.

- Risk Project Leader: Led and supported risk-based projects applying systems methodologies to review performance, understand vertical risk integration, and develop effective preventative measures.

- Tool Creator: Developed tools to assess organizational readiness, compliance, and performance.

- Regulatory Advisor: Advised on regulation development relating to safety-critical work and systems theory, including Incident Command systems.

- Risk Analyst: Reviewed risk factors related to musculoskeletal injuries, error traps, and communication factors across a wide range of industries.

- Author: Authored technical reports, bulletins, risk assessment materials, and safety issues reviews, making complex information accessible to wide audiences.

- Standard Contributor: Participated in CSA Standards Z1005 - Incident Investigation and Prevention Program, Z1516 – Fatigue Risk Management for First Responders, and the CSA Express Document; Human and Organizational

Performance for Optimal Pipeline Performance.

- Collaborator: Assisted employers, health & safety agencies, and other regulatory stakeholders with developing, integrating, maintaining, and evaluating system safety strategies.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Dr Pujitha Silva - An Injury Litigation Data Project

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 08:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd chats to Dr Puji Silva a mechanical and medical engineer about his work and research into litigation injury data. Puji primarily works in ergonomic risk assessments and litigation matters related to permanent injury in both workplace and public liability cases, applying his expertise in biomechanics, human factors, and safety design principles to improve workplace outcomes and legal evaluations.

Dr. Pujitha Silva is a mechanical and medical engineer with extensive experience in human biomechanics, ergonomics, and injury prevention. His career spans over 15 years across industries such as healthcare, bulk material systems handling, wearable technology applications in sports and rehabilitation, and biomedical device development, where he has applied ergonomic principles and human factors research to optimize workplace safety and system performance. He is also a litigation consultant, researcher, and certified organizational coach, with a deep interest in the intersection of ergonomics, injury data analysis, and workplace safety strategies.

Dr. Silva is currently an Ergonomics Consultant where he specializes in:

Ergonomic risk assessments & workplace safety solutions to mitigate musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and prevent injuries.
Expert litigation reports for workplace injuries (manual handling, slips/trips/falls, and system failures).
Implementation of Work Health and Safety (WHS) compliance strategies in Victoria and NSW.
Developing human-centered design solutions to enhance safety in industrial and commercial environments.
Data-driven research on injury trends, including a landmark 40-year analysis of litigation injury cases, presented at the HFESA 2024 National Conference.

The pursuit of a Bachelor’s in Medical Engineering was the start of Puji’s journey into understanding how the human body works and how it can be studied using engineering principles borrowed from various disciplines, differently from traditional medical approaches. This curiosity led him to the study of biomechanics, particularly focusing on the interactions of soft and hard tissues, their degeneration, and injury mechanisms.

His early research included intervertebral disc mechanics and non-invasive spinal stress measurement, providing insights into how biomechanical factors influence injury risk and degeneration. However, his career took a turn when he transitioned into port and infrastructure engineering, focusing on mechanical system design. This work introduced him to the critical interactions between machines and people, deepening his understanding of industrial safety and human-system integration.

This shift broadened his perspective on human factors and ergonomics, leading him to focus on performance-based biomechanics, which naturally incorporated human interactions with the environment—spanning industrial ergonomics, sports performance, rehabilitation, and biomedical device development and commercialization with a human-centric approach.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Vanessa Huron - Real Drones are not Toys

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +1100

Dr Vanessa Huron discusses the use of drones in various environments and the human factors aspects of drone use.

Dr Vanessa Huron holds a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) in Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Diploma in Innovation Management and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of New South Wales.

Vanessa's research focuses on human factors and safety, accessibility management, and educational design and delivery applied across several domains, including

Psychosocial hazards and work re-design
Safety and risk management
Educational design, delivery, and digital technologies

Vanessa is an Associate of the Disability Innovation Institute, which seeks to support disability research and foster collaboration at UNSW.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Sidney Dekker - his thoughts on Failure, Blame, and Forgiveness.

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 22:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd chats to Professor Sidney Dekker about his experience in organisational psychology and his thoughts on incidents, blame and forgiveness.

Sidney takes us on a roller-coaster ride; as he discusses error as a consequence of other factors, encourages us to set others up for success and challenges organisations to choreograph significant change into their responses to failure.

Sidney Dekker (PhD Ohio State University, USA, 1996) is Professor in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Sidney has lived and worked in seven countries across four continents. He coined the terms ‘Safety Differently’ and ‘Restorative Just Culture’ in the 2010s, which have since turned into global movements for change. They encourage organisations to declutter their bureaucracy and enhance the capacities in people and processes peopleOne his most recent pa make things go well—and to offer compassion, restoration and learning when they don’t. Many today will recognise Sidney’s ideas and concepts in for example ‘HOP,’ ‘Learning Teams,’ the ‘New View,’ and more.

An avid piano player and pilot who learned to fly at age 14, he has been flying the Boeing 737 for an airline on the side.

He is a trained mediator and Crisis Chaplain.

Sidney is prolific and bestselling author of, most recently: Ten Virtues of a Positive Safety Culture; Random Noise; Stop Blaming; Foundations of Safety Science; The Safety Anarchist; The End of Heaven; Just Culture; Safety Differently; The Field Guide to Understanding ‘Human Error’; Second Victim; Drift into Failure; Patient Safety; Compliance Capitalism; and Do Safety Differently.

He has co-directed the documentaries ‘Safety Differently,’ ‘Just Culture,’ ’The Complexity of Failure,’ and ‘Doing Safety Differently.’

His work has well over 20,700 citations and an h-index of 64.

Stanford has ranked Sidney among the world’s top 1% most influential scientists since Newton. More at sidneydekker.com

Here is one of Sidney's most recent papers, https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/jha/article/view/26274

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Ari Antonovsky - Human Aspects of Dependability and his work

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 14:00:00 +1100

The HFESA president Kath Jones is chatting to Ari Antonovsky about his work on Human factors and 'Human Dependability.'

Dr Antonovsky was originally trained as a Materials Engineer. Through his role as a Reliability Engineer in the resource industry in Australia, Indonesia and NZ, he became involved in working directly with maintenence and operations crews. His interest in human factors and the organiastional aspects of maintenance lead to PhD research at Curtin University, sponsored by Woodside Energy Ltd. This project examined the quantitative influence of specific human factors on the reliability of maintenance tasks.

His recent UWA research projects, funded by the Royal Australian Navy, examined the human factors requirements in operations, maintenance and training for the Future Submarine, and the human factors that influence maintenance effectiveness on a surface vessel.

Dr Antonovsky is currently project leader for revision of an international standard (IEC 62508), which provides guidance on the human aspects of workplace dependability.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Stephanie Black - Organisational Performance and Wellbeing

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:00:00 +1100

Kath Jones our HFESA President, is discussing Organisational Performance, Cognitive Demands, and Mental Health Maturity Assessment Tools with Stephanie Black.

Stephanie Black is an experienced programs manager with a diverse cross-disciplinary background. Stephanie is passionate about enhancing organisational performance and human wellbeing amidst the complexities of modern technology and operational demands.

