ABSTRACT. Japan is facing an aging population. A ten-fold increase in the incidence of falls was reported in the elderly (over 65 years) compared to younger individuals. Just as the risk for slips and falls increases with age, so too does the severity of the outcome of these accidents. Falls are often listed among the leading causes of serious unintentional injuries. Especially risk during stair negotiation. Stair falling accidents the multiple, interacting environmental and human factors involved. Among the environmental factors are properties of the walking-surface and shoe or foot (e.g. material properties, tread). Human factors include gait, expectation, the health of the sensory systems and the health of the neuromuscular system. In short stair design and environmental conditions may play a role in slip accidents. The objective of the present study the environment of the feet which are easy to operate and more secure during stair descent.Sixteen healthy volunteers (age range 20–24; 14 female, 2 male) participated in this study.Each subject performed stair descent and walking on a force plate (Kistler, 9286BA) in all 12 conditions. Measured knee joint angle and ankle angle by reflective markers respectively. There were 4 parts of surface reflective markers below: Greater trochanter (GT) Lateral malleolas (LM) Distal phalanges (DP). Measurement of trunk accel-erometer, parts of surface trunk accelerometer below third cervical spine. It was that barefoot, two slippers(simple slippers (SS) or slippers(S)), nurse Shoes× three types of flooring (solid wood (SW) or carpet (C) or solid wood with non-slip (NS))...

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Having a greater role in the social and environmental sustainability has caused many challenges to addressing the paradigm of sustainable development in developing countries. The aim of this study is to update the uses and commons of the ergonomics with the sustainable development paradigm. Methods: In this review study, to find relevant literatures the "Ergonomics", "Human Factors", "Sustainable Development, and Sustainability" were searched as core keywords. The search was limited since 2000 to 2017. Finally, 13 articles were selected. Results: The results indicated a dramatic increase in the number of articles in ergonomics and sustainable development field recently. These results indicate the role of micro-ergonomic interventions in sustainability that can take place in various economic, social or environmental domains. Reducing occupational accidents and illnesses and increasing the health of employees is related to aspects of social sustainability and leads to social sustainability in people's work life. Conclusions: Ergonomics attention to design / redesign of systems including production subsystem, communications, human resources and other support subsystems, such as health and well-being, and the system's life cycle consideration can be a move towards the sustainability.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the effect of different take-over request (TOR) interfaces on takeover performance in conditionally automated driving (CAD) and found better takeover performance and driving behavior with the advanced-predictive information load interface. The present study can be used in future designs of automated driving interface.

ABSTRACT. Many employees work in Brazilian slaughterhouses and are exposed to several ergonomic risks; one of them is cold temperatures. This cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the finger temperatures of poultry slaughterhouse workers, and its associations with sociodemographic, work and cold sensory variables. The re-search included 142 workers from two poultry slaughterhouses that operated in a cold environment (10-12 °C). The data were obtained through interviews and thermographic images (palm and dorsum of the hands). For this, a Flir® T450SC infrared camera and the Flir® Tools software were utilized. Binary logistic regres-sion models were employed to assess the association between finger temperatures (≤15 °C) and the independent variables. Half of the workers wore three overlap-ping gloves, despite this, most workers presented at least one finger with a mean temperature ≤15 °C (76%), ≤24 °C (98%) and felt cold in their hands (75%). There was an association between the finger temperatures ≤15 °C and feeling cold in the hands, where most workers with fingers ≤15 °C experienced a cold sensation in the hands (84%). The binary logistic revealed that the chance of a slaughterhouse worker feeling cold in the hands as well as presenting finger tem-peratures ≤15 °C was three times greater than a worker who did not feel cold in their hands (OR=3.54). Therefore, the health and safety team must monitor the workers’ finger temperatures inserted in cold environments. In addition, efficient gloves for thermal protection should be developed and offered to these workers.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of two workflows for a human-robot collaboration at an assembly workstation of the institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Using a skill-based task allocation, the first scenario (V1) is designed to achieve a time-efficient process design, while the other scenario (V2) emphasises more interaction between the collaborative robot and human as well as aiming to reduce the physical load of the work person. Two repetitions of each scenario are evaluated in a laboratory experiment with 11 participants. The total process assembly time, the active time portions of human and robot in the process, the physiological muscle strain of back, shoulders and upper extremities, and a subjective assessment of team fluency were measured. The mean total cycle time was increased from 412.5 sec (s=95.3s) for V1 to 455.1s (s=77.1 sec) for V2, and the participants had more short breaks during the working process. While there were no significant differences between the two scenarios in terms of local physiological strain in the selected muscles and the subjective assessment, the concept of including physiological stress in the task allocation in a human robot dyad was overall successful for both scenari-os. All in all, low local physiological strain was measured and the robot was assessed positively regarding teamwork, trust, robot attributes and team-success.

ABSTRACT. This paper proposes a method to integrate Functional Resonance Analysis Method - (FRAM) and social networks to analyse complex socio-technical systems and specially system´s Distributed Situational Awareness - (DSA). For this purpose an accident of a chemical process was revisited and social network analysis - (SNA) was used in order to measure Situational Awareness - (SA) of the system as well as DSA dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to show that SA is very important to maintain system´s safety within a complex socio-technical system. More specifically, DSA which comprises all information provided by different actors in a system. FRAM´s modelling is a powerful tool in order to understand what are the system´s variabilities, to what extent that variability can produce resonance in the system, and from there measures should be adopted in order to enhance system´s resilience. FRAM´s model was established, and DSA was analysed using social network . It was possible to identify that the accident´s root cause was linked to missing DSA. As future works, it is suggested that other industrial systems be analysed with the proposed method to verify contributions to system safety analysis of implementation of measures to better distribute SA within the entire system, as well as to analyse the multilayer network representation and its metrics to DSA.

ABSTRACT. Fatigue is a high-risk factor for road accidents. It impairs driver’s attention and performance and can thus compromise road safety. Unlike for alcohol, there are no objective measurements to detect fatigue during road a road traffic control, and thus it is difficult for the police to prove that a driver is too tired to drive. However, considering previous studies there are reasons to believe that a formerly developed visual attention test could be a possibility to detect sleepiness to a certain degree. This study investigates the effect of fatigue on the visual attention test. 21 participants drove 30 minutes on a driving simulator in order to get tired and per-formed the attention test before and after the drive. During the drive, subjective sleepiness, mental workload, and driving performance were recorded. Participants were divided into two groups with different test sequences to assess the effect of time elapsed between the drive and the second attention test. The results revealed that in young participants, the effect of fatigue induced by a 30-minute drive in a driving simulator on visual attention is ambiguous. However, the results indicate that the effect of fatigue might be seen in the last third of the test. This study provides information on the sensitivity of the visual attention test and how the test might be adapted to detect fatigue.

ABSTRACT. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are the most common cause of sick leave and the second most common cause of early retirement for health reasons. High inci-dence of MSDs is found in the shoulder and neck region. A major risk factor for developing MSDs in the shoulder and neck region is work above shoulder level. However, it is often assumed that at least short-term work above shoulder level is tolerable for well-trained and experienced working persons. Up to now, there are only few data describing the amount of effort exerted by different postures during industrial working tasks among industrial workers. In contrast, the findings of this study show that such working tasks may comprise a higher level of musculoskele-tal injury risk. Repeated-measures ANOVA and subsequent conducted post-hoc analyses revealed a significant influence of work height on muscle activity of tra-pezius pars descendens, anterior deltoideus, erector spinae and rectus femoris. Furthermore, results show that working above shoulder level has significant influ-ence on workload in other body regions. Based on the results, it can be assumed that industrial working persons are also exposed to a higher risk for the develop-ment of MSDs through activities with inappropriate work heights, i. e. above shoulder level.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, PC screens have become wider and larger. The nature of our visual field is that visual acuity is at its highest when someone is looking at the center of something, making the central part look the clearest. This study used a widescreen display and a traditional display depicting a character to be retrieved at the center of the screen. Ten characters were displayed at 10 locations at the right or left edge of the screen. The study subjects were then asked to retrieve a particular character from among the 10 characters. Subsequently, this study analyzed the relationship between retrieval time and the display location of the character in the widescreen display and the traditional display. The effects of the use of the widescreen display on information retrieval were examined. Focused attention at the center of a screen can delay or even prevent the user’s awareness of information displayed just above the center of the right edge, at the center of the right edge, and just below the center of the right edge. Information should be displayed on wide screens while considering these unique human visual characteristics.

ABSTRACT. Although there are national regulations and standards for handling heavy loads, patient handling and movement as recurrent procedure in health care sector is lacking specific guidelines in Europe. This leads to diverse practices in health care education as the curricula are lacking evidence based framework. The contents and the extent of the education need to be standardized to prevent work related musculoskeletal disorders and improve the patient safety.

ABSTRACT. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which supervises the ac-tivities and provision of air services, as well as Brazil which is a signatory, issued a formal recommendation pointing fatigue as a criterion of high impact on aero-nautical activities and in maintaining the safety of aircraft operations. The propos-ing management of human fatigue following scientific principles in two ap-proaches: one prescriptive, which stipulates regulatory prescriptive limits, and the other, not mandatory, for data monitoring through a system called FRMS (Fa-tigue Risk Management System). This article is a bibliometric study on the scien-tific production in fatigue applied to air traffic control. A bibliometric survey was conducted on three databases "SCOPUS", "ENGINEERING VILLAGE", and "WEB OF SCIENCE", resulting in only 7 documents. Though a survey in other web sources, books, and international regulations was conducted, resulting in 13 methods. Among the subjective methods are: Sleep diaries; Visual Analogue Scale to Evaluate Fatigue Severity (VAS-F); Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS); Samn Perelli Scale (SPS); Epiworth Sleepiness Scale; Stanford Sleepiness Scale. By the results, subjective methods have advantages, such as speed and ease of administration, application on paper or computer, the minimal interruption to the crew, many studies have used SPS and KSS and provide data for comparison. And, disadvantages, such as: relatively easy to cheat, may not have face validity. Until this moment, prescription limits have been adopted in Brazil following regulations, but the fatigue assessment and monitoring phase are still in the study and implementation strategy phase.

ABSTRACT. Risk management is an ongoing process that involves the planning of an organization's resources, whether human or material, aiming to reduce and/or eliminate the occurrence of certain risks, in addition to mitigating the effects of those that may happen. The objective of this work was to propose the use of the Delphi method and the Bayesian Networks in the evaluation of the influence of fatigue on occurrences of air traffic involving the process of practical instruction. To achieve this objective, a preliminary report corresponding to the exercise from February 2019 to February 2020 was considered. The report pointed out that of the 15 existing sectors that cover the airspace region within the scope of the São Paulo Operations Center / In Brazil, sectors T7, T8, and T5 (grouped with T3 and/or T4) had more occurrences. Three (03) controllers who act as instructors, assigned probability values considering (a) the influence of fatigue during practical instruction (b) the sectors involved, (c) the complexity of the tasks to be performed, and (d) the existence or not of adverse weather conditions. The results points out that the complexity of the task is the most prominent factor for fatigue and the consequent occurrence of incidents, followed by the existence of meteorological conditions and the operation in sector T5 (grouped to T3 and/or T4). The developed research reached, in general, its objectives, being able to contribute as a tool for risk management and decision making during the practical instruction process.

ABSTRACT. This article aims to investigate ergonomic implications with musculoskeletal con-sequences caused in smartphone users, as well as the identification of methods, techniques and tools that are being used in current studies for the physical evalua-tion of users of these interfaces. Thus, a systematic review of the literature was performed through the Scopus database, using the Snowballing approach [1] to form the most robust set of documents on the subject addressed. During the doc-ument collection processes, 341 articles were found, followed by readings of ti-tles, abstracts and verification of previously established inclusion and exclusion criteria, leaving 27 articles, which were completely analyzed in search of relevant information to fulfill the research objective.

ABSTRACT. The effects of shoe fit on gait and posture were clarified. The vertical motions of the trunk, the propulsive power that supports walking, and the proportion of physical motions which contribute to forward motion were lower when wearing shoes with loosened laces than when “wearing properly.”

ABSTRACT. The expansion of teleworking, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, places at the center of the research agenda, the possible implications for the teleworker´s health. This research aims to explore the lived experience in reward, social relationships and mental health in Colombian teleworkers, reported in phenomenological interviews, and to compare in which extent such experience matches with the scores obtained in sub-scales of recompense, social support, and the Goldberg general health scale, in a sample of Colombian teleworkers. A convergent mixed method QUAN+QUAL= corroboration, was used. The participants were adults, living in Colombia, with a teleworking contract for more than six months. Recruitment was done through social networks (Facebook and Twitter); a typical case sampling method was used. A comparison of the quantitative and quantitative results was made according to the common concepts identified in the two data sets. We identified in which way the data converge, diverge, or expand the understanding of the results. The quantitative and qualitative results confirmed each other in all cases. The main protective factors for the Colombian teleworker health identified were being able to avoid the use of public transport, saving time, and the comfort and tranquility of work from home. The main risk factors identified were reduction in social activity, reduction in physical activity and overwork.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to describe the state of the art about the implications of the social security model in health, established with the Law 100 of 1993, in employment conditions, working conditions and mental health in Colombian health workers. A qualitative systematic literature review was carried out during the months of April and May of 2020. An electronic search of literature was made by consulting the REDALYC, SciELO, Google Scholar, DIALNET, ScienceDirect, Scopus and ELSEVIER databases. Considering the established inclusion and exclusion criteria, we used the PRISMA flow chart to select the studies. For the ordering of the data, we used a matrix for registration, extraction, and organization of information with the support of a spreadsheet (Excel software). 128 documents were identified and 45 were analysed. What we found indicates that the current state of employment and working conditions are harmful for the mental health of the Colombian health workers and those conditions are related to the proposals of Law 100 of 1993. Intrinsic motivation, social relationships, and leadership are noted as protective factors. The processes of outsourcing, deregulation of the labor market and job insecurity constitute the biggest problems and limitations for the mental well-being of the health personnel.

ABSTRACT. There is a variety of upper body exoskeletons, which are featured by different characteristics. Their benefits, but also their limitations and possible dangers should be fundamentally scientifically investigated. For this, test conditions that are as close to reality as possible, but also reproducible and standardized are es-sential. A test station for objectification of stress and strain during overhead work was designed and built. The requirement was that the test station could be varia-bly adapted to the height of the human body. Moreover, it allows the simulation of different activity scenarios. In addition to the test station, an experimental de-sign was also developed consisting of two screwing tasks and one plugging task. Each partial test had a total duration of 5 to 10 minutes, whereby the working speed was partly determined by a certain beat. The developed test design was subsequently validated with an exoskeleton (Airframe® by Levitate) and some test persons. For this purpose, the necessary measurement technology for record-ing heart rate, muscular strain and energy expenditure was applied and tested. Furthermore, a standardized questionnaire was developed and tested.

ABSTRACT. Cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) are receiving a lot of attention in the context of the fourth industrial revolution, especially in terms of complex architectures for data exchange among intelligent machines. However, the present elaboration is rather based on the question of what support such systems can provide for the exchange and appropriation of knowledge-intensive human practices in industrial surroundings. This paper presents the method and conceptual foundations of an Augmented Reality (AR) and sensor technology based CPPS for manual set-up processes on modern production machines. In the present context, both the recording of physical movements and the representation of local knowledge are potentially relevant. The basis is formed by design implications identified in the course of an extensive ethnographic study through the implementation of which a new methodological approach to the capture and transfer of (technical) knowledge embedded in embodied actions could be realized.

ABSTRACT. This work introduces a system dynamics-based model for designing feedback mechanisms related to the physical and mental workload in Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) systems. As a dynamic and non-linear system, HRC workplaces challenges ergonomic operations in the medium and long terms, and it is crucial to understand the whole system in order to increase reliability in decision-making about ergonomic interventions. The aim of this paper is to define which variables are to be considered and how they interact to predict the behavior of the HRC system over time. The method applied in the work follows four phases: literature review to systematic search for case studies and theoretical literature embracing the objectives of this work; summary of factors in HRC systems and their relationships obtained through the review of previous studies; definition of variables for the model gathered in a way they became the variables to be modeled; design of the Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) as a qualitative model developed from the variables, which formalizes and delimits the context to be analyzed. This paper proposes the conceptual definition by considering both physical and mental overload as cause of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD) and in-fluence on productivity. The work shows both subsystems, how they are connected, and reinforce the importance of looking at ergonomic problems with a systemic approach. Modeling the whole system is key to solve ergonomic problems in industry. The qualitative model CLD provided through the literature re-view is useful in understanding HRC systems.

ABSTRACT. Anthropometric characteristics should be considered in the hand tools, work-stations, and product design to diminish the risk of work-related musculo-skeletal disorders. Even though univariate approaches disadvantages when used in multivariate analysis, most designs are based on the traditional per-centile anthropometric data. This study obtained hand models through the univariate percentile values (1-99%) and two multivariate approaches: Prin-cipal Components Analysis (PCA) and Archetypal Analysis (AA) based on four hand dimensions. Fourteen hand models were obtained by the PCA, while three, five, and nine archetypal analysis k-value were selected after a root sum of squares analysis for k=1,…,12 archetypes. Results suggest that AA models could provide higher accommodation levels, followed by PCA models and percentile values.

ABSTRACT. The inadequate anthropometric design of state of the art operation rooms (ORs) is a source of high physical workload for the surgical staff, not least since the advent of minimally invasive surgery. Due to static postural work of the surgeons musculoskeletal complaints are reported by numerous studies. One of the main goals is the transfer and adaptation of digital human modeling (DHM) methods, which have proven themselves in vehicle development, to medical technology in the operating room (OR). The digital human model RAMSIS ® in CATIA V5 CAD environment was used for this purpose, exemplified by a laparoscopic cholecystectomy which is one of the most commonly performed abdominal surgical procedures. First step was to identify factors influencing surgeons' posture. When modeling using DHMs, only the most important influencing factors were considered in this prestudy. In principle, it has been possible to transfer the standardized method of dimensional layout conception used in vehicle design to the OR. The study will be extended in the future by an empirical data collection with motion tracking to show how often and how long the defined extreme body postures are taken. Furthermore, the question arises as to the transferability of the findings to other types of surgery.

ABSTRACT. This paper will present the use of broad ergonomics surveillance as a useful first tool to get a rapid, but comprehensive understanding of the relative risk within a facility.

ABSTRACT. OBJECTIVE: This study aim was to evaluate the performance of grip strength prediction using MLP regression and assess the robustness of the MLP regression by comparing three polynomial regressions (linear, quadratic, and cubic). METHDOLOGY: We have collected the maximum grip strength by 164 young adults (100 males, 64 females). Each participant exerted 36 maximum grip strength as a combination of hand (left, right), lower body posture (sitting, standing), shoulder flexion angle (0°, 90°, 180°), and forearm posture (neutral, pronation, supination). The total data set (n=5904) was divided into the training set (90% of total data) and test set (10% of total data). For the input variables, gender, age, height, weight, hand used for grip strength, hand length and width, postures of the lower body, upper arm, and forearm were considered. The MLP regression and 3 polynomial regressions (linear, quadratic, and cubic) were conducted to predict the grip strength. The root mean squared error (RMSE), Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R), and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were considered as performance measures. RESULTS: The mean (standard deviation) of original grip strength (reference) among males and females were 457.6 (71.7) N and 223.6 (37.4) N, respectively. The MLP showed greater performance (RMSE = 69.01N, R = 0.88, ICC = 0.92) than other polynomial regressions (RMSE = 79.03-82.43N, R = 0.82-0.84, ICC = 0.89-0.90). DISCUSSION: By considering individual’s demographic and anthropometric information, and postures, the MLP regression improved the performance of grip strength prediction compared to polynomial regressions with varying degrees. This indicates that multiple layers, nodes, and nonlinear activation function embedded in the MLP regression were able to improve the prediction of grip strength.

ABSTRACT. Resilience is an important characteristic of a hydroelectric power plant operation. Training in resilience skills (RS) can improve the resilience of systems. The aim of this study is to develop a computational platform to train hydroelectric power plants operators, using the Resilience Engineering perspective. A plant was recreated in a virtual environment, in which the trainees and the instructors see real images of the installations and equipment, moving inside the plant, based on the simulation of four basic scenarios that contemplate the exercise of eleven RS categories. A module for assessing trainee performance is the basis for a debriefing session with instructors at the end of the simulation. Tests of the platform were carried out with plant operators and adjustments were made aiming at the use of it in the formal training program of the company involved.

ABSTRACT. Utensil manipulation can help toddlers develop control of their shoulder joints, upper arms, and wrists. However, as toddlers go through the stages of muscular development, they should be given the appropriate tools for different stages of development to encourage autonomous learning. Unfortunately, many parents choose inappropriate tools due to a lack of understanding of their child’s fine motor skills, resulting in muscle compensation. In this study, the authors investigated and summarized the development of fine mo-tor skills and spoon grasp patterns in toddlers through a review of the literature, and concluded that progressing from a radial grasp to the static tripod grip is critical to the later adoption of the dynamic tripod grip, which allows toddlers to freely manipulate a spoon and other tools. Through our review of past studies, we also concluded that toddlers aged 18 to 24 months who have developed forearm supination and finger differentiation skills may be provided with a training spoon designed to guide the development of the static tripod grip. In order to verify the conclusions of this study and establish important items for future evaluation, the authors developed a semistructured questionnaire focused on the static tripod grip on spoons as well as the assessment of forearm supination and finger differentiation skills. The questionnaire was used in an interview conducted with three professional occupational therapists with over five years of experience in child development. The therapists’ opinions regarding the optimal time for intervention to guide the development of the static tripod grip on a spoon were compiled and the following five conclusions were derived from the data: (1) Toddlers aged 24 to 36 months should begin learning to use the static tripod grip to hold a spoon; (2) in addition to finger differentiation and forearm supination, toddlers must have hand arch development, wrist stability, thumb opposition, and the related cognitive skills when using the static tripod grip to hold a spoon; (3) the supination angle of the forearm required for eating is small (when using the static tripod grip to hold a spoon, the pronation angle is roughly between 0 and 45 degrees) and does not need to reach 80 to 90 degrees; wrist stability in toddlers should be assessed to prevent muscle compensation in the upper arm; (4) the three-stage assessment of fine motor skills should involve the assessment of thumb opposition, hand arch development, and finger differentiation; and (5) when assessing a skill, toddlers should be given at least three chances to complete the task and should only be required to complete it once to be deemed capable of the skill.

ABSTRACT. For children living in East Asia, chopsticks are important eating utensils. Providing children with appropriate training chopsticks to help them learn how to hold chopsticks properly facilitates not only better hand muscle develop-ment, but also fine motor skills. However, commercially available children’s training chopsticks come in a variety of designs and styles that have different effects on the way children hold them. Because of the lack of scientific re-search exploring chopstick design criteria, there are no data for designers to re-fer to when designing chopsticks. To help resolve this issue, we collected and compiled chopstick design studies and analyzed the designs of commercially available chopsticks to develop 10 systematic design criteria for the design of training chopsticks. Subsequently, we used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and conducted interviews with three experts who were familiar with children’s chopstick usage behavior and/or who had experience in designing children’s tableware to derive the weights of the criteria. The results showed that operating part design (the design of the upper-chopstick), bridge size, and chopstick material were the primary design criteria that designers should con-sider when designing children’s training chopsticks.

ABSTRACT. Emergency preparedness actions conducted through participatory programs for improving working environment of local government workers in a district of a prefecture were analyzed. Modified versions of the mental health action checklist listing locally feasible types of improvements were used for proposing potential improvements. Common types of achieved improvements and their relation to emergency preparedness were analyzed. The majority of 348 improvements reported in five years from 2014 to 2018 concerned work methods and physical environment factors. Nearly 30% of these improvements addressed communication measures for sharing information or mutually supporting co-workers. Emergency preparedness actions accounted for about 5%. In each year, participating workplaces often implemented two or more improvements, and .emergency preparedness actions tended to be taken in combination with improved communication measures. These results confirmed that adequate emergency responses could be facilitated through group discussions utilizing locally adjusted action checklists covering communication-related im-provements. It was suggested important for enhancing emergency preparedness to organize dialog-based participatory steps assisted by action checklists indicating locally appropriate responses ex-tending to workplace-level communication measures.

ABSTRACT. Based on the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake related to nuclear power plant operation, a training curriculum (with the English name ECO-TEC training) was developed for improving the non-technical skills (NTSs) of emergency response teams at these plants. In this training, plant managers conducted an exercise involving initial response to a severe accident, followed by a debriefing session held to discuss good practices ob-served in the exercise and points requiring improvement. The debriefing ses-sion was set longer than the exercise and was considered to be as important as the exercise itself, that allows participants to recognize their own good practices and those of other members. In previously training situations, par-ticipants confirmed the lessons they learned at the post-exercise debriefing session, but whether that changed their performance was not confirmed. In this study, participants who underwent the training multiple times were used as subjects and the results of their post-exercise self-evaluation of NTSs, along with the results of third-party observations, were compared be-tween the first and the second time they took the training. There were 20 multiple-time training participants. They were asked to evaluate their per-formance against certain targets, and four researchers watched videos of the exercise and evaluated the improvements in the participants’ NTSs. The self-evaluation results for NTSs showed that participants gave higher marks to their behavior for “reciting,” “setting priorities,” “concise report-ing,” and “having alternatives” after the second time. Improvement in NTSs was seen in various scenes through behavior observations. This indicated that the subjects drew on the lessons learned from the first time to attain higher NTSs the second time while making the NTSs their own. However, a direct causal relationship between the debriefing session and improvement in skill levels was not established, and therefore it is necessary to continue to collect data.

ABSTRACT. We can recently see an increased interest in real-world usability data from various global regulatory bodies for medical devices (MDs) and Software as a Medical Device (SaMD). Notably, the new European Medical Device Regulations from 2017 emphasizes the importance of clinical evaluation of the usability of MDs. As promising as the combination of clinical trials in a real-world setting and usability tests in simulated use can be, it is challenging in practice to combine these well-established methodologies. This paper discusses the challenges around important “cultural” differences and reports on lessons learned. It highlights the opportunities and strengths that both worlds offer and provides guidance for an appropriate selection or combination of user centered design methodologies. The analysis of the user experience and usability research questions and their translation into a clinical protocol is a key element. In most cases, the usability of an MD or SaMD can be sufficiently assessed with a human factors engineering evaluation (e.g., a simulated-use usability test), which can provide evidence of safe and effective use from an interactive perspective. However, some cases (e.g., for certain clinical claims) may require assessing use within a real-world environment, requiring the integration of methods from the human factors and clinical worlds. For such demanding cases, we propose a framework for a study design: a proposal on how to consider and integrate usability tests into a clinical trial.

ABSTRACT. The informal structure of waste sorting workers' organizations in Brazil has two critical perspectives: the need to encourage solid waste management systems and difficult working conditions. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study that analyzed working conditions in a waste cooperative; highlighting variability associated with facilities, process, and materials faced worker risks and discomforts in their workplace. Data collection included systematic observations of the production process, interviews and use of the discomfort questionnaire. The results indicate that working in the process of sorting recyclable materials can cause several discomforts, in addition to offering risks to the worker. The discomforts are mainly associated with the movements necessary to separate the materials. Simultaneously, the risks come mainly from the types of materials that get to the conveyor belt, such as hospital material and sharp objects.

ABSTRACT. The Covid 19 pandemic has changed our working and our living conditions, the envi-ronment has become hostile. We propose to briefly present an ergonomic intervention aiming at resuming classes in a physiotherapy school in the Parisian suburbs in this crisis context. The intervention was a confrontation of Covid's recommendations (evolving regularly) with the functioning of the lessons. The main problems ques-tioned were: the school being closed during the intervention there was no activity, how to intervene without observing the activity? How to take into account that the privet’s practices of the students' school have an influence on the health situation inside? Therefore, we imagined with the trainers a phase of perceptive simulation activity (PS) on the "residual" activity in order to have a representation of the organi-zation of the lessons. In a second time, a transparent relationship with the students was established with the main idea "what you do outside has an influence inside (the school)". Intervening in pandemic was new conditions. Itt was therefore necessary to adapt the methods of intervention to the situation and ergonomics allows this adapt-ability to situations. In the idea of empowering interventions, the system and the individuals (teachers and students) have adapted, evolved over the course of the recommendations and the appearance of Covid 19 cases. Both groups have proba-bly developed their theoretical, practical and organizational knowledge of infectiolo-gy, which is an asset for caregivers or future caregivers. Finally, the ergonomist has also developed and adapted his practice to the singular situation.

ABSTRACT. The study uses different types of music to induce different emotions of the subjects, then checks if the emotions affect driving behavior in different road environments. 30 subjects used the STISIM driving simulator to con-duct the experiments. A mixed factor design of 3 music types (positive vs negative vs no music) * 2 road environments (urban vs rural). After filling out an emotion scale, subjects listened to positive or negative music, recalled relevant memories that matched the emotion, and then filled out the emotion scale again. After reaching the conforming emotion, they listened to the mu-sic and followed a car while completing the driving task. The data collected driving behavior and the duration of TTC<2.5(time to collision). The results show that an existing interaction between the environment and the music type: in the urban environment, the lane departure offset in non-music sce-narios is greater than that of positive and negative music—same goes for the rural environment. The total time of TTC<2.5s in the urban environment is longer than the rural environment; the longitudinal acceleration variation in the urban is higher than the rural environment.

ABSTRACT. Research on high reliability organizations considers safety a feature ensuring a system’s smooth operation (Fahlbruch & Wilpert, 1999). To increase safety, the entire organization as well as influences of organizational culture on individual safety behavior of organization members become focal points of safety discussions (Helmreich & Merrit, 1998; Leveson et al., 2004; Meshkati, 2002). Thus, the question arises, which aspects of organizational culture influence safety and to what extent. Safety culture plays a crucial role at this, as it represents the entirety of an organization’s and its members’ characteristics and attitudes towards safety matters.

This contribution investigates the as yet little researched relationship between safety culture, work engagement and risk perception in the railway sector. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of organizational settings in developing and designing a purposeful safety culture.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT The National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) is a research framework for the United States and for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The NORA Musculoskeletal Health Cross-Sector (MUS) Council focuses on the mitigation of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Two projects have been chosen by the MUS Council for disseminating existing information on ergonomic assessment methods and interventions in partnership with the AIHA and the International Ergonomics Association (IEA). The MUS Council plans on leveraging the collaborative efforts for promoting widespread adoption of evidence-based workplace practices for the prevention of WMSDs.

ABSTRACT. When manufacturing a car, robots are used to weld the metal parts together. To check if the welding points comply with the quality requirements, ultra-sonic measurements are done by workers during a whole shift. In the current situation, there are 29 measurement plans spread over 10 workstations scat-tered around the welding plant. This means workers must move around be-tween workstation frequently. To reduce the travel time between work-station, the automotive company decided to centralize the different meas-urement plans on 6 workstations. In the future workers will spent more time testing welding points. But in the current situation, more than half of the workers experience already problems in the back and shoulders. To evaluate if the future situation is ergonomically acceptable, Key Indicator Method (KIM) was used to evaluate the current and future situation. Reduction of workstations lead to a reduction in risk score of body movement (KIM-BM) and awkward body postures (KIM-ABP), but the intensity of the physical load was the same; slightly increased for KIM-BM and high for KIM-ABP. To reduce the intensity of the physical load and the time spent in awkward body postures adjustments of the selected workstations are needed.

ABSTRACT. PROBLEM STATEMENT: More than 16 million dementia caregivers in the United States provide approximately18.5 billion hours of unpaid care annually to the 5.8 million people living with dementia (PLWD) (Alzheimer's Association, 2019; Prince et al., 2015). These caregivers encounter challenges managing the cognitive, behavioral, and physical changes that characterize dementia progression over time (Boots et al., 2014; Boots et al., 2015; Werner et al., 2017). Caregivers have unmet information needs that, if met, would better equip them to provide effective care ( Alzheimer's Association, 2019; Leong et al., 2001; Schulz et al., 2004).

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: In a hot-and-humid environment, fatigue and excess thermoregulation frequently occur when the workers labor under moderate or heavy metabolic load and sustain significant metabolic consumption. Adequate work-rest cycles should be practiced to safeguard the workers from potential heat stress.

ABSTRACT. This study focus on queries formulation strategies when expert users in a medical or computer science domain solved complex tasks. Ten medical students and ten computer science students had to perform four fact-finding search tasks (two simple tasks and two inferential tasks) and six learning tasks (two exploratory, two decision-making and two problem solving tasks) in these two domains. Results showed that non-experts used more terms from task statement to build their queries than experts did. Experts often produced new keywords than non-experts did. Specifically, computer science experts used more keywords not specific to the domain knowledge whereas medical experts used specific domain keywords to formulate queries. These results are a beginning to better understand how users are searching to learn when they are using Internet but further ergonomics studies have to more explore this subject to create search systems adapted to Search as Learning activity.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: This work aims to categorize all the necessary information to represent the main entities part of the driving activity and to evaluate the impact of this combined information in the driving activity analysis, to improve driving safety.

ABSTRACT. PROBLEM STATEMENT: Recent studies on comfort in automated driving have mainly focused on how the vehicle should drive (i.e., acceleration, inter-vehicular distances, etc.) in order to improve the human experience. However, most of these studies do not take into account the influence of environmental factors, such as weather conditions, nor the influence of drivers’ factors, such manual driving style. Yet, numerous studies have shown that these factors have an influence on manual driving performance and experience. Thus, investigating their influence of comfort in automated driving seems relevant. Additionally, recent studies on comfort in automated driving have only focused on fully automated cars. However, partially automated cars should also be considered since they represent the highest level of automation soon available to the general public. In addition, they imply a critical event: the transfer of control from the automated system to the human when the first reaches its limits, and vice-versa.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, a new theoretical model for driving posture assessment is proposed. Other than many models that focused on sitting (dis-)comfort evaluation, our model evaluates both sitting and driving activities such as steering and pedal control. By regarding both subjective and objective posture evaluation methods, we summarized several findings from literature in this field and extracted three aspects for driving posture evaluation, i.e., accommodating various sitting strategies, reducing physical strain, and allowing the optimum physical performance of drivers. Essential impact factors were selected accordingly to determine the essential parameters for a more holistic evaluation process. These could be used for further development of digital human modeling software like RAMSIS. The new model would potentially allow a more effective and ergonomic occupant packaging.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: The way in which map information was presented in a virtual environment affected symptoms of simulator sickness. Participants using a track-up map located in the lower forward field of view reported experiencing worse simulator sickness than those using a novel map presented in the upper forward field of view. It is possible that because participant’s attention was drawn to the horizon with the novel map that this resulted in milder symptoms of simulator sickness.