She has successfully managed geophysics, IT, and QHSE projects, including award-winning workplace interventions recognised at the Western Australian Workplace Health and Safety Excellence Awards. Currently, Stephanie leads AREEA’s programs in workplace wellbeing, diversity, equity, and inclusion, managing several advisory boards and an extensive portfolio of initiatives. Her experience spans various industries, including mining and offshore oil and gas.

Stephanie holds degrees in physics and psychology, diplomas in management and work health and safety, and a PhD in psychology. She is a Certified Human Factors and Ergonomics Professional with HFESA, a Chartered Manager and Fellow with the Institute of Managers and Leaders ANZ and the Chartered Management Institute UK, a Senior Member and Certified Professional with the Australian Computer Society, and an Accredited Research Manager Foundation with the Australian Research Management Society.

In addition to her professional roles, she is actively involved in several professional organisations. She is a member of the HFESA WA Branch Committee and has served as a WA Branch Rep on the National Committee. She also serves on the Australian Computer Society's WA AI SIG Steering Committee, and she is a member of the Australian Institute of Physics WA Branch Committee and has previously served as Secretary of the Branch.

https://www.areea.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/AREEA_Mental_Health_Maturity_Assessment_Tool_Implementation-Guide.pdf

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Paul Lambertson - HFE Integration in Flight Deck Design

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 22:00:00 +1100

Paul Lambertson and Sharon Todd chat about his experience in Flight Deck design and his use of Systems Theoretical Process Analysis (STPA) (Levenson & Thomas 2018).

Paul Lambertson has been in the aerospace industry for over twenty years and in that time he has had a focus on human to machine interface for the design and operations of flight decks. He has had lead projects on all of Boeings current commercial aircraft and has been fortunate to lead many teams. These team include human factors and ergonomics, test and evaluation, Optics and lighting and human system integration and strategy. Paul currently leads a team for flight deck product development for simulation and strategy. He is currently a Cochair of the INCOSE Human System Integration working group.

Paul has been interested in the human to machine interfaces since he first flew aircraft as a young kid , As a kid He was engaged in improving aircraft interfaces. This developed into a passion for improving the human interfaces. His first major human interface activity was in the automotive industry working to understand noise, vibration and handling from a user perspective. Paul took these skills to the aircraft industry. He is a pilot, has a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering a Master’s in Business Administration and several certificates related to systems engineering, technology, ergonomics and human factors.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Work should not Hurt!-A participative ergonomics programme for kiwi tradies

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 22:00:00 +1100

Chris Polaczuk and Steve Kolose chat to Sharon Todd about their participative tradie programme.

Musculoskeletal injuries have resulted in significant lost productivity in the New Zealand Construction industry and are especially prevalent in the specialist trades. Despite recent advances in health, safety and technology meaningful interventions to reduce these injuries in construction remain elusive. To compound the issue pain and injury has been accepted as part of the trade and an inevitability by many kiwi tradies.

The Work Should Not Hurt programme https://www.chasnz.org/work-should-not-hurt is unique in that it generates awareness, research and interventions from tradespeople themselves. Combining an Ergonomics approach and a bit of ‘number eight wire mentality’ the programme has created innovative tools such as the Foundation guide, the ‘Wall of Pain’, 3 steps to a pain free career and a mind/ body mental fitness programme.

Join the world's only Kiwi duo of Construction Ergonomists Chris Polaczuk and Dr Steve Kolose for a look at the programme and whats working well in New Zealand. Learn about their library of home grown resources including some of the participative research projects such as the scaffolding and roofing industry trials. Hear about the benefits and challenges of participatory ergonomics and how you can take on a macho culture to improve the design of work.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Professor Catherine Burns - Improving AI Technologies in Health

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +1100

Professor Catherine Burns talks to SharonTodd (CPE) about her experiences with system design and AI systems in health.

Catherine M. Burns is Professor in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada and Associate Vice President, Health Initiatives at the Office of Research at the University of Waterloo.

In her past administrative roles she has been engaged with institutional and tri agency funding programs, research partnerships, Waterloo’s equity in research action plan, and research computing.

Catherine was the founder of the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology at Waterloo and led the centre from a faculty to an institutional centre over 8 years. In 2020 she chaired Waterloo’s Health Initiatives Task force to develop a health strategy in response to Waterloo’s 2025 Strategic Plan. In her role as AVP, Health Initiatives she is responsible for advancing Waterloo research in health and health technology. Catherine holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Human Factors and Healthcare Systems, has contributed over 300 publications and is the co-author of seven books and the PI on an NSERC CREATE Training program in biomedical technology and entrepreneurship which has trained over 40 graduate students from various faculties across campus.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Kate Conroy - AI Safety and Assurance

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 22:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd is chatting to Adjunct Professor Kate Conroy one of the HFESA's Keynote speakers at our annual conference in Brisbane this year.

Dr Kate Conroy is a specialist in building trustworthy, ethical, and assured robotics, autonomous systems, and artificial Intelligence (RAS-AI) systems in both military and civilian domains. Dr Conroy works in AI Safety and Assurance Queensland Government and is Responsible AI Lead Royal Australian Air Force. With a PhD in philosophy from Rutgers University, specialising in epistemology, cognitive science and applied ethics, she is also Adjunct Professor at QUT Centre for Robotics and Associate Professor Human-centred computing at the University of Queensland. She speaks today in her personal capacity.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Dr John Chan - Burnout

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +1100

Kath Jones is chatting to Dr John Chan about Burnout.

Dr. John Chan is the managing director at Infinite Potential, an independent not-for-profit think tank that develops high-quality, rigorous research, evaluation, and practical solutions to address some of the most pressing workplace problems. An Industrial/Organisational psychologist with 20+ years of global experience designing people strategies to transform how we work and our relationship with work.

As a thought leader in the leadership, burnout and workplace sustainability space, John is a passionate advocate of making structural changes to create long-term impact, amplifying the voices and concerns of minorities and under-represented populations, and rethinking the workplace as a haven that nourishes us, rather than drains us.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Anjum Naweed - Simulation and AI

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 22:00:00 +1000

Kath Jones is chatting to Professor Anjum Naweed one the the keynote speakers at the HFESA conference in Brisbane in November this year about Simulation and AI.

Professor Anjum Naweed is from the Appleton Institute for Behavioural Science in South Australia—the Adelaide-based campus of CQUniversity.

Anjum is a Certified Professional Ergonomist with a background in psychology and expertise in human factors and systems thinking. He has over 15 years of experience across a range of industry sectors and occupational settings.

Anjum’s research has received many accolades in recognition of his excellence in research activity, publication, and engagement and he has twice received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Researcher of the Year (2013; 2018) at his university.

He currently serves a Scientific Editor for Applied Ergonomics, an international journal aimed at ergonomists and all those interested in applying ergonomics and human factors in the design, planning and management of technical and social systems at work or leisure. He has been a Scientific Convenor for the Australasian Simulation Congress on five consecutive occasions, and for the Annual HFESA Conference twice.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Professor Mark Young - "Thinking Human"

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd and Professor Mark Young the current President of the CIEHF discuss his work in automated transport and the Think Human project to be launched in the midlands of the UK.

Professor Mark Young is Professor of Human Factors in Transport within the Transportation Research Group at the University of Southampton and current President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF). Mark has nearly 30 years’ experience working in human factors across transport modes in both academia and industry. Before joining the University of Southampton in June 2023, Mark spent 11 years working as an Inspector at the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, applying his human factors expertise to the investigation of railway incidents and accidents. Prior to this Mark undertook a six-month fellowship at UNSW in Australia with Prof Jason Middleton in 2004 as well as later completing a visiting post at Curtin Monash University with Prof Lynn Meuleners in the early 2010s.Mark has written over 70 peer-reviewed journal papers and five books, he is a Chartered Ergonomist and a Fellow of the CIEHF.

For more background or to connect with Mark, go to:

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/62gmgv/professor-mark-young

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Chris Fitzgerald - The "Nerdy" Operational Ergonomist' & the practical application of HFE

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 17:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd is chatting to Chris Fitzgerald about his practical application of Ergonomics and Humans factors to minimise injury risk.

Chris Fitzgerald is a passionate Certified Professional Ergonomist whose career emphasis has been on facilitating meaningful and durable improvement in the design of work. His original career was in Prosthetics and Orthotics, but after 5 years of working in clinical environments, he transferred to Ergonomics to work in occupational settings and has operated his own consulting business, Risk and Injury Management Services, since 1993.

A feature of Chris’s work has been the measurement of human activity in workplaces. This has involved quantifying force exertion in complex environments, the use of EMG to understand patterns of muscle activity and the utilisation of a whole-body system of 17 movement sensors to define the physical requirements of work tasks.

Chris has been fortunate to work across a diverse range of industries and has developed specific expertise within emergency services (fire and ambulance), red meat processing, disability support services and the television industry to name a few. Chris’s work in ambulance design extended to his role for 8 years as the Head of Ergonomics for the Emergency Medical Services Safety Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation based in New York, USA. The Foundation had a global reach with involvement across North America, Europe and Asia, and actively promoted new approaches to the design of ambulances and methods of patient and equipment handling for paramedics.

More recently Chris has gone back to his prosthetics roots where he has just completed a 3-year project in Indonesia, Timor Leste and Cambodia, with RMIT University in Melbourne. This project involved overseeing the implementation of a novel way of casting the transtibial residual limb of amputees using water pressure that resulted in a 60% efficiency gain for casting, manufacture and fitting and delivered a remarkable 96% approval rating from recipient amputees.

Chris’s current focus is on his role as a change leader within the Australian red meat processing industry where he is leading the industry’s selective introduction of exoskeletons.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Adam Scott - Cobot Ultrasound Solutions

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd is chatting to Adam Scott, the Director of Cardiac Sciences at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Adam has a PhD in Cardiac Medicine, from the University of London, Imperial College in the UK. Adam is an Adjunct Professor at QUT and is the Founder and Chairman of the White Cloud Foundation. He is passionate about creating solutions for problems in the health sector that have previously not been able to be solved. In doing so, he has created a Robotic Ultrasound solution to enable patients in regional/rural areas to access same day ultrasound procedures. At the White Cloud Foundation, he developed the Tele-Mental Health service which has removed the barriers to accessing mental health treatment. In 2024, his efforts were recognised when he was announced as a finalist for the Qld Australian of the Year.

Adam declares he is a Director of RMI Oceania, which is the company that has developed the Robotic Ultrasound solution.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Tim Bentley - Mental Health Awareness, Respect and Safety in the Mining Industry

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 19:00:00 +1000

Kath Jones from the HFESA is chatting to Tim Bentley about Mental Health Awareness, respect and safety.

Professor Tim Bentley is an experienced research leader with more than two decades in research and academic leadership roles. Tim joined the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University as Professor of Work and Wellbeing in 2019, and in 2023, took up the position of Director of the ECU Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Centre. The MARS Centre was created as part of a multi-million-dollar partnership between ECU and the State Government. As both MARS Centre Director and Mining Work Health and Safety (WHS) Professorial Chair, Tim leads a program of research, teaching and engagement designed to elevate mining sector WHS capability and to move the dial on sector culture towards greater respect and safety.

Prior to joining SBL, Tim’s New Zealand-based roles included Director of the New Zealand Work Research Institute and Auckland University of Technology’s Future of Work Program; Director of Massey University’s Healthy Work Group; and Director of the Centre for Human Factors and Ergonomics at Forest Research in New Zealand. Tim is also a former Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge University Press publication, Journal of Management & Organization, and has served as Scientific Editor for the Elsevier international publication, Applied Ergonomics.

Tim’s impactful research primarily focuses on psychosocial risk, workplace bullying, and new ways of working, and he is passionate about creating healthy work for the advancement of organisational and employee wellbeing. Tim’s research has been supported by almost AU$9M of external funding from government and industry within New Zealand and Australia, while his published research is extensive and has received considerable scholarly attention.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Gemma Read - Blame and Learning

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 17:00:00 +1000

Why do we seek to blame someone or say it is Human Error without firstly using a systems thinking approach to analyse the influencing factors surrounding an incident?

Sharon Todd discusses 'Blame' and what we can 'Learn' from a Systems Thinking approach with Gemma Read.

Associate Professor Gemma Read is the Director of the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems and an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She has degrees in behavioural science and law and completed her PhD at Monash University. She has over 16 years’ experience applying human factors and systems thinking methods in both academia and government roles. Her work spans a range of domains including transportation, healthcare, construction, defence, sport and outdoor recreation.

For further reading
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00140139.2021.1953615
State of science: evolving perspectives on ‘human error’

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Sandra Lam - Managing the Psychological Health of "Fly in Fly Out" Workers

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +1000

Kath Jones is chatting to Sandra Lam about the psychological health of "fly in fly out" (FIFO) workers.

Kath Jones holds qualifications in psychology and occupational therapy and has been an active member of the HFESA for 15 years and is currently as executive board member for the society. She practices human factors and ergonomics through engaging with organisations on designing mentally healthy workplaces as a work health and safety regulator.

Sandra Lam is an Endorsed Organisational Psychologist and Managing Director of FIFO Focus, a psychology firm that empowers individuals to become mentally resilient, and support organisations to handle the complexities of psychological health among remote workers. She has over two decades of industry experience in the public and private sectors, in Australia and overseas. Throughout her career, Sandra has assisted organisations to improve organisational performance by making workplaces safer, more engaging, and more enjoyable.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Extended Reality Simulation - Dr Shiva Pedram and Grace Kennedy

Fri, 31 May 2024 20:00:00 +1000

Dr Robyn Coman from the University of Wolllongoing is discussing Extended Reality Simulation with Dr Shiva Pedram from the University of Newcastle, and Grace Kennedy from Acema.

Dr Shiva Pedram is an experienced UX Research Specialist and Service Designer, specialising in the intersection between Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and service design within emerging technologies.
With 12+ years of dedicated work in industry & academic environments, she has strategically led efforts to research, design, and refine services that significantly improve user interactions and satisfaction in multiple sectors -health, insurance, tourism, e-commerce, and digital government services.

Grace Kennedy is Systems Engineering and Human Factors professional with over 15 year's experience in the Infrastructure, Rail, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Defence Research sectors in Australia and the UK. Research Interests and Expertise: Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), Organisational Systems Engineering (how to model “soft”/human aspects within the context of enterprise systems), Enterprise modelling and architectures, Human Systems Integration., Systems Ergonomics, Human Reliability Assessment. Systems Resilience for Critical Infrastructure Systems. Grace is the co-chair of the INCOSE Human Systems Integration (HSI) Working Group.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Andrew Wright - User Testing in Design

Sat, 18 May 2024 17:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd and Andrew Wright discuss User Testing in good design.