ABSTRACT. Falls are a major public health issue and many are caused by tripping. An important indicator of the risk of tripping is the minimum foot clearance. Current practices assess the mean and standard deviation of minimum foot clearance values to measure the tripping risk with lower mean and/or higher minimum foot clearance variability being associated with higher risk of tripping. However, this method of representing the foot trajectory by a single point and using the most basic linear statistics to analyze the data may be an oversimplification. In this paper, we search the current literature for alternative approaches of interpreting foot trajectory data to more accurately assess the risk of tripping. We discuss methods outlined by five different papers, each introducing a novel analysis of foot clearance data. We also propose an improved general model to estimate an individual’s probability of tripping by pooling the methods from the five papers.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: In Portugal, automated vehicles are usually presented as complete automated vehicles, whose circulation is not yet due to legislative issues. This may impact the users’ perception and compromise safety.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders include the musculoskeletal clinical conditions related to work. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and discomfort and to analyze the association of individual, physical / biomechanical, psychosocial, cognitive and organizational risk factors in a beverage company. Methods: Observational and cross-sectional study carried out in all sectors of a beverage company. The following questionnaires were ap-plied: sociodemographic information, the Nordic questionnaire, Cor-lett's Body Map, Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), the Work Abil-ity Index, the Need for Recovery Scale, and the Quick Exposure Check - Br. The analysis was performed by the associations using Fisher's Exact Test and logistic regression using the Odds Ratio (OR) (p<0.05, 95%Confidence Interval). Results: A total of 100 volunteers participated in the study. The sam-ple has predominance of male (69%), mean age of 33.76 years. 57% of the participants reported musculoskeletal pain/discomfort, mainly in the region of the lumbar spine, of moderate intensity. Individual fac-tors such as age over 40 years (OR 7.40; 1.87-29.25), time in function (OR 4.12; 1.43-11.84), absenteeism (OR 7.35; 2.68-20.14), non-adherence to workplace exercises (OR 2.95; 1,28-6.80). SF-36 ques-tionnaire Functional Capacity (OR 6.13; 2.34-16.06), Physical As-pects (OR 10.25; 2.23-46.97), Social Aspects (OR 4.96; 1.89-12.99), Mental Health (OR 3.01; 1.27-7.11), Pain (OR 77.68; 9.93-607.20) and General Health Status (OR 5.17; 1.88- 14.16), Work Ability In-dex questionnaire (OR10.45; 3.58-30.47) and Need for Recovery Scale OR3.40;1.38-8.36) were associated with musculoskeletal pain/discomfort. Conclusions: Emphasis in workplace exercises, pauses, physical ac-tivities and mental/psychosocial support are mandatory in addition to ergonomics preventive approach.

ABSTRACT. The study of musculoskeletal symptoms in dental professionals has been a topic of interest for several years. However, few studies have focused on student populations, even though they are exposed to similar professional dentists' conditions during their clinical practices. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in a population of dental students at a public university in Colombia. Cross-sectional study, where 106 dental students who were studying between the fifth and tenth semester of a public university in Colombia were randomly selected. Stu-dents answered a questionnaire composed of 22 questions and structured in three sections: (1) sociodemographic characteristics, (2) clinical practice data, and (3) musculoskeletal symptoms. Students spend an average of 10.5 hours per week (SD = 4.1 hours) in clinical practice. 27.4% reported that musculo-skeletal pain had interfered with their daily activities. Also, students reported other symptoms such as tiredness (60.4%), muscle fatigue (41.5%), numb-ness in wrist hands (21.7%), and (17.9%) weakness in the grip of instru-ments and muscle spasms. The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in the student population was 82.1%, being significantly greater prevalence in women (89.7%) than in men (68.4%) (p= 0.0133) and CI (95%: 2.8% -4.0%). A greater proportion of pain prevalence was also found in women than in men by body region. The body regions most affected, both by fre-quency and severity of pain, were the lower and upper back, neck, hands-wrists, and shoulders. Findings show university authorities the need for a systemic ergonomic analysis of clinical practices to improve students' well-being and health.

ABSTRACT. This study aimed to understand the influence of information propagated through the guide’s elbow on foot proprioception among severely visually impaired people. Twelve male adults with pigmentary retinal degeneration were recruited for this study. Participants acquired information about steps (height of steps: 4, 10, and 20 cm) through two methods: being helped by a guide (grasping the guide’s elbow as they climbed the steps; Condition A) or looking downward (viewing the obstacle at 30 cm from their toes; Condition B). Subsequently, participants performed two tasks. In task 1, participants reproduced the height of the obstacles by lifting their foot during static standing (10 times per leg). Task 2: After acquiring information about steps in both conditions, participants climbed the steps from a free position in which they could complete the movement with one step. For task 1, condition B, showed a higher toe rise and higher coefficient of variance in toe rise than condition A. Regarding Task 2, the highest points of the leading feet while stepping up were significantly higher under condition B. These results suggest that differences in information acquisition strategies affect the foot trajectory when climbing steps. Of the two methods used in this study, information acquisition through guide helpers may provide better feedback for individuals with low vision when climbing steps.

ABSTRACT. Falls are a common cause of fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries in the U.S. construction industry, causing 5,701 deaths among construction workers from 2003 to 2018. The purpose of this study is to examine trends of fatal falls in the construction industry and analyze patterns of fatalities from falls to a lower level among U.S. construction workers from 2011 to 2019. Two large national datasets in the U.S. were analyzed, including the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the Current Population Survey. Findings indicated that the number of fatal injuries in construction continued to increase, and reached 1,102 deaths in 2019, the highest level since 2011. The number of fatalities among Hispanic construction workers were particularly concerning, outpacing their employment growth during this period. Falls to a lower level were largely responsible for the increase in construction fatalities in 2019, as both the number and rate of fatal falls to a lower level increased in 2019 after reductions in 2017 and 2018. To prevent fatal fall injuries in construction, continued and enhanced fall protection efforts are needed.

ABSTRACT. It is unusual to find ergonomic evaluations or interventions approached from a macroergonomic perspective in the Latin American context. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ergonomic maturity level of a Colombian company in the floriculture sector using the Ergonomic Maturity Model (EMM), a macroergonomic tool. The evaluation was conducted in three stages: (1) preparation, (2) evaluation, and (3) improvement plan. An ergonomist conducted this process with the participation of five managers and 61 operational workers of the company. Several EMM tools were used to assist the evaluation process: evaluation matrix, weighting questionnaire, and a detailed questionnaire. As a result, the company was classified at the lowest maturity level (Level 1: Ignorance). Further, the maturity assessment results showed how managers and workers have different opinions and expectations about the development and application of ergonomics. We hope that the organization's discussions generated during the evaluation process will allow ergonomics to be gradually integrated into its processes.

ABSTRACT. Ergonomics, biomechanics, and clinical human movement studies often describe the use of an asymptomatic young adult cohort as a control group or uninjured population for the study of shoulder and low back musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). While it is acknowledged that psychosocial factors play a role in work-related shoulder and low back musculoskeletal disorder, participant characterization and descriptives emphasize current physical characteristics (anthropometrics, demographics, injury status), without accounting for potentially latent characteristics like previous injury. It is well established that previous injury experience impacts an individual’s emotional and behavioural responses [1], however, previous experiences with work-related injury are often overlooked when recruiting asymptomatic controls. This study reports previous shoulder and low back injury, fear of movement, and fear-avoidance beliefs in 134 asymptomatic university-aged young adults and demonstrates that previous injury experiences impact current beliefs, and opens discussion to including additional participant characteristics in addition to traditional descriptive measures.

ABSTRACT. The work organization is undergoing a major transformation amplified by the current pandemic and it is important to challenge these effects on employees’ engagement towards their work environment. As a result of a scoping review, it is possible to consider that there is few elements present in the literature regarding the concepts of telework and employees’ engagement. Therefore, it is suggested that the current context is studied in light of the new concept of enabling space to guide the ergonomic interventions.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT Regular hand hygiene is linked to the reduction of infectious disease transmission but can be overlooked or forgotten – especially at home. Automated prompting systems have been shown to improve hand hygiene compliance in clinical environments, but this approach has never been investigated in private residences, as far as we are aware. The objective of this project is to design and evaluate a hand hygiene prompting system for use in the home.

ABSTRACT. Work is a central activity among the working population. The presence of a chronic disease (CD) can influence working life by modifying people's capacities. Because CD is long lasting and rarely heals, job retention will be impacted. This research explore the process of job retention of people with CD. To meet this objective, grounded theory (GT) has been used. The study took place in an organization of the public health and social services in Quebec. The research participants are on one hand workers with CD and on the other, managers of the sectors in which workers with CD work. The data collection aim at understanding the phenomenon through individual interviews. The approximately 75-minutes interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed in their entirety into NVivo (version 12) for analysis. Constant comparative analysis of the data, collected through individual interviews, allows coding (open, axial, selective and theoretical). In the organization, managers and workers use ergonomic strategies for job retention. These ergonomic strategies can be societal, organizational or personal. The implementation of ergonomic strategies results in consequences on the job retention of people with CD.

ABSTRACT. Situation awareness (SA) is a cognitive safety-critical skill, consisting of three levels – perception, comprehension, and anticipation. SA lapses have been associated with many incidents and accidents across high-risk industries. Stress and fatigue can negatively impact SA, leading to some of these lapses. More recently, the importance of SA has also been acknowledged in agriculture, the most dangerous industry in Ireland and the United Kingdom by injury and fatality rate. The current study aimed to explore SA lapses and the impact of stress and fatigue on SA in agriculture.

Fifteen Irish and British farmers were interviewed using the critical incident technique followed by general questions on stress and fatigue in farming. In the critical incident section, interviewees were asked to verbally recall a recent negative farming experience, an error that occurred, or adverse conditions which they had to manage on the farm while feeling tired or stressed. Additional questions were asked to uncover implicit knowledge on SA lapses, stress, and fatigue. Interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

SA lapses were reportedly involved in all accidents and incidents. Many occurred at the perception level, as a failure to monitor or observe data, usually because of attentional narrowing. Several lapses also occurred at the comprehension level as an incomplete or an inaccurate mental model, usually in the context of a recent change in equipment or machinery. Stress and fatigue had a negative impact on SA through cognitive impairments. A twofold strategy is suggested, focused on strengthening SA and managing stress and fatigue.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: Nineteen workers from a manufacturing company in Colombia presented significant volume changes in both legs and increased musculoskeletal symptoms in the lower back and lower extremities between the beginning and end of an 8-hour workday.

ABSTRACT. Over the past decades, online shopping has made the purchase experience more efficient and convenient. However, the limited richness of sensory stimuli may mislead the customer’s decision. If the purchased product is eventually found to be not as good as expected during the consumption process, it could influence the customer’s satisfaction and even brand loyalty. This issue should be highlighted for determining the appropriate scenario of kansei evaluation of products. So, taking the computer mouse as an example, this study investigates when and how expectation disconfirmation would occur. 30 females ranging from 20 to 29 years old with prior experience of online shopping were recruited. Each of them was asked to experience six stages of purchase (two at home and four at the store). Eight product samples were prepared by considering the variation of three design parameters, including color (red or gray), sound of buttons (silent or not), and surface material (glossy coating or matte coating). Results showed that there is indeed expectation disconfirmation. Therefore, it is recommended not to conduct kansei evaluation through the interaction of browsing the product images only, seeing the product samples only, or seeing and touching the product samples without really using them.

ABSTRACT. One of the most frequently-used body regions in daily activities is the upper limbs, and many of the work-related musculoskeletal disorders occur in this area, mainly the hands. We highlight the importance of studying hand movements executed at work, and how they affect workers’ health and productivity. Data were collected from a hand-motion capture system con-formed by six inertial measurement units and six resistive force sensors from hand and fingers movements. Two common hand movements were analyzed using wrist flexion-extension with a small (15° to 15°) and medium (< 15° and >15°) range of motion and flexion-extension movement with the hand pronated-supinated. Data were classified by traditional methods. A more complex movement involving a 3-finger spherical grip was also recorded. It was found that the lectures from the six inertial sensors and the six force resistive sensors showed a pattern that facilitates the recognition of basic and more complex movements (flexion-extension and spheric handgrip) through visual analysis of the plotted data, even at different ranges of motion.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to collect data on the activities, postures, dis(comfort), and needs of train passengers. Observations in the trains and questionnaires completed by train passengers were used. The online questionnaire was completed using the smartphone of the passengers during the train trip. The most often observed activity of the passengers was using a smartphone while travelling. They used a smartphone to listen to music, chat or typing, looking at a video or picture, and reading. Most passengers reported that they hold a smartphone with both hands and used a smartphone with the right hand also. The thigh support, and the armrests of the seat showed the lowest comfort and certainly has room for improvement. Future research could be considered to design the seat to increase passenger comfort while using a smartphone

ABSTRACT. Virtual Reality (VR) unveils adequate possibilities in the context of demand-oriented qualification of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). This state-of-the-art technology represents especially for employees an attractive and effective opportunity for the acquisition and transfer of knowledge relating to processes and products [1]. The guiding principle for the application of VR technology in the context of employee qualification consists in a more sub-stantial and sustainable knowledge development if experienced and not abstractly learned using classic learning methods. Interacting and working in a virtual pro-cess is possible with the development and utilization of application-oriented virtu-al learning scenarios. Virtual learning scenarios, such as for the commissioning or the setting-up of a machine tool, are oriented towards the sensomotoric knowledge development and therefore support the transfer of procedural and ac-tion related skills in a virtual training environment. The embedding of learning scenarios in a virtual learning environment, which represents an accessible and realistic depiction of the real work environment as well as the respective work tasks including operating actions, an improved orientation within the real work environment based on the experiences of the virtual world is expected. Apart from a methodological approach for the development of virtual learning scenarios, two defined and developed types of learning scenarios related to the commissioning of a machine tool as well as considering different learning re-quirements of employee qualification are introduced in this contribution.

ABSTRACT. Objective: To examine the relationship between practice of visual ergonomics in the work from home setup and its effect on eye health during COVID-19 pandemic. And to propose mitigation strategies via easy to implement visual ergonomic practices, from the human factor perspective. Methods: A standardized tool was used to gather information via an online survey conducted over a period of October to December 2020. Study population consisted of 231 professionals working from home (Mean age 37 years ± 6 years). The survey consisted of CVSS-17 questionnaire along with questions targeting ergonomics and human factors in the new work-from-home setups. The paper shows the association between impact of the new work environment and eye health using Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) for all the variables under ideal ergonomic practices. Result: The study indicates that there is a marked increase in the hours spent in front of a screen in the work from home scenarios (r= 0.67). The people who face eye strain reported that the letters on the screen became blurry after continuous screen use (r = 0.56). Screen size is negatively correlated to the ideal visual ergonomic position of eyes in relation to the screen (r = -0.29). Overall awareness about refresh rate is very low (21%). Conclusion: The study has established a definite indication of onset of computer vision syndrome in the majority of the people who are now working from home on screens for extended hours. Further investigation is needed in understanding eye to screen relationship in the work from home situations. Keywords: Computer vision syndrome, visual ergonomics, human factors, digital eye strain

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT Combining concepts that capture unofficial work practices at complementary organizational levels may help to identify more reliably unmet information needs in computer supported co-operative work environments.

ABSTRACT. This article presents the path traveled by a team of ergonomists to adapt the methods they used for ergonomic actions. New ways for performing ergonomic actions were necessary due to the worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic. Face-to-face observation of work activities in development was no longer possible. This study presents the challenges, limitations, and achievements obtained by ergonomists performing their work in a new way. Activity Ergonomics constitutes the theoretical reference for this work. We present the methodological association used to deal with the challenges derived from the pandemic period. We show results from the association of the Ergonomic Analysis of Work Activity (EAWA) with: the “paradigm of training in and by the analysis of work, to and by action”; the Method of Collective Work Analysis (CWA); and the Method of a Workshop of Photography. Those methods also align with the bases of the field of Workers' Health. We conclude that the strategies adopted were able to conduct a practice in ergonomics that made it possible to achieve its main objectives.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: The study main goal was to do a scope analysis (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005) to summarize and problematize the results link with transmission mods may influence the inclusion and the development of humanitarian interventions collectives.

ABSTRACT. Slaughterhouse workers are often exposed to many biomechanical risk factors that contribute to the development of upper-limb work-related musculo-skeletal disorders (UL-WMSD). Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the risks in relation to repetitive movements of the upper limbs in a poultry slaughterhouse, as well as analyze the effects of a reduced work pace on the risk levels. The study was conducted in a slaughterhouse with 1,500 workers, who were divided into two shifts, where 150,000 chickens were slaughtered daily. The OCRA checklist was implemented to assess 10% of the total workforce. The Student t-test was applied to examine the difference between the risks of both sides of the body (p≤0.05). The 14 analyzed work tasks were from the sectors: cutting (8), packing (5) and reception (1). The workers performed 72.8±15.3 actions per minute (10/10 points on the OCRA scale). The average score of the OCRA checklist was 23.4±4.4 (high risk). The scores for the right upper limb (23.1±4.8 - high risk) were not significantly different (p=0.175) than the left (21.8±5.2 - moderate risk). Considering the five risk categories of the OCRA method, 10 tasks were deemed high risk (71%) and 4 presented moderate risk (29%). By conducting simulations, it was possible to reduce the risk to a very low level in 13 of the 14 tasks by only decreasing the work pace (-56.9±10.4%). In this way, simulations of a reduced work pace showed the effectiveness of this organizational measure in lowering the risk of UL-WMSD.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: A human factors approach was used to design and develop a just-in-time feedback system to support procedural learning in critical care medicine while addressing the unique communication challenges of working in a noisy and moving aircraft. The validated feedback system can serve as a surrogate for an instructor during training and adapt to the trainees’ stage of learning. It also has the potential to be implemented in the field.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: Decreased vision in dark environments does not affect the center of mass (COM) movement or temporal-spatial stepping parameters during balance recovery following lean-and-release forward perturbations in young, healthy adults.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: In this study, we investigated the differences in students’ procrastination levels in the face-to-face and online learning environments while conducting low- and high-complexity tasks. The results revealed that students procrastinated significantly more when in the online learning environment or working on high-complexity tasks.

ABSTRACT. ERIN is an observational method developed for non-expert personnel to assess the exposure to risk factors related to musculoskeletal disorders. Since its initial publication, its use has gradually spread in Latin American countries and other regions. However, few reliability studies of the method have been reported. The purpose of this work was to determine the inter-rater reliability of the ERIN method. Thirty-nine raters (physiotherapists) evaluated eight tasks from video recordings. Each task was evaluated simultaneously while the video was projected in a room. The inter-rater reliability of the categorical variables was evaluated using the statistical index kappa Fleiss (K), while for the continuous variable (total risk), the intraclass correlation coefficient ICC (2.1) was used. Sixteen categorical variables were analyzed. In eight, the agreement was moderate, the K values varied between 0.45 and 0.59, and in the other eight variables, the agreement was substantial; the K values varied between 0.61 and 0.80. When unifying the four ERIN risk lev-els into "No risk" (low and medium risk levels) and "Risk" (high and very high-risk levels), the agreement was almost perfect (K = 0.86). A good agreement was obtained for the total risk variable; the average value was ICC (2,1) = 0.62. The results of this study indicate that the ERIN method has acceptable levels of inter-rater reliability.