The views expressed by Andrew Wright within the HFESA PodCast are his own and not those of any organisation he works for or with, or linked to any project he works on – past or present.

Andrew is a Principal Human Factors Consultant at Tactix Sener, primarily supporting the transport, nuclear and defence industries throughout the product and system lifecycle and providing Experience Design in Digital and Built Environments.

Andrew primarily works in safety critical industries though is comfortable working in diverse domains and delivering on human factors projects from bespoke to large scale. Experienced with a range of methods – task analysis, data gathering, focus groups, human-machine interface, usability, human computer interaction, inclusive design, human error analysis, system of systems analysis. Andrew holds a MSc in Psychology with a Human Factors specialisation, and a BSc in Movement Science with a Biomechanics major. Andrew has applied human factors across a range of Information Technology, OHS, product design, transport and industrial operations in the U.S. and Australia. For many years Andrew directed Wright Moves Consulting, a human factors consultancy focused on making systems work.

Andrew consults extensively in the nuclear industry, including a recent major project for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organsiation (ANSTO), resulting in the ANSTO Human Factors Integration Plan.

Andrew lectured in ergonomics and human factors at the University of New South Wales and the University of Wollongong 2015-2022. He is a former member Research Associate at the Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI), where he researched the usability of technology and equipment. Andrew served on the National Executive Board of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA) from 2016 – 2022, including as General Secretary (2020-2022), and served as the professional development officer for the NSW HFESA branch and on the NSW Branch Committee, 2015-2019.

Andrew has presented and published on human factors on a range of topics, including co-authorship on the recent “The What, Why and How of Good Work Design: The Perspective of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia, presented at the 2021 Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) conference and published in the conference proceedings.

Andrew is a member of Systems Engineers Society of Australia (SESA), and a member of International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and a member of the Human Systems Integration (HIS) writing group providing all HSI for the upcoming 5th edition of the INCOSE Systems Engineering Manual: A guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

The Public Seating Project - Carlo Caponecchia, Robyn Coman and Vinod Gopaladsani

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 06:00:00 +1000

Carlo , Robyn and Vinod are discussing the impact that the absence of suitable seating and poorly designed seating has on older adults in public places. The public seating project identified poor design, the coping behaviours of older adults needed and the impact that poor seating has on people with physical limitations and on their social identity.
An audit tool was devised to gather data, to understand the problem and to inform the guidance that can be provided to those designing public spaces, local government and manufacturers.
The significance of this work includes the understanding that older adults need to be independent and this can be affected by features of the environment. We are living longer and being part of the community and socialising and living well is enabled with well designed public seating.

Associate Professor Carlo Caponecchia is a Senior Lecturer at UNSW, Associate Dean Equity Diversity and Inclusion, in the Faculty of Science UNSW.
Dr Robyn Coman is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong, a Physiotherapist and Ergonomist.
Vinod Gopaldasani is the Associate Dean (Global Engagement), Director of the Centre for Occupational Public and Environment Research in Safety and Health and Head of Discipline OHS at the University of Wollongong.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Brian Moon - Naturalistic Decision Making

Fri, 12 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd is exploring Naturalistic Decision Making with Brian Moon. He is the Chief Technology Officer for Perigean Technologies LLC and Executive Director of the Naturalistic Decision Making Association. A leading practitioner and researcher in the field of NDM, Mr. Moon applies qualitative and quantitative research methods to a wide range of problems, from the elicitation of expert knowledge to the study and design of technology for use in workplace environments. Mr. Moon holds an M.Sc. in Sociology (London School of Economics, 1996) and a B.A. in Psychology (Miami University, 1995). His publications regarding human factors / cognitive systems engineering / human machine interaction have been featured in Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, Oxford Handbook of Expertise: Research and Application, and IEEE Collected Essays on Human-Centered Computing.

NDMA - https://naturalisticdecisionmaking.org/ - July 24 conference details are posted here too.

CTA Institute - https://cta.institute/

His publications, including the autonomous helicopter work under CSE - https://perigeantechnologies.com/new-publications/

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Grace Kennedy - Systems Engineering and HFE Problem Solving

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 19:00:00 +1100

Grace Kennedy is my special guest. She is a Systems Engineer and Human Factors professional with over 15 year's experience in the Infrastructure, Rail, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Defence Research sectors in Australia and the UK. Research Interests and Expertise: Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), Organisational Systems Engineering (how to model “soft”/human aspects within the context of enterprise systems). Enterprise modelling and architectures. Human Systems Integration. Systems Ergonomics. Human Reliability Assessment. Systems Resilience for Critical Infrastructure Systems.

She currently works with Acmena Group Pty Ltd. She is the co-chair of the INCOSE Human Systems Integration (HSI) Working Group, SESA NSW Healthcare Systems Lead, and a founding committee member of the Women's Research Engineers Network (WREN). I have been inducted into the INCOSE Technical Leadership Institute (Cohort 7).

Grace Kennedy - CPEng (Systems Engineering), CSEP. Systems Engineering & Human Factors/Ergonomics Practitioner. Co-chair INCOSE Human Systems Integration Working Group.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Daisy Veitch - When Body, Size and Shape matters

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 19:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd's special guest is Daisy Veitch talking about the importance of body size and shape in product and system design.

Daisy Veitch, PhD. is an expert in applied Anthropometry, the fit of wearable items and body shape and size data.

Daisy Veitch is a Director of Anthropometry at Anthrotech, Inc., a leading company in human body measurement and analysis. She has a PhD in Industrial Design Engineering from TU Delft, in The Netherlands where she explored replicating the feel of human tissue and applied this to task specific manikins. She is also a founding member and secretary general of the World Engineering Anthropometry Resource (WEAR), a global network of researchers and practitioners in the field of anthropometry. She is a criterion anthropometrist. She has previously worked in the apparel industry in all aspects including 5 years as a product engineer. With over 20 years of experience in applied anthropometry, Daisy has directed and contributed to several projects and publications that use body shape and size data to improve the fit and function of wearable items, such as apparel, medical devices, and protective equipment. She has a background in technical aspects of garment construction, having studied in Adelaide and Paris, and won prestigious awards for her design skills. She is also an inventor of a US design patent and has registered designs in multiple regions. Daisy's mission is to apply anthropometry to design solutions that enhance safety, health, comfort, and productivity.

Specialties: Anthropometry, body scanning, fit-testing, bra performance testing, apparel patternmaking, product design engineering (apparel), manikin making, tissue properties matching palpation of the breast

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Stephanie Cassidy - 'Healthy Minds Work' a Psychosocial Risk Management Project

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 06:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd chats to Steph Cassidy about a Psychosocial Risk Management Project that was successfully rolled out with a bus company. The project is called Healthy Minds Work.

Steph's passion lies in assisting Australian workplaces to maintain their maximum productivity. Steph, an Occupational Therapist and Ergonomist has 30 years of experience in managing and preventing work-related injury or illness. It is this, combined with her own executive-level management experience, that adds strength to her ability to guide organisations on workforce management strategies that align with operations, finance and human resources.