ABSTRACT. Sedentary behavior among school children has been associated with musculoskeletal pain, adverse cardiometabolic disorders and reduced cognitive performance, all of which may be negatively impacted by distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. We present the methodology used to design and develop interventions to increase physical activity in 4th graders using a participatory, systems process during distance learning. Formative evaluation of training is being conducted with key stakeholders to facilitate this iterative process.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: Wellness benefits and employment perks that provide employees with the support they need to meet the demands of their jobs, may be associated with decreased psychosocial stress and/or burnout, and decreased musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk in office settings.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we report a secondary analysis of data collected from two driving simulator experiments to understand the effects of SAE-Level 2 driving automation on drivers’ glances in anticipation of traffic events. Background: Current state-of-the-art consumer vehicle automation requires drivers to monitor the road and intervene when automation fails. Limited research has investigated the effects of automation on drivers’ anticipation of upcoming traffic events. We recently reported two driving simulator studies that focused on drivers’ glance behaviors before such events; however, we did not compare the results of these two studies. Methods: In this paper, we report statistical analyses comparing the glance data from these two studies that had 32 participants each, half of whom were novices and the other half were experienced drivers. The two experiments were comparable in terms of the driving scenarios that required anticipation: the first experiment focused on driving without automation; while the second focused on driving with automation consisting of adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance. Further, half of the participants in each experiment were provided with a self-paced visual-manual secondary task. Results: In the no-secondary-task condition, drivers in the automation experiment spent a higher percent of time glancing at anticipatory cues that indicated an upcoming traffic event than did drivers in the no-automation experiment. In the secondary-task-condition, no such difference was observed between the two experiments. Conclusion: When there is no distraction to engage in, it appears that automation can allow drivers to have increased visual attention to anticipatory cues.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: The integrated use of respirators and chemical protective clothing (CPC) as personal protective equipment (PPE) often results in increase in thermal burden to the users, as manifested in elevated thermoregulation and reduced thermal comfort. This thermal stress is exacerbated when the users of PPE are engaged in strenuous tasks. This study investigated the potential thermal stress the users of PPE might be exposed to when wearing PPE ensembles of various heat-insulating property and performing composite activities of varying metabolic rate.

ABSTRACT. Nowadays, the most widespread methods for vestibular system training include physical activity and exercising on a specific training equipment. Even though these methods have their advantages, they do not directly affect the visual system. Thus, including the visual stimuli in vestibular system training seems to be a promising solution. Using a virtual reality headset allows to expand the area of influence on a person by creating a feeling of “complete immersion”. Thus, based on the information studied from the medical side of the issue, as well as on the features of the VR headset, we propose developing an application for training the vestibular system. In the current study the authors present the initial design of the application and the experiment design to test the application efficacy in comparison to conventional vestibular system training.

ABSTRACT. The esports’ scene is a multibillion-dollar industry with large global audiences. There is an increasing scholarly interest on the esports phenomenon, looking at it from a variety of disciplines. At the center of the esports ecosystem are the athletes who are members of teams that compete in leagues and tournaments, working in a still poorly regulated industry. Not surprisingly, the esports scene is usually characterized by poor working conditions, busy schedules and burnout. As a direct consequence, players’ push for better working conditions is frequent and a possible avenue for pursuing such efforts is the establishing of players’ association. In this context, this exploratory study aims to analyze the activities and initiatives carried out by the Counter Strike Professional Players’ Association, to promote better working conditions for professional esports’ players. The study qualitative analyses documents from the association, coding the initiatives and topics addressed by them. Results indicate that the association tries to address work conditions, regulations, player compensation and health issues by discussing guidelines and minimum standards of work with event organizers and teams organizations. We propose a model to understand the role of players’ associations in dealing with these parties as well as with game developers, and the possible outcomes from these negotiations. The incorporation of Human Factor and Ergonomics specialists to players’ associations can be a way to assist in driving for improvements on the esports scene.

ABSTRACT. The present study shows an alternative solution to the presence of musculoskeletal discomfort and postural overload within the work that requires the use of a computer. 

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: Valid risk assessment tools for work tasks that include pushing transport devices by muscle power are required to evaluate work-related health risks of exposed employees. Studies involving measurement data on pushing single-axle transport devices are rare. Therefore, this study examines short-time effects of physical load and demand while pushing loads with a hand truck in a controlled experimental setting.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this study was to present the results of an ergonomic intervention in a Colombian manufacturing company. The intervention process was carried out in five stages: (1) identify problems in the workstation, (2) ergonomic evaluation of workstations, (3) proposals for ergonomic intervention, (4) evaluation of the proposals, and (5) implementation and follow-up. As a result, several proposals for the physical and organizational redesign were projected. These proposals were elaborated and discussed with the workers involved in the intervened workstations and presented to the company's management. This work shows the benefits that can be obtained by employing a participatory approach in the ergonomic design of work systems. However, it should be mentioned that the implementation of the proposed redesigns was partial and focused mainly on the physical redesign, since barriers were generated that prevented its implementation. We believe that lessons learned (successes and failures) can serve as a reference for ergonomics practitioners in similar contexts.

ABSTRACT. Despite its industry's importance and its impact on its community, commercial fishing did not receive much attention from the researchers. Little is understood about accident causations and safety issues among fishermen and their vessels. The paper's objective was to develop a conceptual framework based on accident analysis models and safety issues, adapted to commercial fishing activities. In this paper, Haddon matrix was used to conceptualize a “man overboard” accident which represents the primary cause of death among marine fisheries’ workers in Canada. This reflective paper attempts to address the complex context of safety issues in the commercial fishing industry by providing a conceptual framework. This study highlights the need of a better understanding of accidental events and safety issues, hence also encourages fellow researchers to investigate and explore further into health and safety domains.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: The authors present an approach to supporting innovation in production and supply chain design contexts by systematically analyzing the human factors (HF) related interactions across the design’s life-cycle. 

ABSTRACT. MAIN MESSAGE: The evaluation and analysis of the knowledge intensity of the work done in the tasks of quality assurance of new drugs' development processes was used to guide the design of aids for improving the effectiveness and diminishing the stress.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: We evaluate the ways in which subjective assessment methods have been applied to the measurement of operator fatigue. We seek to establish the utility of a unified subjective scale for cross-domain applications.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: This new data collection protocol captures home workspace, posture and activity information to understand the likely impact on musculoskeletal disorder long term amongst people doing office work from home due to Covid-19.

PROBLEM STATEMENT: With the current coronavirus pandemic, working from home is more common than ever. While adapting to this new lifestyle, it is essential to find ways to create an ergonomic computer workspace at home in order to reduce the risk of injuries and musculoskeletal disorders particularly associated with poor posture at work. Good ergonomic practices in the workplace can not only prevent injuries but can also improve the quality and productivity of the work as well as the mental state of the individual. The first step is understanding home-based working conditions.

OBJECTIVE: This communication describes a method assessing physical workspaces and postures of employees who are currently working from home due to the coronavirus, identifying and quantifying physical risks of musculoskeletal injuries and diseases associated with the participants’ home workspaces based on published tools. The study is similar to research performed among the faculty and staff members of the University of Cincinnati to evaluate their current workspaces at home (Davis et al. 2020) but considers a more diverse population.

ABSTRACT. This paper reports on the first year of activity assessing the scale, nature and contexts of significantly upstream-influenced OHSW issues in New Zealand workplaces. Conclusions include a need for inclusive cross-cutting actions – rather than sector-specific interventions.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: Stroke is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in Africans. Ageing is inextricably associated with stroke, thus, that. However, the psychological and physical disabilities of stroke survivors are due to intrinsic neurocognitive deficits rather than age.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT A literature review was conducted to inquire into the need to train CPR leaders on Situational Awareness (SA), the lack of which has been shown to affect the performance of the resuscitation team and, therefore, the survival of the patient.

ABSTRACT. Visualization is one of the key aspects of presenting the results of scientific re-search. The authors propose an experiment design to analyze the perception of medical data visualizations in solving analytical problems. Perception analysis involves processing a combination of data: eyetracking data, tasks solving performance (time spent, answer accuracy, etc.), think-aloud data, and subjective preferences survey. As the research material, the authors used an anonymized data-base on 60 patients with Multiple Sclerosis treated by Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation (HSCT). The database contained about 150 parameters. The study confirmed eligibility of the proposed approach.

ABSTRACT. This study presents the challenge of considering a joystick to safely control a vehicle with partially automated system. This study answered two research questions. One is related to the safety of joystick control, the other is related to the functionality. 24 elderly drivers who had not been trained in joystick control participated in the driving simulation experiment. The driving simulator with joystick device simulated the highway scenario for collecting the driver behavior when they control the vehicle with ADAS support. The result showed that most of the participants were able to control the vehicle by joystick to safely overtake and lane changes under certain road condition. Also, this study found that the characteristic of using joystick for choosing to change the lane is about 1.6 second longer than conventional steering wheel condition, and the mental workload of the joystick control was significantly higher than when the driver using steering wheel.

ABSTRACT. In 3D gesture interaction, people engage in contactless interaction with computers through arm and palm movements. The aim of this study was to develop and verify a reasonable evaluation scheme for 3D gesture usability through empirical methods and finally form an efficient, natural, and standard gesture library for 3D interaction. Two experiments were performed. In the first experiment, an evaluation scheme for 3D gestures with different weighted indexes of usability was developed, and then the ratings of the usability dimensions of 30 gestures within 10 operations in the 3D interaction were compared with one another. The purpose of this comparison was to summarize a set of 3D gestures with the highest usability. In the second experiment, the validity of the gesture set acquired in the first experiment was verified by comparing the usability differences between the high- and low-rated 3D gestures. An optimal set of 3D gestures was obtained by comparing the usability ratings of the different gestures and then verifying the superiority of the operation performance and users’ satisfaction of this 3D gesture set in a real operation task.

ABSTRACT. This study explored the differences in visual search tasks for people with different cognitive styles of field independence and field dependence when browsing the different sequence of application layout on computer desktops. This experiment is a 2(Cognitive styles: field independence vs. field dependence) *2(Familiarity: familiar vs. unfamiliar) *2(Sequence of application layout: name vs type) design of mixed factors. The response time and fixation times of searching computer application were the dependent variables. The experiment method is : All participants took the test with the Group Embedded Figures Test(GEFT) , the top 25% and bottom 25% of the test scores are divided into styles of field-independent and field-dependent. They performed visual search tasks in different sequence of application layout on computer desktops with eye tracking devices. Each participant performed a total of 4 search tasks. It was found that there was a significant difference in the response time of the participants searching for familiar and unfamiliar applications. When the participants searched for familiar applications, their reaction time and number of fixations were significant differences. The difference between this research and previous research on people with different cognitive styles is that the previous research for field independent people can quickly find the target in an unfamiliar environment, but in this research, field independents did not find this feature in the search task for computer applications.

ABSTRACT. Summative statement: An earlier review identified 207 Human Factors (HF) related risk factors for product quality (QRF). In this study, we investigate whether these QRF are also risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDRF). Results showed a strong association between many, but not all, common MSDRF and QRF.

ABSTRACT. Slips, trips and falls are among the major causes of injury in Canada. The main reason for trip-related falls is inadequate Minimum Toe Clearance (MTC) in the mid-swing phase of the gait cycle when the foot is at its maximum forward speed. Motion capture systems are the current gold standard for measuring MTC, however they are expensive and have a restricted operating area. The main purpose of this study is to design and validate a novel wearable system that can estimate the MTC using sensor fusion. The system measures the toe clearance, acceleration and orientation of the foot by using a single Time of Flight (ToF) sensor and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). An algorithm was introduced to detect the steps and the MTC events with about 95% accuracy. Our data analysis showed an average correlation coefficient of about 0.8 when comparing the ToF signals with motion capture. In addition, the proposed system can measure the MTC with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 5.2 ± 3.4 mm. The proposed wearable system has the potential to perform real-time MTC estimation and can contribute to future work focused on minimizing tripping risks.

ABSTRACT. The high incidence of work-related injuries and diseases in the construction industry requires intervention research and innovative preventive solutions. Health and safety data collection and analysis through wearable devices (WD) could be useful for occupational health.

ABSTRACT. For domestic service robots (DSRs) to be successful, their design must accommodate user needs and preferences when working from home. This study explores whether DSR usage patterns change when people spend more time at home and whether active observation of robotic behaviors (which is more likely to occur when working from home) impacts the perception of robotic characteristics. Thirty-one owners of robotic vacuum cleaners were provided with an interactive online questionnaire which guided them through a remote un-moderated experiment in their own home. Participants were asked to report their cleaning routines, before and during lockdown, and their perceptions of their robot, before and after they actively observed it clean and handle different obstacles. Advantages and disadvantages of this approach are discussed. Our results, while still preliminary, shed light on people's robot operation routines as they work from home. Even though most of our participants owned their robot for over a year, we found that active observation of the robot's work may impact the way in which robots are perceived. Our findings may have general implications to the design of controlled human-robot interaction experiments, which typically require active observation, unlike most interactions in naturalistic settings.

ABSTRACT. The Executive Plenary Session will explore the various facets of the emerging transformative technologies to draw particular focus to the theme of the Congress. It will coalesce around the core value of human factors and ergonomics. The session will be held immediately after the Congress opening session.

ABSTRACT. There is a growing trend to conduct simulation-based mock-up evaluations as part of the process to design healthcare facilities. This symposium will include projects where simulation-based mock-up evaluations have been used extensively and iteratively to not only inform design decision making but also to actively engage both designers and clinicians in co-designing high-risk patient care spaces.

ABSTRACT. A multidisciplinary team was formed to understand the implications of room design on family engagement in pediatric intensive care units (ICUs). Through the application of scenario-based simulation and human factors engineering, several barriers to family engagement were uncovered among 4 different room designs. Findings indicate that an inboard toilet, mirrored room layout enhances family engagement compare to an outboard toilet, same-handed layout.

ABSTRACT. In the design of new healthcare facilities, the ability to mitigate risk in the pre-construction period is imperative. Simulation-based Hospital Design Testing (SbHDT) can be used to proactively test the complex interface between people and the built environment.

ABSTRACT. There is a growing trend to conduct simulation-based mock-up evaluations as part of the process to design healthcare facilities (Health Quality Council of Alberta, 2016). However, little is known regarding the return-on-investment (ROI) from conducting these evaluations, and which types of mock-ups should be used to conduct the evaluation. These guidelines intend to report ROI information and to present evidence-based recommendations outlining which mock-up type would optimize cost effectiveness and outcomes (identified latent conditions, hazards, etc.) in the design process.

ABSTRACT. Successful implementation of innovative ergonomic design solutions can be challenging in a healthcare environment that is complex, highly dynamic and that generally adheres to established interventions. The creation and early implementation of ergonomic design standards uses historical knowledge to create proactive and innovative design solutions that can improve the safety for staff and patients as well as providing quality care.

ABSTRACT. The use of virtual reality technologies for occupational health and safety training is already widespread in various work contexts, but little explored in the healthcare sector, although it lends itself well to applying these technologies. This study aims to help fill this knowledge gap.

ABSTRACT. Healthcare workers are challenged with maintaining acceptable performance in suboptimal conditions, balancing a multitude of conflicting priorities to deliver high-quality patient care. Building upon existing human factors and resilient healthcare theories, this ethnographic study captures these competing pressures and explores concepts such as patient safety, work-as-done, teamwork, and quality care delivery, introducing a new model to make sense of the challenges healthcare providers face.

ABSTRACT. Medical errors are committed by health workers anywhere, and can result in severe patient injuries or death. World Health Organization indicates that medical errors cause great damage to health care systems around the world. Several strategies are used to reduce medical errors, including Human Factors /Ergonomics (HF/E). Accordingly, the present research aims to highlight the contribution of HF/E to the control of medical errors. This research is based on a literature review carried out on the web search engine Google Scholar. With the selection key "HF/E and medical errors", during the period 2010 to 2020, (17,100) articles were obtained. The articles were shortlisted to include only peer-reviewed articles that directly deal with HF/E and medical errors. After a careful examination of the obtained research, only 42 papers are closely related to the research topic. Research papers were categorized into four categories: HF/E of medical work, HF/E of medical equipment, HF/E of the physical environment and HF/E of medical drugs naming. It has been found that the application of HF/E in each of those areas has significantly reduced medical errors.

ABSTRACT. Preventable medication errors affect more than 7 million patients each year and cost almost $21 billion annually across all healthcare settings. Medication administration errors (MAEs) are identified to be highly occurring and one of the most severe among other categories of medication errors.

Despite some developed studies on analyzing medication errors, there is a need for the development of more robust, systematic methodologies to investigate their contributing causes and provide preventive measures to avoid their recurrence. This study proposes a systematic investigation framework, by adopting the AcciMap methodology originally developed by Rasmussen in 1997, to analyze contributing causes of MAEs and provides context-specific recommendations to reduce the instances of those errors.

The AcciMap methodology is a hierarchical, multi-layered framework with each layer representing a main group of involved players. The layers of the AcciMap framework in this study, from top to bottom, are: Government and Regulatory Bodies; Hospital; Management; Staff (e.g. physicians and nurses administering medications); and Work Processes, Events, and Conditions. It is noteworthy that not only does the AcciMap capture different socio-technical factors that contributed to MAEs across its layers, but also it depicts the interactions of those layers and their involved players.

The analysis of our developed AcciMap framework shows that both internal (to an organization) and external factors contributed to MAEs. Furthermore, organizational factors, among internal factors, have been identified as the root cause of questionable decisions made by staff and management. Factors such as economic pressure, inadequate training infrastructure, and ineffective communication were among influential organizational factors contributed to MAEs.