In 2012, Steph founded Productivity Matters, a business focused on helping to create productive, healthy and safe places to work.

Specialties: Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy and Ergonomics (User Centred Design).

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Barry Kirby & his experience in HFE Design and Development in the UK

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 22:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd's special guest is Barry Kirby the current President of the CIEHF. He is a Chartered Ergonomist and Human Factors Practitioner (C.ErgHF), Chartered Engineer (CEng), a Fellow of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (FIEHF) and a Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (MIET).

Barry has over 17 years’ experience working as a Human Factors Consultant, with skills in user engagement, product design and specification, simulation, trials as well as business and strategy development. As the Managing Director of K Sharp, Barry leads a small but perfectly formed team of researchers and consultants with a wide range of skills and knowledge.

He has a keen interest in the attitudes, trust and behaviour of users when faced with new technology such as Smart Cities, Smart Communities and the Internet of Things.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Reducing Error with Human Factors Training in Healthcare

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd's guests are Dr Jon Spiro and Anthony Lock, founders of the Nexus Human Factors Training in Healthcare in WA.

The views expressed by Dr Jon Spiro and Anthony Lock within this HFESA Podcast are their own and not those of any organisation they work for or with.

Dr Jon Spiro is a consultant cardiologist and Senior clinical lecturer at the University of Western Australia. Having trained in the UK, Jon took up his current fulltime public position as a consultant interventional cardiologist at Royal Perth Hospital in 2015. During his medical training Jon built up a special interest in leadership, teamwork and human performance within healthcare groups and non-healthcare organisations.

In 2016 Jon partnered with Anthony Lock to establish the NEXUS course. Using lessons learned from other high-reliability and high-performing industries Jon wanted to improve the awareness and availability of human factors (or non-technical skills) training to healthcare staff.

Jon continues to drive change and innovation at RPH, establishing WA’s first rapid access chest pain service and comprehensive coronary physiology program. Jon is a past director of the cardiac catheter labs, contributes to the hospital’s complex PCI program and co-leads the cath lab’s cardiogenic shock team.

Anthony Lock, DSM

With over 7000 flying hours on high-performance military aircraft and working with Special Forces Teams worldwide, Anthony has extensive experience in developing high-performing teams and leaders in high-stress environments.

In 2017, Anthony transferred his expertise to Healthcare and was appointed the Director of Patient Safety and Human Performance at Royal Perth and Bentley Hospitals and, more recently, the Executive Director of Clinical Performance and systems at St John Ambulance, WA. He has led widespread organisational change and the development of Australia’s first hospital-wide, industry-based Human Factors training course called NEXUS.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

APHIRM- A Participative Hazard Identification and Risk Management Toolkit - Jodi Oakman

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +1100

Professor Jodi Oakman chats to Sharon Todd about the APHIRM (A Participative Hazard Identification and Risk Management) Toolkit. An online platform designed to support organisations in reducing stress related mental health and musculoskeletal disorders through using a participative approach. www.aphirm.org.au

Professor Jodi Oakman leads the Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors at La Trobe University in Victoria Australia. She is an ergonomist and human factors specialist and worked in a range of industry settings before moving into academia.

Her research program is focussed on working with organisations to optimise employees’ physical and mental health. She led the development of the APHIRMToolkit and online platform designed to support organisations in reducing stress related mental health and musculoskeletal disorders through using a participative approach.

She currently leads projects in the areas of working at home and hybrid work and using systems thinking approaches to improve work related health. She recently led a longitudinal study examining the influence of working from home on employee health and well being.

Professor Jodi Oakman Doctor of Philosophy (La Trobe University); MSc & Tech in Ergonomics (UNSW); B.App.Sci (Physiotherapy) La Trobe University; Grad Cert in Higher Ed and Teaching; Grad Cert in Implementation Science (UCSF).

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

HFE Skills & Training for Rotary Wing Aircraft Pilots - Tarryn Ryan

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd chats to Tarryn Ryan about HFE skills and training for Helicopter pilots. In this episode we chat about human factors and helicopter flying, including situational awareness, dark hole effect, night flying, decision making, and resilience. Tarryn is a Director at Safety Collaboration Pty Ltd. She has over 20 years of experience in aviation, including as a helicopter pilot in the South African Air Force, the Australian Army, and the civilian sector, where she performed helicopter emergency medical service and marine pilot transfer operations.

She holds an Australian Commercial Pilots License (CPL-H) and is completing her Master's degree in Aviation specialising in Human Factors, a field that she is passionate about. She is also a certified Crew Resource Management Trainer and delivers tailor-made Human Factors training to organisations across various industries. Her mission is to enhance the safety, performance, and wellbeing of individuals and teams through evidence-based and practical solutions.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Parramatta Light Rail Project - Australia

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +1100

Karl Rich CPE and Sharon Todd CPE are discussing HF Integration and the Parramatta Light Rail project in Sydney Australia. The methods and tools used to populate the HFE risk register, the use of first principals, mock ups, virtual reality, anthropometry, simulation and the usability studies in this project are discussed.

Karl Rich has 30 years’ international experience in the provision of consultancy in Human Factors and training to a wide range of safety critical Industries, including rail, oil and gas, marine, process control, medical products, aerospace and defence.

He has worked in human factors consultancy for 25 years, prior to which he was Head of Human Factors at the Institute of Naval Medicine, UK Ministry of Defence.
In the UK, European, Chinese, and Australian rail sectors, Karl has worked extensively on both the supply-side and the operator-side of projects as a consultant, Human Factors Delivery Manager, Project Manager and Human Factors Integrator.

He has worked in the rail sector on all types of assets in both operational and design engineering domains and is well used to working in, and leading, multi-disciplinary teams. His deep cross-industry experience in human factors integration enables him to quickly get up to speed on any projects where HF and safety are a critical focus.

Since arriving in Australia in 2017, Karl’s numerous projects have included major infrastructure projects, such as Sydney Trains’ Electrical Isolations Improvement Program (EIIP), the Parramatta Light Rail project, the Melbourne Tunnel Project, Evolution Rail, Country Rail Network control room builds and train control system design, Canberra Light Rail extension, and several major tunnel projects in NSW and VIC.

Karl is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, and a Certified Professional Ergonomist, Human Factors & Ergonomics Society of Australia.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Prof Jill Dorrian - Shiftwork, Fatigue and Performance

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +1100

Professor Jillian Dorrian discusses shiftwork, fatigue and performance with Sharon Todd (CPE). Jill is one of the keynote speakers at the HFESA Conference 19-22nd November 2023.

Jill is Professor in Psychology, with a PhD in sleep and chronobiology research, and a Master of Biostatistics.

From the beginning of my PhD, Jill conducted laboratory and field studies with a consistent focus on collaboration and translation. Her PhD and early post-doctoral work was supported by the Australian Shiftwork and Workload Consortium, a 10-year collaboration with Australian Rail Industry operators and safety regulators. This work informed fatigue risk management (the over-arching term to describe risks relating to sleep loss and performance impairment in industry) in rail.

Jill has continued to conduct in-workplace studies for rail, emergency services, and health. More recently, she has also worked with mining, construction, ports, and forestry, providing research and education to promote fatigue management.