ABSTRACT. Psychophysiological studies have illustrated the role of stress in altering the reaction time in an individual. However, studies relating to driving stress and changes in driver's reaction time are scarce. This study's importance stems from the observation that driving stress is a critical causal factor of risky driving and on-road crashes. The study attempted to quantify the role of driving stress in altering the reaction time in drivers. Thirty subjects (Mean age =24.56 ±1.46 years, 18 males) volunteered to the study. The driving stress was induced by a highly congested urban simulated driving experiment. The reaction time before and after the simulated driving correlated with violations made during the simulated driving. The results suggest that risky behavior in driving stress could be attributed to impaired reaction time in drivers. The work highlights the importance of driving stress in congested roads and its implications of risky driving.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the signal quality and R-peak detection accuracy from capacitive electrocardiogram (cECG) sensors in a realistic driving environment. Improvements to the sensor system and signal processing were made to increase the accuracy of the cECG measurement system to reduce the artifacts from upper body movements and noise due to poor road conditions, and vehicle vibrations.

ABSTRACT. Bus- pedestrian crashes typically result in more severe injuries and deaths than any other type of crashes due to physical characteristics such as heavyweight, large size and maneuvering restrictions. The statistical data report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH, 2017) highlights that bus crashes alone account for about 6.9% of the total crashes occurring within the country. 10,651 (7.2%) persons have been killed, and 44,330(9.4%) persons have been injured in bus-involved collisions during 2017. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that significantly contribute to the severity of pedestrian injuries resulting from pedestrian- bus crashes using a random forest approach. Contributory factors including the driver, pedestrian, and environmental characteristics, are investigated and discussed. The crash dataset for the present study was prepared from the police reported pedestrian- bus crashes for the past nine years that occurred within Tamilnadu. The research team retrieved all the single-vehicle out-of-control four-wheeler crashes for the period between 2009 and 2017. Random Forest method is an ensemble method for classification problem that is a collection of decision trees. It aggregates all the predictions made by the decision trees into one final prediction. The complete dataset (11735) was divided into two separate datasets: the training dataset (9388) for the development of the model and the testing dataset (2347) for the performance evaluation of the model. The most significant variables in RF were found to be the number of lanes (both single and two-lane), presence of median separators, crashes occurrence at the intersection was unknown and pedestrians aged above 55 years. Based on the findings of the above results, targeted countermeasures may be designed in light of the injury severity of the pedestrians in pedestrian- bus collisions.

ABSTRACT. Single-vehicle crashes are of major concern in developed and developing nations due to the severity of injuries. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH, 2018) report, a total of 4,67,044 accidents have been reported by the states and union territories in which have claimed 1,51,417 lives. However, a clearer picture of single-vehicle crashes is unavailable. The present study's objective is to obtain a more precise understanding concerning the injury severity of the out-of-control single-vehicle four-wheeler crashes with the drivers being at fault. Contributory factors, including driver, roadway, and environmental characteristics, are investigated and discussed. The crash dataset for the present study was prepared from the police reported single-vehicle crashes for the past nine years that occurred within Tamilnadu. The research team retrieved all the single-vehicle out-of-control four-wheeler crashes for the period between 2009 and 2017. To deal with that of the ordered categorical variable, ordinal logistic regression analysis was carried out. The brant test was carried out to check for the proportional odds assumption being valid or not. Younger and working-age group drivers, violation of rules, number of lanes, median separators, highways, and village roads were significantly associated with increased crash severity. Based on the above results' findings, targeted countermeasures may be designed in light of the driver’s injury severity. For example, drivers who violate the law are prone to more severe injuries; awareness to strictly avoid such behaviors, and strict law enforcement is need of the hour in those crashes.

ABSTRACT. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, public health policies urge physical distancing (also known as social distancing) of 2 metres (6 feet) when walking outside in public spaces. This survey-based study reports on changes in general pedestrian behaviours due to pandemic conditions such as reduction in frequency of daily walking, and lack of comfort when in proximity of others. Responses to common urban pedestrian scenarios identified emerging adaptive strategies used by adults to maintain physical distancing. The two main strategies are Avoidance (stepping off one’s path, crossing the road) and Encounter (stopping to let others pass, continuing the path of travel). Decisions to use one physical strategy over another are related to perceived traffic safety risks associated with the scenarios. For the low and moderate traffic scenarios, stepping off the path to avoid others is the preferred strategy. In the high-risk traffic scenarios, stopping on the path to let others pass or continuing to walk are preferred to stepping into traffic, even though physical distancing will not be maintained. Results from the study have implications for educational campaigns to promote effective physical distancing strategies, as well as planning for urban infrastructure to promote walking for health and mobility.

ABSTRACT. University students were surveyed regarding their experiences with mandated home isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 42 survey responses were analyzed through the lens of social cybernetics. Key associations between elements of student experiences with social isolation were identified.

ABSTRACT. Physical behaviors assessed using accelerometers in office workers required to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, showed a considerable increase of time-in-bed at the expense of, in particular, moderate-to-vigorous activity, compared to the composition of activities before the pandemic.

ABSTRACT. COVID-19 has resulted in many changes in people lifestyles. One of the biggest turns has been the approach to home office as an alternative to “normal” work. The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of the home work place on musculoskeletal discomfort.

ABSTRACT. This Symposium gives an overview on field measurements to capture and assess work-related musculoskeletal loads using technical systems. A general categorization and different application examples of measurement and assessment methods are presented.

ABSTRACT. In this article a proposal for categorization of measurement systems for recording and assessing of work-related musculoskeletal workloads and disorders (MSD) for body region-related risk assessments is presented. It consists of three catego-ries according to the different user groups: operational practitioner (Cat 1), ergo-nomic expert (Cat 2) and scientist (Cat 3). Principal characteristics of measuring systems in the categories 1, 2 and 3 are derived from common measurement set-ups and application cases. For the body regions upper extremities, spine, lower extremities implementations for the associated risk factors, measurement tech-nique and parameters as well as assessment approaches are presented.

ABSTRACT. Technical measurements allow an objective assessment of MSD risk factors at work. There is a need for common standards regarding data collection and processing, as well as an exchange platform storing measurement data of occupational physical activity and workload for further analysis. Several research institutes started a feasibility study to work on developing standards for assessment of risk factors and implement them in an exchange platform prototype. The first prototype already demonstrates a technical feasibility. Coordination and structure of the contents, as well as estimates of costs and efforts needed for further development need more examination in order to arrive at a final platform with good feasibility.

ABSTRACT. Back loading was estimated during manual material handling (MMH) tasks only based on inertial motion capture. On average for all tasks on one subject, the L5/S1 moment errors were about 12 Nm for flexion and 7 Nm asymmetrically.

ABSTRACT. Wrist angular velocity assessment is important for assessing the risks in hand-intensive work. This study compared the measurement accuracy of an inertial measurement unit (IMU)-smartphone system, an electronic goniometer and an optical tracking system (OTS) for measuring wrist flexion velocity. Six participants performed three sets of standard hand/wrist movements and three simulated work tasks. The results showed the IMUs had adequate accuracy comparing to the OTS during standard movements of low to medium pace. The accuracy of the IMUs compared to the OTS was lower during fast pace movements and simulated work tasks. Still, the IMUs had in general small differences compared to the goniometer in flexion/extension and simulated work tasks. Therefore, the IMU system may be used by research-ers and practitioners for assessing wrist flexion velocity in hand-intensive work. Future studies need to explore algorithms to improve the IMU-smartphone system and reduce errors.

ABSTRACT. In this special session we focus on how ergonomics and human factors can deal with complex systems. Complex systems may be defined as sociotechnical systems (STS) with many components, which are interacting in multiple ways ending up in emergence, characterized by being greater than the sum of the components. E/HF researchers, may study complex sociotechnical systems across many different fields, e.g. production systems, Industry 4.0, food production and distribution, information and data systems. The theme of Complexity will be treated from an approach of macroergonomics and related disciplines, such as management and engineering, mainly with regard to its importance for the development of the integration of different aspects in projects allowing better diagnoses on the problems of production and organizations; correlating them with technological, social and work development.

ABSTRACT. SUMMATIVE STATEMENT: Work activities are at the core of handling for example variability and complexity, thereby creating system performance. For decades, a systems perspective on the interactions between involved humans, the technology and the organization has been used for assessing safety critical systems. In this paper, the role of activity for understanding and developing other work systems in the human-technology-organization concept is further expanded and developed.

ABSTRACT. This paper focuses on project management activities in the field of maintenance of high-risk industries. It studies the resources and constraints of project managers, at individual and collective levels, to anticipate and manage the multiple coordination and interdependencies in these projects and to do the « articulation work ».

ABSTRACT. This paper presents an ongoing research on the ergonomic approach of multidisciplinary teamwork in service situations. The theoretical and methodological perspectives envisaged aim to understand the network of constraints of professionals working in French inter-company occupational health services (SIST), with a view to developing the resources which support effective inter-professional collaboration.

ABSTRACT. Main Message: Two tendencies are identified that hinder the ability of human factors to assist organisations in looking beyond their technical problems, and offers a methodology to better understand their socio-technical problems and develop solutions.

ABSTRACT. Complexity theory (CT) has been used in ergonomics in response to reductionist views of work and organizations. However, there is still a lot of ambiguity and confusion in the use of concepts and theories of complexity. Defining the type of complexity approach used is essential to advance knowledge, as there are fundamental epistemological, ontological and methodological differences between them that influence the models of the human, of health and of work we produce.

ABSTRACT. Abstract. In this paper we aim to present the methodology used in an Ergo-nomics research work to define the preparation for treatment in external ra-diotherapy. This research work concerns the analysis of the preparation for treatment in external radiotherapy activity and the difficulties workers are experiencing. Lack of fluidity during this step and between the different ac-tors was noted by the IRSN (Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safe-ty) experts and the ASN (Nuclear Safety Authority). IRSN assumes that those lacks of fluidity may have an impact on workers activity and patients’ safety. IRSN formulated a thesis subject on the basis of this hypothesis called “Human activity and transverse performance, the case of preparation for treatment in external radiotherapy”.

ABSTRACT. In the field of activity-centered ergonomics, this symposium calls upon activity theories to report experience of ergonomist researchers with industry 4.0. This session will question methodologies and concepts spread in ergonomics in regard of contemporary challenges.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this communication, based on the development of a training program in engineering, is to make a (little bit provocative) feedback on the positioning of ergonomics in the reception of this new ideology named "Industry 4.0".

ABSTRACT. Ergonomics is currently in the process of building its space as a discipline in energy sector design, as well as in the continuous process industry. This issue emerges from the expectation organizations have in regard to participation and products developed by the discipline in projects. The purpose of this study is to report the participation of a team of ergonomists in an oil platform basic design, discussing ergonomics structuring. To that effect, this study used participant observation as a methodology, as well as data collected along 14 months for this case study. The results show the challenges faced and strategies adopted to integrate remote work to the design dynamics. Even though ergonomics’ scope of action has not yet been clearly understood, it was possible to observe how the practice of the discipline has evolved during this project. This work highlights how ergonomics can potentially help integrate the different rationales which make up the design.

ABSTRACT. Industry 4.0 generates risks renewing stakes for design project integrating work activities, as it can be done in activity centered ergonomics and participatory ergonomics. From a case study supporting a design project for a plant of the future assembling additive metal manufacturing processes in aeronautics, this article aims to show the contribution of using typical situations to define requirements for industrial design projects 4.0. The method is based on a construction of the approach, the identification of typical exposure situations (through video and measurement), collective confrontation interviews (using typical situations) similar to reflexive and constructive simulations, and the setting of requirements. Results highlights specific exposure situations during the work, which the interviews made it possible to understand, enabling to collectively debate organisational, technical or social determinants, in order to transform them from the point of view of the work, within the framework of the design project.

ABSTRACT. Ergonomics in design is intended to close the gap between what is designed and the real work. This study seeks to discuss the creation of technical ergonomics requirements for the basic design stage of workshops on offshore platforms. Thus, this paper also intends to show how the ergonomics discipline contributes to integrating knowledge on the real work of the maintenance crew with the de-sign. This case study uses procedures, data collection, and analysis guided by the Ergonomics of the Activity’s theoretical framework, focused on design projects [1]. The results of this research indicate the contribution of ergonomics to im-prove the work of maintenance crews, which occurred both through the construc-tion of new layout and equipment list, and through the development of technical specifications. Hence, this work points to the need for new studies on platform maintenance work, in addition to studies that deepen the debate on consolidating ergonomics practice in design projects.

ABSTRACT. This communication discusses the resulting changes in the field of design project management generated by the industry of the future and its promises, with a special focus on collaborative robotics. Among the guiding is-sues of this work, we will focus on the importance of including such an intention to cobotize some or all of the tasks initially assigned to human operators, during the strategic stakes of the design process and to instruct and support it by the potential contributions of a bottom-up approach centered on the real activities, mobilized and deployed during the realization of the tasks which are objects of cobotization. This discussion is based on an industrial case study, aimed at assisting a finishing workstation (the last stage of a production process) for fragile mechanical parts used in the manufacture of metal parts for the aeronautics sector.

ABSTRACT. In this article we propose, related to actions developed with the judiciary in Brazil, based on the approach of work psychodynamics and activity-centered ergonomics, a discussion of the impacts of the neoliberal managerial turn on the subjectivity and the health of magistrates. In addition a debate on the risks for democracy both at the level of collective work within the judiciary and at the level of the society and on the rule of citizenship is proposed...

ABSTRACT. Digital human models have not yet reached their full potential for proactive virtual assessment of ergonomics in engineering and industrial design. Especially the modelling of interaction between user and product often is time demanding, cum-bersome, unstandardized and embedded insufficiently in the computer-aided en-gineering environment. On the one hand, the interaction modelling needs to be applicable for a majority of products and shall contain as much a-priori knowledge regarding human behavior as possible. On the other hand, the method needs to be appropriate for designers, without special ergonomic expertise or human behavior training. In this contribution, we present an interaction-modelling framework based on the concept of affordances, which ought to resolve these partly contradictable demands. Hence, 31 elementary affordances, describing fundamental physical interaction possibilities between human end effectors and rudimental (product) geometries, were deduced using a classification method. The elementary affordances shall serve as a medium for interaction modeling. For this purpose, we introduce an interaction modelling routine, implemented in a CAD system, which makes use of the identified elementary affordances in terms of CAD-features. Those enable designers to apply interaction possibilities directly to a CAD-model in order to define the constraints for a DHM simulation.

ABSTRACT. Simulation technologies are widely used in industry as they enable efficient creation, testing, and optimization of the design of products and production systems in virtual worlds, rather than creating, testing, and optimizing prototypes in the physical world. In an industrial production context, simulation of productivity and ergonomics helps companies to find and realize optimized solutions that up-hold profitability, output, quality, and worker well-being in their production facilities. However, these two types of simulations are typically carried out using separate software, used by different users, with different objectives. This easily causes silo effects, leading to slow development processes and sub-optimal solutions. This paper reports on research related to the realization of an optimization framework that enables the concurrent optimization of aspects relating to both ergonomics and productivity. The framework is meant to facilitate the inclusion of Ergonomics 4.0 in the Industry 4.0 revolution.

ABSTRACT. Container lashing teams experience a number of repetitive and physically demanding tasks. These labor intensive tasks force container lashers into awkward postures which can lead to an increase of the biomechanical risk factors resulting in work related musculoskeletal disorders. An observation concluded that there is a knowledge gap between training and workplace practice. A comparison between the body posture of a dockworker instructor and a container lasher in the workplace should be examined. Conducting the ergonomic assessments requires a broader knowledge on how to implement the acquired observation tools in a port environment. A preliminary analysis of the container lashers lashing and de-lashing technique was created by applying recordings from a wearable inertial measurement units (IMU) mocap system, Xsens (MVN Awinda, Enschede, The Netherlands) to the rapid entire body assessment (REBA) and rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) tools. Representative ergonomic assessment scores for container lashers should include a broader interpretation of the load score and coupling score in RULA and REBA, as well as a detailed comparison of the anthropometric characteristics and the work experience of the container lashers.

ABSTRACT. The ergonomic design of future automated vehicles will require new posture pre-diction features in digital human models to consider the large variety of non-driving related activities. This paper describes the experimental, modeling and implementation work to achieve new posture models for that kind of activities. In the experiment subject poses are measured while adopting a set of predefined sit-ting postures in a mock-up. These postures result from a pre-study which deter-mined the most frequently observed postures for non-driving related activities. These poses are transferred to a digital human model and build the pool from which primary posture models are derived. Several methods are developed to cre-ate new secondary posture models out of them by joining upper and lower sub postures of significantly frequent posture combinations according to that pre-study. These methods and non-driving related posture models are implemented into a digital human model extending the standard posture prediction process. For simulating a desired activity in an automated vehicle design, a user can select the corresponding posture model taking into account the specific frequency rates.

ABSTRACT. This symposium was proposed by members of the IEA executive to share some known initiatives in human factors and ergonomics education which should be shared with other educators and those interested in the development of the HFE profession.

ABSTRACT. The IEA has revised the recommended core competencies for HFE professionals. These describe the knowledge and skills that the IEA recommends for professional level education programs and certification systems. This presentation briefly explains the contents of the new IEA document.

ABSTRACT. This work presents elements for an epistemological approach to the research lines of the proposed Doctorate in Ergonomics in Colombia and how they aim to respond to the context and needs of the region. Considering the characteristics of the context, the development of ergonomics in the region and the history and strengths of the research groups involved, three research lines are proposed: Ergonomics, work and health; Ergonomics, innovation, design and organizations and Ergonomics, social impact and sustainability.

ABSTRACT. While interest in online and blended learning has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning courses have been available for several decades. This paper provides a reflective review of the Ergonomics and Human Factors distance learning courses offered by the University of Nottingham. Some of the successes of these courses include the adoption of new collaboration technologies and the high quality practical work conducted in the students’ own workplaces. Challenges remain around maintaining student engagement, managing the impact of students’ other responsibilities on their learning, and parity of the student experience. Opportunities exist for blended learning and adopting additional technologies such as immersive virtual learning environments.

ABSTRACT. This presentation highlights how we have attempted to disrupt the classroom to promote ergonomics education that respects the values of discipline through the development of community engagement programs and service learning modules that are focused on social justice.

ABSTRACT. In industry, to enhance the operating conditions of companies, development measures are required for work, work environment, technologies and products. Development of the work affects the quality of working life, which is one of the factors that make it possible to experience well-being at work. The goal of ergonomics is to organize the work and the working environment so that the changes benefit both the company and its staff. Thus, it is important to look at ergonomic work and work-environment development at the same time as productivity and well-being at work. This study examines an ergonomics development process in one manufacturing plant in Finland. The aim of this process was to improve productivity and promote well-being at work by improving production capacity, reducing non-productive work, and optimizing material flows. The project was facilitated through a participatory ergonomics process. As a result of the process, the plant's total productivity increased by 5 percent, meaning an annual increase of 250 products in manufacturing capacity. The process also contributed significantly to health and safety, with decreased sick leave and occupational accidents and with increased perceptions of well-being at work. The company’s total cost saving in two years was €210,700.

ABSTRACT. With an increase of the average age of their employees, a cargo division of an airline company redesigned a part of the operation into “The Golden Bay’. A workplace where the older employee can work healthy and be of added value until retirement.

ABSTRACT. A workstation design and implementation project can be poured with infinite decisions. An ergonomic approach to industrial design aimed at improving health and comfort to a large workforce has the potential to materialize many ergonomic concepts and ideas and turn them tangible. A new workstation demand from a multinational company will be the project’s setting, and the opportunity to wield knowledge, gathered and learned, from multiple disciplines; and to learn from our mistakes regarding the project’ process. This paper will illustrate the process from demand to implementation going through the methodology, decisions and challenges.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to analyze the impact of the 12-hour work shift on the indices of physical and mental health, sleep, and work-family conflict of Brazilian road traffic inspectors. This project was run in a Brazilian highway concession company, based on developing a previous organizational diagnosis focused on Quality of Life at Work, which pointed out potential illness risk-carrying work organization aspects. Among them, the work shift was the target of dissatisfaction among operational workers. The project was carried out in four stages: stage 1: demand identification; stage 2: a survey was carried out with workers, based on the application of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; Physical Health Questionnaire; Work-Related Damage Assessment Scale (WRDAS), and Work-Family Conflict Scale (WAFCS); stage 3: results, diagnoses, and actions presentation. The survey counted on the participation of 42 road traffic inspectors in the company, representing a participation rate of 87.5% of the staff holding this position. All the participants were men, mostly aged 28-37 years (57%), with high school education (55%), married (71%), and with children (67%). As for the variables evaluated by the instruments, a high incidence of poor sleep quality (40%) was observed, while most had a good quality of sleep (57%). As for the variables related to physical, mental health, and social work-life relationship, the tools employed did not show negative impacts. The results obtained with this research were used to suggest preventive actions.

ABSTRACT. Applying the natural interaction paradigm to digital systems offers increased comfort to their users, but also poses new challenges to interaction design-ers, particularly for gesture-controlled systems. While the documentation of human movement has been a research topic for many years, its results have not yet been fully applied to the area of motion-controlled systems. Labanotation, a motion notation language originating in theatre and dance, has been widely discussed as a promising candidate to overcome this issue. It has been argued that its major drawback is the effort required to learn how to use it. In this paper, we contribute to the problem of a universally accepted stand-ardized documentation method of human movement by presenting a novel 3D editor that reduces the hurdle to document gestures and transforms the cumbersome task of learning and using Labanotation into a simple and even enjoyable process. Notably, the editor allows learning the notation language via trial-and-error.

ABSTRACT. Graphical User Interface (GUI) development is time-consuming and error-prone. Hence, automated GUI generation from higher-level interaction design models may become more and more important. In particular, automated generation can help with interface design prototyping. The usability of fully-automatically gener-ated GUIs is considered unsatisfactory, however. Manual changes to the generat-ed GUI itself would need to be made persistent. Hence, we proposed customiza-tion rules on a higher level of abstraction, and changes of style sheets. This paper presents a new user study on whether this kind of customization can actually im-prove generated GUIs. This study achieved statistically significant results that the adjusted task time of the customized version is less than that of the fully-automatically generated one. The subjective results indicated that attractiveness and wording were improved through customization.

ABSTRACT. Designing information and communication technology for older adults has been identified as one of the grand challenges of HCI. HCD+ is a Participa-tory Design framework based on Human Centered Design, aiming to provide practical guidelines to improve older adults' participation in systems devel-opment. This paper describes a study evaluating these guidelines with 19 older adults aged between 60 and 77 years and 12 younger systems develop-ers. Results indicate three main factors of concern for working with older adults: (1) the commitment of a trusted person in a group, (2) the atmosphere and social interaction, and (3) reciprocity of the engagement. Furthermore, re-sults show benefits for everyone: (younger) participants as developers gained a better understanding of the potential user group and their mental models and thus felt more secure in finding appropriate design solutions.

ABSTRACT. This study utilized an experiment to evaluate the effect of video game con-sole controllers, namely Sony PlayStation 3 (symmetrical type) and Xbox 360 (asymmetrical type), on players' performance. Twelve players were randomly chosen to perform tasks with both controllers. They were all males, their age ranged between 25 and 39 years with an average age of 30.75 years. All were right-handed. Each controller was tested when players were per-forming tasks consisting of playing selected levels of “Need for Speed” game. The first task is to complete a race on easy mode as a training task, and the second task is to complete a race on normal mode as the main experimental task. Player's completion time of the second race and the number of errors were used as performance measures. Errors were divided into two types: number of crashes and number of wrong turns. Result of the experiment showed that there were significant differences between the two types of con-sole controllers in completion time and number of errors. The asymmetrical controller (the Xbox 360) resulted in better performance than the symmetrical controller (PlayStation 3) did.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, important changes in work have appeared in the industrial landscape. However, there is still work to be done, and we need to go further and faster, which is why we, at Safran Landing Systems, thought of combining ergonomics with continuous improvement, or Lean management. So through the One Safran Lean workshops, Ergonomics has shown that it is possible to transform this “top-down” approach into a participative “bottom-up” approach built jointly with operators, taking into account the actual work, to adapt prescriptions and better control the WAI (work as imagine) / WAD (work as done) gap. This approach, focused on the workers and the work as they actually do it, allowed us to take into account their professional culture, to collectively build their own rules regarding health and safety issues, while contributing to the overall performance of the work unit.

ABSTRACT. Robotization has the possibility to reduce work with high physical load. However, such changes did not occur in the last decade. Robotization processes have limited focus on work, our research shows. Human factors and ergonomics (HFE) experts are not involved enough which may be caused by limited knowledge of ergonomics as a discipline on the execution side (employer, engineer) and limited knowledge of business process design on the consulting side.

ABSTRACT. Leading manufacturing companies were interviewed about their experiences implementing new technologies in the production. Based on a qualitative analysis, we constructed a roadmap that will help companies to include ergonomics while making renovations.

ABSTRACT. Human reliability analysis (HRA) has been identified as a key approach to improve quality in the manufacturing sector. This paper presents the results of the application of SHERPA to a manual assembly task case in the electronic industry, i.e., the assembly of a printed circuit board. It also compares the use of SHERPA with other HRA techniques in a manufacturing context. A total of 16 subtasks were obtained from the breakdown of the task that was the object of study and 12 error modes were identified based on SHERPA taxonomy: eight action errors, two checking errors, and two selection errors. The use of SHERPA provides a useful framework for identifying human errors in manual assembly even though this technique was not specifically developed for manufacturing. The analysis of human errors in manufacturing needs to consider and integrate a vocabulary harmonized with production planning. Comparison between SHERPA and other HRA techniques shows that the focus of the analysis should be placed on error identification rather than the calculation of error probabilities. A semi-quantitative index could help to reconcile these approaches by identifying and evaluating error modes in their propensity to occur, without the need for an accurate estimation of error probabilities.

ABSTRACT. The concepts of Ergonomics are based on cognitive, emotional and physical interfaces. When we think of seats we consider that people will remain in the seated position for long periods, so adapting users' needs is essential. The analysis of the sitting position, associated with the characteristics of the product and users directly interferes with the users perception of comfort in relation to their work. With solid ergonomic principles, a Brazilian company located in the south of the country developed a seat whose foundations are related to the application of tools related to ergonomics through concepts that aimed to design a seat that met the functional needs of users, market acceptance through interaction in corporate environments. Thus, this work aims to demonstrate the application of macro ergonomic concepts and the Equid/2008 tool in the design and production of the Cavaletti Leef product, as specific objectives, the demonstration of commercial needs, analysis of the interdisciplinarity involved in the study, impacts of the product in relation to productive process. As well as verification of the final results of the product and its respective relevance in the national and international market. Methodologically, semi-qualitative questionnaires were applied based on the precepts of the Equid/2008 tool and concepts of macro ergonomics were applied in all stages of the process, involving a development, process and manufacturing team, marketing and users. It was concluded that the Equid tool and the concepts of Macro ergonomics have proven effective in the design and definition of the product's ergonomic and functional characteristics, this being the third product that the company designs and launches on the market based on these tools that once again demonstrated efficiency. In addition, they are essential to list the functional needs of the product and the team of workers involved in its manufacture.

ABSTRACT. A proper seat is crucial not only for preventing health issues but also for the (dis)comfort perception. In the design of a seat, the seat pan's geometric shape, either in or under the cushion, plays a vital role as it constrains the deformation of the foam it supports. The contact area and pressure distributions between the foam and the human body, closely associated with (dis)comfort, are influenced by those constrained deformations. In this paper, using a comparative study, the aim is to determine if opportunely shaped seat pans are better than a standard flat pan regarding postural comfort and pressure distribution. Two cushions with the same type of foam but two different seat pans were used in the comparison. The first seat pan is the standard one used in current aircraft seats and the second is a shaped seat pan, which was designed following the mean buttock-thigh shape of an international population (including P5 females and P95 males). Twenty-two international participants (11 males and 11 females, with BMI between 16 and 30) took part in the blind experiment. Results indicated that the cushion with shaped seat pan performed better as it led to less postural comfort, a larger contact area and more uniform pressure distribution. Also, 64% of participants favored the cushion with the shaped seat pan as they felt it was more comfortable and suitable for the buttock shape.

ABSTRACT. The goal of this project was to use ergonomic design principles to evaluate a 3-dimensional computer simulation of a manikin in a clinical laboratory setting for individuals with lower limb disabilities. The first step was to use the University of Michigan 3D Static Strength Prediction Program (3D SSPP) to determine biomechanical challenges from three simulated work postures commonly performed among clinical workers. Findings were then imported into the Purdue Envision Center’s 3D simulation of the Accessible Biomedical Immersion Laboratory (ABIL) located at Purdue’s Discovery and Learning Research Center (DLRC). Positions assumed in the 3D ABIL simulation for each task were predicted, using the 3D SSPP software, to be achievable by at least 90 percent of the population. Collection of data from four subjects performing standardized clinical tasks while in wheelchairs allowed for real-world validation of the 3D simulation model. Additional ergonomic analysis was conducted using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) tool along with subject questionnaires to determine upper limb work risk factors associated with clinical tasks and workstations. RULA and questionnaire data showed the presence of potential upper limb risk factors that may need to be incorporated into the 3D simulation model, especially during pipetting tasks when performed by female subjects. This pilot study showed promise as a clinical facility design tool. Further research is needed to fine tune the 3D ABIL simulation as a useful tool to create clinical facilities for those with lower-limb disabilities

ABSTRACT. A previous literature review indicated the lack of studies about how to de-velop accessible games for children with Down syndrome and evaluate their interfaces. With that in mind, the research team decided to do a new one focusing only on finding usability methods that can be applied with this specific audience regarding their safety and their conditions. Therefore, this analysis used the Cochrane methodology organized into: research ques-tion, location and selection of the study, critical evaluation of the studies, data analysis, and content analysis. In total, 22 articles were selected from Scopus and Web of Science, in which the observational analysis method was the most used one, maybe because it does not require the user to com-municate verbally a lot nor to remember his entire journey. Other methods found were heuristic evaluation, interview, focus group, and question-naires. Some initiatives must be mentioned such as the research of Lazar et al. which used the assistance of an illustrator to help the volunteers in ex-pressing their ideas during a workshop, and finally, the review permitted to create a list of precautions and recommendations before and during a test with children with Trisomy 21.

ABSTRACT. Worldwide, Ergonomics/Human Factors (EHF) has contributed different approaches to tackle the challenges faced by the Healthcare Systems (Lang & Hignett, 2019; Waterson & Catchpole, 2016). Despite these contributions, cultural diversity may play a role in facing current challenges differently, but there is a lack of such understanding (Apud Simon, 2019; Thatcher et al., 2018). Still, an interdisciplinary collaboration among stakeholders and specific areas (e.g. Systems Thinking, participatory (design) approaches and safety culture) remain underexplored (Carayon et al., 2018; Waterson & Catchpole, 2016). This symposium will present an overview of the research, challenges and initiatives rooted in the Latin American region, and how this region has contributed to co-create knowledge and EHF approaches that have also interacted and influenced EHF worldwide. Up to six papers will be presented in the symposium. After the initial presentations, an interactive plenary session will be held to discuss with the authors and attendees. We look for submissions that tackle the current challenges in Latin America healthcare systems, show new approaches and trends and illustrate current general situation and case studies. In addition to the conference proceedings (in English), the papers of the symposium will be published in Spanish as part of a Special Edition on the journal Ergonomía, Investigación y Diseño ( Ergonomics, Research and Development, in English), which can be accessed through this link: (http://leon.cfrd.cl/~revergon/).

ABSTRACT. From the experience as an ergonomist in a Brazilian private hospital, it is presented the returnig to work professional approach and the difficulties of including nursing workers back to the patient care.

ABSTRACT. Using a participatory methodology, the administrative workstations at a health center in Chile were evaluated for their ergonomic conditions. Ergonomic deficiencies and safety problems which affected workers were found. Recommendations were made for their correction.

ABSTRACT. Worldwide, Ergonomics/Human Factor (EHF) has contributed to improving healthcare quality and patient safety, but a different level of progress has been made in different regions. This study aims to explore EHF contributions to healthcare systems in Latin America by systematically reviewing EHF research conducted in Latin America. The review found that most of the research so far has focused on healthcare workers' performance and the usability of technology, so there is a huge opportunity to explore the potential of EHF applications to system design and system resilience.

ABSTRACT. The application of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) in healthcare has been recognized as an essential element to improve patient safety. In this paper, we present the use of the Ergonomic Checkpoints in Health Care Work developed by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA). The check-points were used as a guideline to encourage practical and participatory applications of ergonomic principles in a healthcare context. Sixteen nurses from an educational hospital in Colombia participated in the study. A total of 22 points of improvement were identified out of 60 checkpoints proposed in the IEA document. The main points of improvements were associated with material storage and handling (4 points), safe patient handling (3 points), workstations (3 points), infection control (3 points), and work organization (3 points). This study supports the usefulness of applying broad-ranging ergonomic principles in conjunction with a participatory approach to improve healthcare work systems. The intervention presented in this paper represents a novelty in the Colombian healthcare ecosystem. It opens the door to future developments and supports establishing a broader national strategy for patient safety that includes HFE as a fundamental pillar.

ABSTRACT. With the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple transformations succeeded, including the demand for ICU mechanical ventilators, the main equipment to meet the most serious manifestations of the disease. The mechanical ventilators companies, however, were unable to respond to the new volume of orders due to logistical, manufacturing, design and financial problems. Emphasizing the scope of ergonomics, works published within the last 15 years that analysed the interfaces of respirators were reviewed, and, as a result, it was possible to verify the various failures of human factors existing in mechanical ventilators. The pandemic scenario, because of the observed consequences, highlighted the importance of a good interface, as well as the simplification of design, which can bring advantages not only for moments of crisis but also for the common hospital routine. It was concluded that, due to their aptitudes, human factors and design are vital disciplines for proposing solutions to the project problems of respirators highlighted during the pandemic.

ABSTRACT. Participation of diverse stakeholders is critical to the design of meaningful and safe healthcare systems; however, multiple challenges emerge in developing a mutual understanding of the different values of diverse stakeholders and increasing the awareness of the potential impact on outcomes. This paper presents a critical reflection of the challenges in applying a participatory outcome-based mapping method to healthcare and gives recommendations on how to mitigate them.

ABSTRACT. Health care delivery is fragmented. Patients and their care partners play an important role in closing communication and coordination gaps in fragmented care processes. In particular, during their visit to the ED, patients fill these gaps by acting as knowledge brokers, providing information about their health history, diagnostic testing, medications, and care after discharge.

ABSTRACT. This paper describes a new tool, the socio-technical matrix, and demonstrates its value when an analysis using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) is carried out in the problem space of medication therapy management (MTM) in Southern Ontario.

ABSTRACT. The CARe-QI Handbook (Anderson & Ross, 2020) contains practical guidance, tools, and templates for implementing Quality Improvement projects based on Resilient Healthcare principles. It is based on evidence from extensive research in acute care hospitals. In this presentation we will provide an overview of the handbook and its methods.

ABSTRACT. The presence of multiple automated systems in partially automated vehicles can cause a decrease of mode awareness. We propose a three-part method to evaluate the efficiency of earcons to inform on mode transition.

ABSTRACT. Level 3 conditional automation implies the disengagement from the NDRT (Non-Driving-Related Task) and the resumption of the driving task (i.e., takeover). Previous studies showed that drivers, and particularly novices ones, have poor performances during the takeover (Navarro, 2018; Wright et al., 2016). The present study is investigating why novice drivers have poor performances during the takeover by monitoring their task switching behaviour during the TakeOver Request (TOR).