Jill is heavily involved with research student supervision, and training in publishing and other forms of research communication. She was recognised by the Australian Graduate Research Council for excellence in graduate research supervision.

Much of her current work is focused on behavioural coping strategies for remaining healthy despite exposure to sleep loss. In particular, along with colleagues in psychology, nutrition, and activity, we study chronobehaviour – investigating the health impacts, not only of what we do, but when we do it.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Dr Patrick Neumann - HFE in Work System Design

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 18:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd is discussing HFE in Work System Design with one of our keynote speakers Dr. Patrick Neumann speaking at the HFESA Conference November 2023.

Dr. W. Patrick Neumann.Lic.Eng., LEL, Eur.Erg. is a Design Scientist, a certified human factors professional and he heads the Human Factors Engineering Lab in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, where he is Full Professor.

He has published over 270 conference and scientific journal publications in the area of human factors in work system design with the intent of achieving sustainably superior workplaces that provide outstanding system quality and performance.

Dr. Neumann’s work has been recognized internationally with “Best paper” awards in the biomedical, industrial engineering, and ergonomics literatures.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-neumann-6154777/?originalSubdomain=ca

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Dr Christopher Reid - Exoskeletons in Aircraft Manufacturing

Sat, 30 Sep 2023 13:00:00 +1000

Dr. Christopher Reid is a Technical Fellow and Boeing Designated Expert in both the Human Factors & Ergonomics discipline and wearable technology. Based out of Charleston, South Carolina, USA, he is the current Technology Architect for Boeing's Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) organization. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Practice at Clemson University’s Department of Industrial Engineering. Prior to Boeing, Dr. Reid worked for Lockheed Martin on astronaut spacesuit assessment as a Human Factors & Ergonomics Discipline Lead at NASA Johnson Space Center and as a Human Factors Engineer for the US Army Natick Labs, assessing Warfighter personal protective equipment. He is a Fellow of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society and a Past President (2021-2022), is a member of ASTM International’s Board of Directors and Chair of the ASTM F48.02 Subcommittee on Human Factors & Ergonomics for Exoskeletons and Exosuits. He’s also an advisor on the National Safety Council’s Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) Solutions Lab Advisory Council and Delegates Committee.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Mike Nendick and Paul Cummins - Non Technical Skills (NTS) In Aviation

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 21:00:00 +1000

Mike Nendick and Paul Cummins talk about Non Technical Skills with Sharon Todd. What is NTS? Why it is used? What is threat and error management?
This podcast was recorded in a 737-800 simulator.
Mike is Human Factors and Organisational Psychologist. He works as a senior human factors, systems safety, and risk specialist, a work, health and safety management professional; and leader with broad experience across multiple safety critical domains including aviation, rail, construction, roads, maritime, energy, and the military.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

An introduction to Systems Thinking to Optimise Safety

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 21:00:00 +1000

Paul Salmon and Sharon Todd discuss Systems Thinking methodologies and use, emergent properties and interactions, casual networks, system behaviour, AI and system failure.

Paul M. Salmon is a professor in Human Factors and is the creator and director of the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Paul has almost 20 years’ experience of applied Human Factors research in areas such as road and rail safety, aviation, defence, sport and outdoor recreation, healthcare, workplace safety, and cybersecurity.

His research has focused on understanding and optimizing human, team, organisational and system performance through the application of Human Factors theory and methods. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing and Service Industries journal, and has co-authored 21 books, over 240 peer reviewed journal articles, and numerous book chapters and conference contributions. Paul’s work has been recognized through various accolades, including the Chartered Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factor’s 2019 William Floyd award and 2008 Presidents Medal, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Australia’s 2017 Cumming memorial medal, and the International Ergonomics Association’s 2018 research impacting practice award.

In 2020, the Australian newspaper named Professor Salmon as the top Australian researcher in the field of quality and reliability based on an analysis of league of scholars data and Google Scholar publications and citations. Paul's current research interests include the application of systems thinking and Human Factors and Ergonomics to global risks and existential threats. Paul is also interested more generally in the development and extension of Human Factors theory and methods and the translation of Human Factors research in practice. He currently leads major programs in the areas of accident analysis and prevention, risk assessment, road safety, cybersecurity, outdoor recreation, and artificial general intelligence.

Stay in touch with Paul and visit his other page:

Paul Salmon on Twitter *

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

A Personal Journey in Human Centred Design

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 23:00:00 +1000

Thom Loveday and Sharon Todd are chatting about Human Centred Design in health and other sectors . They explore the use of simulation spaces for design in health, and discuss the use of digital twins. Thom shares his personal experiences, his motivation and where his HFE career has taken him.

Thomas Loveday is a multi-specialist, with extensive experience providing advice on Human Centred Design to (1) drive innovation (2) improve User Experience; (3) manage Human Factors; and (4) shape Organisational Behaviour. Much of his career has been spent in high-risk, high-consequence industries, demonstrating a high-level of rigour and robustness in his work.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomloveday

Health Prototyping Centre | eHealth NSW
NSW Spatial Digital Twin (DTVS) (terria.io)

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Cybersecurity and HFE

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +1000

Professor Philip Morgan is chatting with Sharon Todd about Cybersecurity, the risks, the wins and the future with help from the HFE community.

The views expressed by Professor Phil Morgan within the HFESA PodCast are his own and not those of any organisation he works for or with, or linked to any project he works on – past or present.

Professor Phillip Morgan BSc DipRes PhD PGCHE FHEA AFALT AFBPS holds a Personal Chair in Human Factors and Cognitive Science within the School of Psychology at Cardiff University, UK. He is Director and CoFounder of the Human Factors Excellence Research Group (HuFEx) and Director of Research for the Centre for AI, Robotics and Human-Machine Systems (IROHMS). He is an international expert in Cyberpsychology, Transport Psychology, Humans in Automation and AI, Human-Machine Interface Design, Human-Computer Interaction, and Adaptive Cognition. He has been awarded >£25M funding across ~50 grants from e.g., Airbus, CREST, DHC-STC, ERDF, EPSRC, ESRC, GoS, HSSRC, IUK, MoD, NCSC, RAEng, SOS Alarm, and the Wellcome Trust, and has published >130 major outputs. Phil works on large-scale projects funded by Airbus, where he was seconded for 3.5-years as Technical Lead in Cyberpsychology and Human Factors and is Head of the Airbus Accelerator in Human-Centric Cyber Security (H2CS). Recently, Phil became Director of a new Airbus Centre of Excellence in Human-Centric Cyber Security at Cardiff University and is one of two Academic Leads for a Strategic Partnership between Airbus and Cardiff University. Phil is also Visiting Professor at Luleå University of Technology - Psychology, Division of Health, Medicine & Rehabilitation, Sweden

Phil is UK PI on an ESRC-JST project (2020-24) (with collaborators at e.g., Universities of Kyoto and Osaka) on the Rule of Law in the Age of AI and autonomous systems with a key focus on blame assignment and trust in autonomous vehicles – exploring Human-Robot Interaction and Explainable AI (XAI) as core interventions. He also works on two projects funded by the NCSC focussed on interruptions effects on cyber security behaviours and a project funded via R-Cloud. Phil currently supervises nine PhD students. Other recent projects have been funded by e.g. HSSRC on topics such as developing Human Factors guidelines for Robots and Autonomous Systems (RAS).

Phil overseas the IROHMS Simulation Laboratory based within the School of Psychology at Cardiff University that currently comprises five state-of the art zones: immersive dome; transport simulator; cognitive robotics; VR/AR; and a command and control centre.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Identifying and Managing Psychosocial Hazards at work

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 17:00:00 +1000

Dr Robyn Coman and Associate Professor Carlo Caponecchia discuss the identification and management of Psychosocial Hazards at Work. What are they? What do we have to do about them? Who is responsible? How do we manage these hazards in the workplace?

The overall responsibility for the management of psychosocial hazards in the workplace lies with the duty holders, such as persons conducting a business undertaking (PCBU); but we all have a responsibility for the safety of others in the workplace.

Carlo Caponecchia is an Associate Professor in the School of Aviation at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney and Co-Associate Dean Equity Diversity and Inclusion in the Faculty of Science UNSW. He has a background in psychology and works in Human Factors and Safety. He has particular interest and expertise in psychosocial risks and safe systems of work. Carlo is a member of the Standards Australia committee on Occupational Health and Safety Management and was part of the ISO TC283 working group responsible for the development of ISO45003. He is the Past President of the International Association on Workplace Bullying and Harassment.

Dr Robyn Coman is a registered Physiotherapist, Ergonomist and Senior Lecturer in the Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) discipline within the School of Health & Society at the University of Wollongong (UOW). She is a member of: Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA); Human Factors & Ergonomics Society (HFESA) (NSW Branch Committee & National Health Special Interest Group Committee); Safe Work NSW Musculoskeletal Disorder Consultative Group; UOW Centre for Occupational Public and Environmental Research in Safety & Health (COPERSH).

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Melissa Baysari - Digital Health System Optimisation in Australia

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 08:00:00 +1000

Professor Melissa Baysari and Sharon Todd (CPE) discuss the design and use of Digital Health Systems implemented for patient safety, and where poor design can lead to alert fatigue, poor uptake and negative responses to these systems by the users in healthcare settings.

Melissa Baysari is Professor of Human Factors and leads the Digital Health Human Factors Research Group at the University of Sydney. Her research group applies Human Factors methods and approaches to evaluate and optimise health technologies to support healthcare work and improve patient safety. Melissa has many ongoing collaborations with health services and government and her research has resulted in a number of significant changes being made to clinical information systems, as well as to hospital policy and work practices.

The CSHI conference is in Sydney July 5-6 2023
https://www.cshi-imia.org

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Technology Adoption in Manufacturing and Usability Testing

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 16:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd is chatting to Valerie O’Keeffe. Valerie has been a member of HFESA since 1992. She has taught HFE in universities in architecture, industrial design, healthcare, work health and safety and business management since 1997. She has worked as a Researcher in HFE since 2003.

Currently Valerie is working at Flinders University Tonsley campus (formerly the Mitsubishi automotive plant in southern Adelaide) exploring technology adoption in the manufacturing industry, with a focus on shipbuilding and its supply chain

The aim of their research is to promote technology adoption and willingness to use technology by increasing acceptance.

Manufacturing is a knowledge and technology intensive industry yet Australian manufacturing has been slow to adopt advanced (digital or Industry 4.0) technologies e.g., robotics, augmented and virtual reality, sensors, big data and analytics, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, additive manufacturing (3D printing).

HFE is so important when working on technology adoption – it really requires a systems-focused, design-led and user-centric approach.

The work has to date has had three goals;

1. Promote willingness to use and adoption through exposing end-users to advanced technologies

2. Apply a HFE focus to learning from technology trials on generic but relevant use cases/applications to test feasibility for implementation e.g.

precision measurement in pipe fitting/welding,
digital work instructions for a range of inspection and assembly tasks (plumbing/electrical) using a variety of augmented reality technologies (smart phones, Google glasses 2D, Hololens and Realware augmented reality head-mounted displays)
virtual reality and laser scanning to create digital twins
remote inspection using autonomous robots (Spot the quadruped or dog robot)
precision path tracing task using a cobot (collaborative robot)

3. Make systems-oriented recommendations to improve usability and integrate into business processes

HFE is valuable at three levels:

Testing usability through engagement with user interfaces to successfully complete tasks (task level)
Understanding and extrapolating to job design impacts and recommendations
Making recommendations on cultural change and management strategies to facilitate successful adoption e.g. leadership, communication & participation, co-design of HR and operational policies and processes, work health and safety, productivity, quality – our work to date has focused on levels 1 and 2.

The team
The team work in multi-disciplinary team with robotics, mechanical and biomedical engineers. The HFE team have psychology, HFE, WHS and applied health sciences backgrounds.

The engineers operate the technologies, build the interfaces and we work together to design to design the tasks (using task analysis, observation, consultation). Measures include workload, usability, performance metrics -errors, performance times, productivity measures, risk ratings e.g. MSDs, physiological measures e.g. heart rate variability, perspiration rates and ratings of effort.

We have an interesting meta human factors process going on in bringing different cultures together – within the team and between a university and a large manufacturing/defence organisation and have needed to find shared language, methods of communication and ways of doing things.

Current work

The current work focuses on the manufacturing supply chain – helping build capacity in small to medium employers who want to adopt technology – this involves a broader multidisciplinary team of business management (innovation) researchers, with industrial design and operations experience.

This work emphasises the intersection of business goals/strategy, operations m

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Paul Cummins (Airline Training Solutions) - HFE in the Flight Deck Simulator

Tue, 23 May 2023 11:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd is chatting with Paul Cummins the founder and CEO of Airline Training Solutions. Paul has nearly 40 years experience in the aviation industry mainly in operational roles .

Airline Training Solutions is the largest private provider of flight simulators for training in Australia.

Simulators are based on Boeing 737-800, Airbus A320/321, with other contracted providers for other types. Other simulators include F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet and a light aircraft.

Paul's Experience includes:

Air Traffic Control, Supervisor and Training Officer
Flight Service Officer,
Pilot, flew CT4 and Macchi jet with RAAF, helicopter and aeroplane commercial pilot licence Australia and USA, flew Jetranger helcopter, de Havilland Beaver floatplane, Dash 8 and Boeing 727.
Trainer for Qantas on Boeing 737-800.
Regulatory experience with CASA, member and written submissions for the Editorial Advisory Panel for Flight Safety Australia magazine,
Editor of the Aeronautical Information Publication, and Instrument Flight Procedure Designer for Airservices
Chief Ground Instructor at RMIT university flight training.- Secretary of Seaplane Pilots Association of Australia

Safety

Air Traffic Control Section Safety Officer
-Safety Management System Manager, and Quality Assurance Manager for a Part 173 Instrument Flight Procedure Design company
Safety and compliance role as the Obstacle Limitation Surface Manager for Sydney Airport, Identifying risk and mitigation.
Consultant to various airports wrote their Operations Manuals, and Safety Risk Management Plans
Consultant on Air Traffic Management systems modernisation projects, as well as requirements management, testing roles, and QA.
-Systems Safety Engineer and Safety Management System lead on Air Traffic Management modernisation project.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Anjum Naweed - Proceed as if Success is Inevitable

Tue, 09 May 2023 12:00:00 +1000

Prof Anjum Naweed and Sharon Todd CPE are chatting about Anjum's HFE research, projects and his mantra "Proceed as if Success is Inevitable."