ABSTRACT. Culture has been identified as a factor influencing the way people communicate and behave. Though often imperceptible by its members, cross-cultural interactions can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts. Despite ex-military and civilian trained pilots frequently flying together, there has been a lack of research describing each professional sub-culture. The current study aims to bridge that gap by exploring how professional culture interacts in the cockpit and how it affects pilots’ safety behaviours. The study used in-depth semi-structured interviews with 15 participants (14 helicopter pilots) to collect data on effects of professional culture. The data were analysed using conventional content analysis. Content analysis indicated five separate categories relevant to perceptions of professional culture. The findings indicate that pilots acknowledge the cultural differences present between themselves and others, and that culture can have an effect on their and other’s safety behaviours. The participants suggested that various sub- culture types can have impact on flight safety through their effects on communication and the way people interact, but not through technical skills of flying the aircraft. The differences between military and civilian training and flying were discussed in depth. This research highlights the various ways in which culture affects pilots’ safety behaviours and interactions with one another. It also provides an in-depth look at the way pilots perceive and experience cross-cultural interactions in the cockpit.

ABSTRACT. For the successful implementation and acceptance in road traffic, pedestrians’ attitudes towards safety, interaction and compatibility of AVs are important factors. The aim of this study is to investigate general attitudes towards AVs and to generate knowledge about aspects of safety and compatibility of AVs as well as interaction with AVs from the viewpoint of pedestrians. Semi-structured interviews with 24 participants were conducted in Germany between May and July 2020. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using Qualitative Content Analysis. The classification of participants regarding their general attitude towards AVs resulted in four categories, ranging from enthusiastic to rejecting attitudes. Our results revealed that safety attitudes are a major factor underlying pedestrians’ general attitudes towards AVs. Confidence to cross the road in front of AVs was influenced by the ability of AVs to successfully interact and communicate with pedestrians. We conclude that pedestrians’ attitudes towards AVs may change with increasing interaction experience.

ABSTRACT. Recent empirical studies have shown the negative psychological impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Physical distancing and avoidance of social gatherings are considered among the best public health and safety measures to adopt to counter the outbreak, and governments are establish-ing subsequent rules worldwide. Consequently, interventions in workplaces need to be implemented remotely, including those regarding mental health. Therefore, the importance of digital solutions for workplace mental health promotion becomes apparent. Meta-analytical and systematic evidence has shown that digital technologies may be useful in improving workers’ mental health. Thus, digital-based interventions can be deemed as a feasible solution to deal with the negative psychological impact of the current pandemic. Based on previous literature, we developed a conceptual taxonomy composed of two main functional categories of digital solutions, such as (1) allowing assessment and intervention, and (2) allowing to work remotely. We also identified three sub-categories of (1), such as digital technologies for externally provided interventions, for stress self-management strategies, and for reformatting in-presence interventions. Human Factors and Ergonomics issues should be considered when dealing with the use of workplace mental health promotion digital technologies, both at the individual and organizational level, as they can be conceived as implementation challenges that may undermine interventions’ effectiveness when not managed properly. This paper intends to allow researchers to identify future directions of investigating workplace psychological well-being interventions based on novel technology advancements. Also, the paper provides practitioners with an overview of actionable solutions that can be easily implemented during these organizationally challenging times.

ABSTRACT. Psychological burnout is a relatively new term used to describe the physical and emotional responses to work pressures and exhaustion of workers in the humanitarian professions such as hospital workers. A lot has been written about the burnout among the Algerian hospital workers. However within the limits of our research, we did not find any research which deal with the burnout in the female workers during the pandemic COVID-19. This study measured the level of burnout among female hospital workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria. The sample consisted of 104 hospital female employees of which 100 completed the questionnaire, participants are randomly chosen from different department of the university hospital of Setif in Algeria. Our sample included nurses, administrators, physicians, radiographers, speech therapist, psychologists, cleaning women, pharmacists. The study used Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). It was found that the burnout was high among female hospital workers of all categories. Based on these findings, some recommendations were given to the responsible authorities of the health in Algeria to intensify their efforts to improve the situation.

ABSTRACT. In the proposed paper we will present the results of a short study conducted by our research unit (Human Resources Development’ URDRH Sétif University 2- Algeria) whose purpose is to determine the various mental health risk factors that may be causing (COVID-19) among doctors and nurses care workers in Algeria; in order to deduce prevention strategies. The present study took into account in the sample the variables of age, sex, medical specialty, and seniority by following the descriptive method, and the study adopted the mental health scale SCL 90-R [1]. Which was applied to a sample of 200 doctor and nurse from all from some Algerian department; Sétif, Bordj Bou Arreridj, Constantine, Algiers, Tizi Ouzou and Batna. Finally, the results showed that caregivers, including doctors and nurses, the during coronavirus pandemic, of both sexes and those with more than 10 years of experience in the field that they suffer from psychological imbalances at the level of: - Physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue and insomnia. - Compulsive obsession that appear in various fears of transmission even in a safe place. - Reactive sensitivity and disruption of good communication with others. - Depressive states of Due to their inability to provide health care for difficult cases of the pandemic. - Anxiety about continuing to the pandemic situation for a long time. - Phobias and fears of transmitting the infection to their families. - Hostility, paranoia and psychosis

ABSTRACT. In a national survey of 11,982 healthcare workers who joined the Healthcare Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes (HERO) Registry, 43.2% reported COVID-19 exposure and 91.3% of those were exposed at work. Just 3.7% reported COVID-19 illness; however, Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American healthcare workers were twice as likely as their White counterparts to be infected with the virus.

ABSTRACT. This work aims to investigate how different compensation strategies among drop foot patients affect the treatment performance of ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) re-garding the symmetry of step length and swing time. Based on the literature re-view, two compensation strategies for the drop foot syndrome were identified during the swing phase: 1) excessive knee and hip flexion and 2) circumduction of the leg. One drop foot patient of each compensation strategy was selected in this study to investigate the different effects of AFOs. Results showed that AFO could benefit patients who utilize excessive circumduction to compensate regard-ing the symmetry of step length and swing time.

ABSTRACT. MAIN MESSAGE: Most people understand that lifting with the knees bent is better than lifting from the waist, but they have trouble comprehending how much better it is, or why. Using biomechanical analysis tools to provide objective proof that one specific method is better than another can help people understand the how and why. Unfortunately, biomechanical models output very complex information. Therefore, a way to quantify the difference between two methods, succinctly and simply, is needed. This presentation reviews the use of biomechanical analyses to help workers to choose biomechanically advantageous methods.

ABSTRACT. To reduce injury risk, ergonomic interventions that modify the workplace are generally accepted to be the gold standard, but they are not always feasible. We propose a motor control-based framework which we believe should be considered in the development and implementation of ergonomic interventions that aim to change worker behaviour to mitigate risk where work is not readily modifiable. Our findings demonstrate that some individuals naturally self-select motor control strategies to minimize biomechanical exposure during lifting, which should be considered in the development of future behavioural-based ergonomic interventions.

ABSTRACT. The occupational health risks in waste collection workers have been widely investigated in the literature. Many studies show that workers are exposed to all risks: chemical, physical, biological, and biomechanical. While chemical and biological risks continue to represent the principal problems in third world countries, there is an increase in musculoskeletal disorders in developed countries. This is primarily due to a growing recourse to kerbside collection, to separate waste in response to European Union directives that require an increase in the percentage of waste to be recycled over time. The aim of this study is a biomechanical risk assessment of kerbside waste collection workers with particular attention to the task that the scientific literature showed as the most overloading, that is emptying the bin in the lorry (Oxley, 2006). We have studied the task of bins handling in four possible techniques... 

ABSTRACT. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of fatigue induced by simulated firefighting tasks in the heat on movement smoothness, as measured by accelerometers. Results showed that acceleration and jerk during treadmill and tool lifting tasks increased from the first to last circuits, suggesting a relationship with fatigue in the moderate and hot conditions.

ABSTRACT. The performance of future industrial organizations seems to be largely associated with new technologies, especially those that will enable collaboration with workers. Ergonomics is widely questioned by this issue: what future work is really designed through these so-called collaborative technologies?

ABSTRACT. The clinic of use [1] carries the idea that technology is the operator’s partner in his activity. However, it is not uncommon, within 4.0 industry, to observe technologies that don’t allow operators to develop their skills and capacities for action. It happens that some technologies are “technopush” implemented, wich may explain the diappointing results of some projects with high technological goals. Our works objective is therefore to define criteria for an Human-Technology enabling collaborative situation (ECS), in order to guide conception projects at an early stage. The study of scientific literature leads us to define the ECS according to 3 criteria. These characteristics are considered essential from the point of view of the operator’s activity deployment: learn a new and more efficient way of doing things, increase the available possibilities and ways of doing things, and adjust the Human-Machine couple attributes according to the evolution of situations over time. We present here the results of a multiple case study of innovation projects. This case study is designed to confront the criteria of the ECS with the actors feelings (success or failure). These initial results suggest that the ECS would be an interesting way to understand the constrasted reality of projects, beyond the general positive feelings received in both cases. We hope that the ECS criteria will allows to guide more precisely and in a more demanding way the industrialists in their technological implementation projects.

ABSTRACT. In order to prevent work related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), one of the possible solutions is collaborative robots. With this view, this communication paper proposes to analyse the evolution of the biomechanics dimension of the professional gestures in real work situations during traditional grinding or assisted by a collaborative robot.

ABSTRACT. Focusing on the Industry 4.0 context, this study aims to develop the learning of engineering students following training on the design of work situations with a cobot. Sixty students were involved in the study/analysis of the real activity of a packaging station with a view to detecting operators’ needs and adapting station improvement specifications. A list of cobot use cases was established according to human activity. Scenarios will be implemented soon.

ABSTRACT. This communication aims to present a cross-perspective–robotics, industrial engineering, sociology and ergonomics – research project experience dealing with development of collaborative robotics in SMEs. Our conviction is that Industry 4.0 must imply : (1) “departinionning” of disciplines involved in the design of work situations and (2) construction of hybrid approaches for understanding and transforming work. In this communication, we propose to relate such an experience on the basis of a research project-funded by the French National Agency for Research (ANR) , and focused on transformation of French Small and Middle Companies (SMC’s) in relation to introduction of Collaborative Robotics. Collaborative Robotics is of particular interest for us as it embeds promises and pitfalls of articulation between technologies and work. However, these promises may be dis-cussed and tempered by confronting them to actual design issues, work organization and transformation of work management.

ABSTRACT. Several manual lifting evaluation tools are currently available to analyze mono-task jobs, yet most jobs involve multiple varying tasks. Therefore, a summation of mono-task analysis may not be an accurate representation of the degree of compressive forces and stress placed on the spine. The Lifting Fatigue Failure Tool (LiFFT) has been adapted from the fatigue failure theory (FFT) and is capable of both mono-task and cumulative task evaluation. The FFT details cumulative damage of the applied stress and the number of cycles to failure, therefore calculating a representative spinal compression is important in applying the corresponding limits. The original Gallagher method only requires three variables to use the LiFFT: the weight of the load, horizontal distance, and repetition per day. Other methods of applying the tool have emerged to achieve a more accurate calculation of spinal compression. The Potvin method includes a vertical height of the load and the 3DSSPP method uses digital human modeling (DHM) to calculate spine compression. The objective of this study was to compare the different methods of calculating spine compression for entry into the LiFFT to determine the variance in outputs. The results showed that the Gallagher method is best suited for lifts that do not require significant vertical postural changes whereas the Potvin and 3DSSPP methods are able to assess more complex lifts. Although DHM is the gold standard, the Potvin method is preferred for practitioners due to its ease of use. Overall, the LiFFT is a practical, effective, and practitioner friendly tool capable of predicting the risk about the low back in simple and complex manual lift evaluations.

ABSTRACT. The SELR approach was introduced by the U. S. Navy Reserve Force in 2018 to make its associated operations more efficient and responsive to an ever-changing environment. Such an approach is exactly the focus of such programs as 6∑, Lean, Continuous Process Improvement, etc. SELR is defined by the following. Simplify the way business is conducted by streamlining activities, programs, to make them more efficient. Enable personnel to more effectively provide required capabilities and supportive policies. Leverage personnel skills and relationships to further enhance their contributions to the organization. Resource delivering more responsive personnel capabilities to the organization. This approach is applied to ergonomic intervention development and illustrated through case studies.

ABSTRACT. This study shows how it was possible to improve working conditions in a Colombian company through the Ergonomic Checkpoints.

ABSTRACT. Serious games have grown significantly in popularity, but proving their scientific validity through research studies is a common hurdle for researchers and game developers. To scale up capacity to collaborate with different groups of researchers, Centivizer Inc. (a University of Toronto spinoff company) has employed a user-centered design process to design a BrainTagger Research Platform (BRP) that will largely automate the development process of its customizable serious games for cognitive assessment. This new development will increase the capacity to gather research data needed to improve game mechanisms and demonstrate game validity.

ABSTRACT. Assembly workers within for example the motor vehicle industry, are subject to physically demanding work tasks. One common type of load exposure for assembly workers, are reaction forces generated by tightening tools, such as nutrunners. The tool users counteract these forces through repetitive muscular force exertions, which in the long-term can pave the way for musculoskeletal disorders. As with other well-acknowledged load exposures commonly occurring in the assembly line environment, such as vibrations from tools, or adverse postures, reaction loads generated by nutrunners need thoroughly founded recommendations regarding acceptable exposure, in order to enable sustainable physical workloads for the tool users. The aim of this study was to lay a foundation for such recommendations. An experimental study was carried out in a simulated workstation, where assembly workers performed tightenings with an electric angle nutrunner, at different tool settings, joint stiffnesses and work-paces. Through a psychophysical approach, the participants judged the maximum amount of reaction load exposure which they perceived would enable a sustainable workload. The highly dynamic tool setting resulted in the highest chosen tightening torque levels, i.e. 35.0 and 37.7 Nm at five and eight tightenings per minute, respectively. This corresponded to a peak reaction force exposure of 71.6 and 69.8 N, respectively. Despite the statistically significant differences in impulse between the highly dynamic tightenings on hard joints and continuous drive tightenings on medium joints, no statistically significant difference between the chosen torque levels was found, suggesting that additional factors may contribute to the experience of reaction load exposure.

ABSTRACT. A competence center for work and AI, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for five years, is intended to strengthen the humane use of AI applications in manufacturing. The cooperation between specialists from human factors and ergonomics (HFE), AI development and engineering is the core of the competence center. In this paper its main research topics and struc-ture is presented and illustrated using the example of the development of manu-facturing assistance systems.

ABSTRACT. Fast and efficient learning is a necessary requirement for modern workplaces in response to dynamic markets and constantly changing work practices. Sharing knowledge and experience is an essential part of this. Computer technologies, such as Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) built according to the concept of Augmented Reality (AR), are used in this context. In a research project, such a system was developed to support machine setters for set-up processes on industrial machines. This paper evaluates the tool with respect to selected parameters relevant to strain and performance. The findings provide information on the extent to which an AR-based tool can be used in an industrial context from a physiological and psychological perspective as well as from an entrepreneurial perspective.

ABSTRACT. In recent years manufacturing and assembly lines are undergoing workplace changes with a scope to adapt to the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) design principles. Automation of manufacturing, collaborative robots (cobots), interconnection of cyber physical systems (CPS), cloud computing, big data analytics and Augmented/Virtual reality (AR/VR) are some of the technologies that are being introduced in industry. Human operators are required to adapt and integrate into those new environments. Human operators should be flexible in their work-tasks, upgrade their skillset and be able to act as a safeguard entity in this complex and dynamic environment. A recent shift in paradigms, the Industry 5.0 concept, focus on the sustainability of the human factor inside the technologies that I4.0 framework introduced, and relates to the ageing workforce issue and the change in individuals’ capabilities. Productivity and safety of the ageing operators in the new workplace environment is causally related to their capabilities. In this research paper, we (i) study the interactions of human operator inside the “smart” workplace and (ii) develop a model using the entropy concept of statistical mechanics. This model can be utilized in the evaluation of human factor inside the complex environment by computing the probability of error based on human operator capabilities.

ABSTRACT. The application of ergonomics in the occupational setting concerns the understanding the fitting of workers and the components of a work system which include work task, workstation setting, workspace and work environment. Ergonomics considerations in the workplace design bring the benefits to minimize the risk of musculoskeletal injuries, promote health and safety, create a worker-friendly workplace and enrich the employees’ wellbeing. The paper aims to summarize the systematic process to conduct an ergonomics review of workplace design proposals. Ergonomist applies theory, principles, data and methods to evaluate and review in the ergonomics review process. The ergonomics review discussed in this paper has been used in newly designed control room, call center and offices. This paper will answer the following questions: (1) What are the objectives of ergonomics review of workplace design? (2) Why is ergonomics review of workplace design important? (3) Who should be involved in the ergonomics review of workplace design? (4) When should an ergonomics review of workplace design be conducted? (5) Where should be included in the ergonomics review of workplace design? (6) How should the ergonomics review of workplace design be conducted? Upon completion of the ergonomics review, the consolidated result and recommendations for improvement as well as the final decision of the design proposal should be well-documented for project reference in the next stage of the design process.

ABSTRACT. To be able to age in place, the home environment often needs to accommodate users’ needs throughout their life span. Bathrooms are an especially demanding space for the user, but also for those supporting the user, for example nursing assistants, in their daily life. This study investigated factors of importance for creating well-functioning bathrooms – for both nursing assistants and users, identifying needs concerning access to assistive devices for these groups. Semi-structured interviews were carried out. In total 13 nursing assistants, occupational therapists and users participated in the interviews. The overall results emphasize the importance of space, assistive devices and to be able to customize the bathroom to accommodate the user´s needs throughout their life span. These factors are of importance in order to enable independency and safety for the user in the bathroom, and at the same time, enable a safe work environment for those supporting the user. The results help us to understand the complexity of this problem and the results can be used in the work of reducing injury risks and create sustainable work environments.