Professor Anjum Naweed is from the Appleton Institute for Behavioural Science in South Australia—the Adelaide-based campus of CQUniversity.

Anjum is a Certified Professional Ergonomist with a background in psychology and expertise in human factors and systems thinking. He has over 15 years of experience across a range of industry sectors and occupational settings.

Anjum’s research has received many accolades in recognition of his excellence in research activity, publication, and engagement and he has twice received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Researcher of the Year (2013; 2018) at his university.

He currently serves a Scientific Editor for Applied Ergonomics, an international journal aimed at ergonomists and all those interested in applying ergonomics and human factors in the design, planning and management of technical and social systems at work or leisure. He has been a Scientific Convenor for the Australasian Simulation Congress on five consecutive occasions, and for the Annual HFESA Conference twice.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 2 - The lessons learned in the design of the C30 Bombardier Train in Sweden

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 21:00:00 +1000

Sharon Todd CPE is chatting with Antoine Jdeidani about the C30 Bombardier Train design in Sweden.

Antoine Jdeidani has a Masters Degree in Ergonomics and Production Engineering and is the Human Factors associated Director at Arch Artifex providing human factors consulting services to Transport Projects in NSW Victoria and Queensland.

Antoine has over 10 years’ experience in human factors engineering and human centred design. 2 years dedicated to the design of consumer products and services, and over 8 years on the development and delivery of major transport and infrastructure projects.

Antoine’s keen understanding of project management enables him to embed human factors solutions that connects teams to their target end users adding value where it matters most.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 1 - HFE and the Design of the C30 Bombardier Train in Sweden

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 21:00:00 +1000

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Good Work Design is a Journey

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd CPE is chatting with Associate Professor Nektarios Karanikas.

Nektarios Karanikas is the Associate Professor in the Health, Safety and Environment discipline of the School of Public Health & Social Work (Faculty of Health) in the Queensland University of Technology (AU). Before his current appointment, he was Associate Professor of Safety and Human Factors at the Aviation Academy of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL). He studied MSc Human Factors and Safety Assessment in Aeronautics at Cranfield University (UK), and he was awarded his doctorate in Safety and Quality Management from Middlesex University (UK).

Nektarios graduated from the Hellenic Air Force Academy as an aeronautical engineer, worked for about 19 years as an officer at the Hellenic Air Force and resigned in 2014 with the rank of Lt. Colonel. There, he served in various positions related to maintenance, safety and quality management, including accident investigations, and he was lecturer and instructor for safety and human factors courses.

In addition to his academic qualifications, Nektarios has held professional engineering, human factors, project management, and safety management credentials and has been a member of various national and international associations. He has published two edited books and several chapters and has (co)authored various peer-reviewed journal and conference articles focusing on safety investigations, safety/risk management, engineering and culture. Nektarios has presented his work in over 90 events and actively volunteers in a wide range of scientific and professional activities.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 3 - HFE Tools used for Good Work Design

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 21:00:00 +1100

Elise Crawford BA, BOHS, GCTerEd, PhD (Human Factors) chats to Sharon Todd CPE & President of the HFESA, about some of the tools she uses for cognitive work analysis and good work design.

Elise lectures and coordinators industry placement projects within the Safety Sciences at CQUniversity. She is a human factors specialist teacher and researcher who leads the practical HFE activities during residential school for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Research interests include human factors of safety-critical systems, human systems interactions, good work design, user experience and cognitive ergonomics.

Most of Elise’s HFE work is done at the university, supporting the development of our emerging HFE professionals through practical coursework and research.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 2 - Work and the role of the HFE Professional in good work design

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 18:00:00 +1100

We are chatting with Elise Crawford BA, BOHS, GCTerEd, PhD (Human Factors) about work and the role of the HFE professional in good work design.

Elise lectures and coordinators industry placement projects within the Safety Sciences at CQUniversity. She is a human factors specialist teacher and researcher who leads the practical HFE activities during residential school for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Research interests include human factors of safety-critical systems, human systems interactions, good work design, user experience and cognitive ergonomics.

Most of Elise’s HFE work is done at the university, supporting the development of our emerging HFE professionals through practical coursework and research.

In Part 3 - Elise will introduce you to some of the tools she uses for cognitive work analysis and usability testing.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 1 - Good Work Design is User Centred Design

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 15:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd a CPE and the current president of the HFESA, chats to Sara Pazell BAppSci(OT), MBA, PhD, and CPE,, university lecturer and HFE design consultant about good work design.

Sara provides an introduction to the work of HFE professionals, and discusses 'how and why' we design for the user.

Sara was the committee chair for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia’s Good Work Design position paper and supporting resources.

Sara is the principal work design strategist and managing director for ViVA health at work, leveraging design in all industries (industrial and office work settings). She is here to help when you ask: How to design when humans are part of the system (work, product, technology, or environment) and what is the user experience? What if we did things a little differently? What can we dream that can become a new reality? She helps build capacity to innovate to generate some good stories to tell! Sara consults, teaches, and researches in human factors, ergonomics, human-centred and good work design, human system integration, organisational science, business leadership, and occupational science. Sara is affiliated with five Australian universities to advance these ideas. Sara is part of the international advisory committee for the WELL Movement concept v2 and associated project-based committees and an expert faculty member for Australia’s only certified Wellness WiseTM Practitioner training program. Sara was the committee chair for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia’s Good Work Design position paper and supporting resources. Her other passions include instructing yoga and sports & strength conditioning.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 3 - The HFE challenges for Automated and Autonomous Vehicle Design and Use

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 17:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd Certified Professional Ergonomist and the current president of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia (HFESA), is chatting with Professor Michael Regan PhD, FACRS, MHFESA who will continue his discussion on the critical HFE challenges with Automated and Autonomous Vehicles and discuss what the HFE community is doing to address these issues in the design of these vehicles. This is the final episode in this podcast series.

This educational podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 2 The HFE challenges for Automated and Autonomous Vehicle Design and Use

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 17:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd, Certified Professional Ergonomist and the current president of the Humans Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia (HFESA) is chatting with Professor Michael Regan PhD, FACRS, MHFESA discussing the critical Human Factors and Ergonomic challenges in the design and delivery of Automated Vehicles.

In Part 3 - Professor Michael Regan will continue his discussion on the critical HFE challenges with Automated and Autonomous Vehicles and discuss what the HFE community is doing to address these issues in the design of these vehicles - so keep listening!

This podcast is an educational podcast brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/

Part 1 - The HFE challenges for Automated and Autonomous Vehicle Design and Use

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 20:00:00 +1100

Sharon Todd, Certified Professional Ergonomist and the current President of the Humans Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia (HFESA) is chatting with Emeritus Professor Michael Regan PhD, FACRS, MHFESA discussing the Human Factors and Ergonomic (HFE) challenges with the use, design and deployment of Automated and Autonomous Vehicles.

In this first part of our 3-part series, Professor Michael Regan discusses the differences between these vehicles, the benefits they bring to society and some of the HFE issues for designers.

This podcast is brought to you, by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia.

DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/