ABSTRACT. One of the main concepts of Ergonomics is to understand the adaptation of Jobs and the needs of its users, the Covid-19 pandemic presented new situations and new needs, with global impacts. Among the impacts are the repercussions of the international and financial scenario Market that has been assuming great proportions, directly affecting world markets, raising in investors the concern about the impacts on the global economy, such as the survival of companies after the pandemic. In addition to the financial impact, the virus affected the way of working with the prioritization of the Home Office and, gradually, the return to the work areas and the perspective of what the work environments will be like. How to adapt the work environments in order to preserve the health and safety of workers? What would be the best solution? To find a solution, a Brazilian company located in the south of the country developed a study whose main theme included the application of macro ergonomic concepts with the objective of designing a workstation that would meet the functional needs of its users and in a new perspective of work therefore, this work aims to demonstrate the application of the concepts of macroergonomics in the design and production of chairs through the involvement of workers and users and as specific objectives, the demonstration of the commercial needs and respective users with the multidisciplinary team involved, as well as highlighting the results end of the product and its perspective of relevance in the national and international market in times of global pandemic. Methodically semi-qualitative questionnaires based on the concepts of macro ergonomics were applied at all stages of the process, involving teams of development, process and manufacturing, marketing and users. It was concluded that the concepts of macro ergonomics applied proved to be effective in the design and definition of the ergonomic and functional characteristics of the product. In addition to being essential to list the functional needs of products and users.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this study was to analyze the variation of leg volume in hospital workers, and its relationship with individual factors: sex, age, height, and weight. Cross-sectional study, where leg circumference measurements were taken at the beginning and end of an 8-hour workday. Twenty-one workers (12 women, 9 men) working in seven different hospital jobs voluntarily participated. To calculate the volume of the legs, the circumference of the legs was measured in 5 segments every 4 cm (20 cm in total) with the Gulick II tape measure. The average volume in both legs increased (right leg 2.6%, left leg 2.7%), with significant changes in both the right (Z=-3.1446, p=0.002) and left (Z=-3.528, p=0.000) legs between the beginning and the end of the working day. No relationship was found between leg volume with sex, age, height, and weight. These findings indicate the need to focus more attention on the effects of standing work in health care workers, as increased leg volume has been associated with lower extremity fatigue and discomfort.

ABSTRACT. This paper proposes a method to employ resilience engineering concepts to complex systems design, and demonstrates its value by applying it to the operation of Brazil’s national water ambulance service.

ABSTRACT. One of the most frequent interactions in healthcare services is the exchange of information. Failures in providing information to users might negatively affect patients and staff members' performance and wellbeing. This study explored the effect of information exchange on staff performance and wellbeing in an outpatient consultation service.

ABSTRACT. Medication errors are a problem within our Healthcare systems and compromise patient safety. (Donaldson, Kelley, Dhingra-Kumar, Kieny, & Sheikh, 2017) According to IBEAS study, 10 of each 100 of hospitalized patients have suffered an adverse event associated with healthcare attention. (Aranaz-Andres et al., 2011) Medication use is a complex process and requires effective interaction among different health care professionals. Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) offer tools and methods to improve complex systems analysis and contribute to medication error prevention.

ABSTRACT. Distributed Cognition and user experience are essential features that need to be supported in telemedicine systems, especially those used in emergency care. To address this need, this study proposes design features that prioritize the critical patient information needed by the caregiving team and subsequently conducts user testing comparing the new design to an existing telemedicine system.

ABSTRACT. We designed a user interface for a head-worn display (HWD) intended to increase the situation awareness of an anesthesiologist when supervising multiple anesthesiologists in a suite of operating rooms (ORs). An evaluation in a simulator showed that supervising anesthesiologists wearing a prototype were able to recognize and react to clinical events in other ORs.

ABSTRACT. A pilot study compared the informativeness of different auditory display configurations (alarms, sequences) and sound types (icons, spearcons) for monitoring multiple patients.

ABSTRACT. Clinicians might find it easier to monitor the newborn’s wellbeing in the first 10 minutes after birth if the heart rate tones of the pulse oximeter were paired with further temporal acoustic dimensions.

ABSTRACT. Drivers with visual field loss show a heterogeneous driving performance due to the varying ability to compensate for their perceptual deficits. This paper presents a theoretical investigation of the factors that determine the development of adap-tive scanning strategies. The application of the Saliency-Effort-Expectancy-Value (SEEV) model to the use case of homonymous hemianopia in intersections indi-cates that a lack of guidance and a demand for increased gaze movements in the blind visual field aggravates scanning. The adaptation of the scanning behavior to these challenges consequently requires the presence of adequate mental models of the driving scene and of the individual visual abilities. These factors should be considered in the development of assistance systems and trainings for visually impaired drivers.

ABSTRACT. Using an integrative user-centered approach, the research project aimed at designing and assessing an adaptive HMI to improve the safety and the quality of the take-over in a level-3 automated vehicle. Future autonomous driving users confirmed the need for the monitoring systems to improve safety as long as they are simple and not intrusive. They request specific information to understand and initiate appropriated actions in case of a critical situation. However, to avoid overloading and detrimental effects, it is important that the system limits the amount of information at the right moment.

ABSTRACT. The introduction of conditionally automated driving [25] implies repeated transitions of the driving task between the human operator and the automated driving system (ADS). Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) facilitating these shifts in control are essential. Usability serves as an important criterion to assess the quality of an HMI design. This paper derives a study design for assessing the usability based on the best practice advice by [1]. The paper covers the applied definitions of usability, the sample characteristics, the test cases, the HMIs, the dependent variables, the procedure, the conditions of use, and the testing environment. The study design will be applied in a driving simulator and three test track experiments in different countries within an ongoing project. This involves a number of safety, technical and resource constraints in the development of the study design. This paper describes the challenges and limitations of applying a generic best practice advice to the varying test settings. Furthermore, two HMI concepts are developed and evaluated in an expert assessment. The two concepts will serve as the research subjects in the series of experiments. The proposed study design is suitable for application in different test settings. Therefore, the comparability between the experiments is high. This paper provides a first step in a validation project with the overall goal to propose a practical approach to usability testing of ADS HMIs that covers different constructs of usability and appropriate dependent variables within their application areas.

ABSTRACT. A systematic literature review on scientific literature was conducted on the objectives of gamification in transportation and mobilities. The computer science field has mainly addressed this rapidly growing research area so far. Nevertheless inputs from human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) are crucial in order to ensure that gamification meets the needs, expectations and constraints of humans in their mobility.

ABSTRACT. As automation of driving emerges, the driver becomes a passenger. If an automation reaches its system limits, the driver is obliged to retake the control over the vehicle. Grabbing the steering wheel is essential to assume lateral control, however non-driving related activities enabled by the automation may interfere with this process. This paper showcases the method modeling the orientation of hand trajectories while grabbing four different handles. In a study presented in [1] the hand trajectories of 48 participants grabbing four different handles were recorded and modelled using a mixed linear effects approach. The present paper extends this research by modeling the orientation of these trajectories. As the grasping trajectories appear to lie on a two-dimensional plane, the angle between the trajectory plane and a reference plane was modeled in a mixed linear effects model with “lme4” [2] and “afex” [3]. The maximal deviation from the plane is 10.7 mm with a mean of 2.3 mm (SD = 1.3 mm). The data shows the small influence of individual (gender, age, dominant hand, body height) and the high influence of environmental (position and type of the grasping handles) factors.

ABSTRACT. Continuous masking at Alberta Health Services (AHS) was required when a Healthcare Worker (HCW) was involved in direct patient contact or where a two-metre distance between patients and/or co-workers could not be maintained. In response, many AHS personnel employed mask extenders, or ear savers, to re-lieve the pressure and abrasion on their ears. A two-part review was conducted to investigate if mask extenders can be removed and reused safely and effectively. Part 1 involved an on-line survey that identified the variety of mask extenders used by AHS staff and some of the issues experienced with extended use. Part 2 involved an end-user review of five different styles of mask extenders. Results identified the features most liked about mask extenders, as well as the challenges presented by some mask extender designs. The comparison of mask extenders identified pros and cons of various mask extender designs. These results can help to inform HCWs as the need for continuous masking persists in healthcare.

ABSTRACT. The design and production of protective equipment by makers was among the many actions undertaken by society in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. These decentralized initiatives sought to solve a low supply of medical inputs and individual protection devices by sharing these devices through online repositories. However, it is known that personal protective equipment may cause discomfort and pain in situations of prolonged use, even when they are designed and approved through traditional processes. In this context, this paper aims to analyze COVID-19-related protective equipment (PE) models and files shared in online repositories to understand to what extent aspects related to ergonomics, safety and manufacturing were considered in their design and sharing. This study takes an exploratory qualitative and comparative approach. The models' analysis focused on their description and related information, looking specifically for mentions to ergonomics, safety and manufacturing (model printing and quality) aspects. One hundred models were analyzed, and of these, 60% presented information related to ergonomics and safety, while 80% presented information related to manufacturing. Specifically, the concern in describing the ergonomics and safety aspects was below those related to manufacturing, especially when considering the level of detail of this information. The findings show that developing and sharing solutions, in online, collaborative, and free to use platforms has a great potential to solve the lack of protective equipment, in face of extreme situations. However, this initiative should be better understood and directed to reduce possible comfort and effectiveness problems that may arise from poor information and design of the devices.

ABSTRACT. A Screener role was created at the London Health Sciences Centre during the COVID-19 Pandemic to ‘screen-out’ staff, patients and visitors entering the hospital who may potentially have COVID-19, and to re-direct them appropriately. This paper shares the experiences of the hospital’s Ergonomist and safety team in relation to this role from the start of the role to current state.

ABSTRACT. The current pandemic situation caused by SARS-Cov-2 has highlighted that collaboration between different sectors can represent a winning way for emergency management. However, even today, the design is often considered an "aesthetic" element and not a strong strategic instrument able to bring innovation to different sectors. This paper, therefore, proposes to highlight how design can be a strategic medium during such situations. The research aims to identify and strategic design solutions to improve first responders' comfort and well-being during the emergency of COVID 19, referring in particular to the medical personnel employed on the frontline during the pandemic. The research investigated the aspects related to the specific scenario of the COVID19 pandemic emergency through different interviews and questionnaires with health workers and a co-working activity with design students. The co-working activity with design students aimed to individuate new technologies and innovative material in relation with health operators’ needs and proposed innovative design solutions of PPE. Finally, the research proposed a set of open rules for designing innovative medical PPE to be used during a pandemic, considering the communication aspects in order to improve final user’s comfort.

ABSTRACT. We have conducted a project aiming to develop an on-line visualized map program that provides the interactive links related to the global HFE educational information available to us from around the world.

ABSTRACT. This article discusses and elaborates the experiences in coordinating the curriculum for education HFE among Asian countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, India, Thailand and the Philippines.

ABSTRACT. Traditional Human Factors Engineering (HFE) education focuses on bridging the gap between human and system design. Given the rapid, and accelerating technological advancement, particularly in areas such as machine learning and data science, how should HFE education adapt to better equip students for working in industry? This project sought to identify and understand the gap between HFE education and industry needs by surveying human factors engineering students and practitioners concerning their impressions of the gap and how it can be addressed.

ABSTRACT. Courses on ergonomics, occupational health, safety, and work design are usually present in engineering programs, providing an opportunity for raising students' awareness of the importance of work sciences. However, the distribution of these courses across different engineering specializations is unclear. This paper analyses 71 engineering programs from five specializations (chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, mechanical), from 10 Brazilian universities to identify courses related to the Work Engineering (WE) field, which articulates ergonomics, work design, and occupational health topics. In total, 89 unique courses were found, occurring 113 times across the programs analyzed. The Industrial Engineering programs were the ones with the most relevant courses (62,5% of the programs had 3 or more WE-related courses). The analysis of the titles of the courses highlighted that "work", "safety" and "ergonomics" were the most recurrent themes addressed in the courses. On the other hand, the topic "health" is practically ignored in Brazilian engineers' training. In general, the results emphasize the relatively small number and uneven distribution of WE courses in engineering programs, further supporting the need to build an interdisciplinary field of knowledge applied to engineering and in close collaboration with Ergonomics.

ABSTRACT. Recent advances in biomechanical measurement hardware and analytical software has enabled the ergonomist to obtain information on human performance and physiological implications. This paper provides an overview of available equipment and techniques and its implications for the analytical ergonomist.

ABSTRACT. Forestry workers are exposed to harsh environmental conditions, awkward postures, and high intensity load handling that might lead to low back injuries. The objectives of our study were 1) to define the trunk postures associated with risk of low back injury in a sample of forestry workers involved in tree felling, delimbing and bucking tasks and 2) to identify prevention strategies that reduce the risk of low back injury. Forty loggers were selected among the population of forestry workers in the province of Enna, Sicily-Italy. Each worker was required to perform for a period of 30 minutes the three main tasks: felling, delimbing and bucking for a total of 90 minutes of working activity. All subjects involved in the study wore a Zephyr Bioharness device on their trunk, which enabled the recording of sagittal inclination of the trunk, heart rate, breathing rate, and an estimate of body temperature. The results indicated that the felling task required loggers to work more time in awkward postures. Additionally, sagittal inclination of the trunk was greater than 60° for the 13% of the time, compared with delimbing (3%), and bucking (11%). The percentage of time spent with the trunk in sagittal inclination greater than 60° was correlated with the use of heavy (> 7,2 kg) chainsaws during the felling and in the delimbing tasks. The study results indicated that the trunk posture during tree delimbing and felling tasks contributed significantly to the risk of biomechanical overload among the loggers. Preventive strategies should focus on specific interventions that reduce biomechanical stress including worker training and implementation of ergonomic designed tool.

ABSTRACT. Technical systems are being used more and more frequently to analyze physical workloads. However, suitable approaches to evaluate the measured exposures with regard to their health hazards are lacking. New exposure indicators have been developed and evaluated, which allow a body region-specific risk assessment based on technically measured exposure parameters. The development and testing of the indicators was part of the MEGAPHYS project (multilevel risk assessment of physical exposures). Required exposure parameters were determined by kinematic, electromyography and heart rate recordings at 186 workplaces. Simultaneously, medical examinations of musculoskeletal complaints and diseases of 808 employees at these workplaces were conducted. Validity of the exposure indicators was checked by linking them to the results of the medical examinations. Numerous plausible associations were identified between the exposure indicators and specific body region-related health outcomes. A comprehensive and evaluated concept for measurement-based risk assessment is now available. The exposure indicators are applicable for measuring systems at different levels of complexity.

ABSTRACT. Collaborative robotics is seen as a possible solution for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. This paper presents an example of restrained free physical assistance robot (Cobot) and its influence on upper arms joint angles.

ABSTRACT. Artificial neural networks (ANN) were developed to predict C6-C7 compression and shear forces based on angular head-trunk kinematics and intervertebral (C6-C7) moments. The ability to predict C6-C7 compression and shear forces via the ANN will help to improve helicopter helmet design, by ensuring that designs can be optimized, in a time and resource-efficient manner, to minimize loading on the neck.

ABSTRACT. Spacesuits demonstrate unique motion patterns due to their mechanical design. These motion patterns may contribute to increased musculoskeletal stresses and injury risks for the astronaut and therefore it is important to understand how suited motion patterns correlate with injury risk. This study analyzed motions from manual material handling lifting tasks performed in the Mark-III spacesuit. The motion capture data were projected onto a reposable suit model for kinematic derivation of joint angles. Singular value decomposition (SVD) was performed on the time series of the joint angles, which identified the primitive motion patterns (“eigenpostures”) across each task and their weightings as a function of time. The total joint displacement, low back moments, and postural stability were calculated as biomechanical risk metrics for each eigenposture. The eigenposture weightings were compared across tasks. Each eigenposture was associated with a different level of biomechanical stresses and some tasks, such as object pickup from the floor, had a higher composition of “risky” eigenpostures. The results of this work can be used to improve task and suit design to minimize risky movement patterns for injury mitigation.

ABSTRACT. Excessive exposure to low back cumulative loading (LBCL) has been implicated as a risk factor for development of pain or injury during performance of MMH tasks. However, addressing LBCL during conceptual work design is challenging because of a lack of an established and widely accepted LBCL threshold value. We therefore propose to formulate the design challenge using an optimization framework aided by digital human modeling (DHM). We showcase our approach by simulation of a lifting-carrying-lowering task with 4 different relative weight handling frequencies. We further explore the effects of 4 LBCL integration calculation methods on design outputs. Our results show that the percentage agreement for the 4 different relative handling frequencies and integration methods ranged between 89.5% and 100%. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance values ranged between 0.74 and 1.0 (all with p<0.0001), showing good to perfect agreement amongst the solutions. Our proposed approach takes advantage of DHM task simulation capabilities to simulate proposed MMH scenarios and provide solution estimates at the conceptual design phase, a mainstay in optimal engineering practices.

ABSTRACT. The cognitive phenomenon wherein operators lock in on one source of information to the detriment of perceiving or processing others has been referenced using a variety of different names, including attentional tunneling. Unregulated and often used interchangeably, this list of terms makes cataloging research in this area unwieldy, and compiling existing literature on design interventions difficult. A search of relevant databases resulted in a review of literature on attentional tunneling and its variants. Terms and the contexts in which they are used are compared against a standard definition to organize the use of vocabulary. Next, a series of adaptive display interventions for attentional tunneling in the literature are summarized. A characterization is proposed to help organize and inform attentional tunneling literature for research planning and design.

ABSTRACT. Productively and ergonomically designed work is a key factor for the competi-tiveness of industrial companies. MTM-HWD® is a method to describe human work that allows an integrated analysis of both productive and ergonomic as-pects. Although it considers these aspects in a single process, the method still re-quires a considerable amount of effort. One possibility to reduce this effort is the utilization of digital human motion data from human simulation tools. This paper presents an approach that can use this motion data to derive a HWD analysis in a semi-automated way. The implementation of this approach is illustrated using the simulation software imk ema.

ABSTRACT. Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSS) performance for industry 4.0 is high-ly context-dependent, where three design areas arise: the artifact itself, the human-agent collaboration, and the organizational settings. Current HF&E tools are limited to conceptualize and anticipate future human-agent work situations with a fine-grained perspective. This paper explores how rich in-sights from work analysis can be translated into formative design patterns that provide finer guidance in conceptualizing the human-agent collaboration and the organizational settings. The current manual work content elicited is disaggregated into functional requirements. Each function is then scrutinized by a multidisciplinary design team that decides its feasibility and nature (autonomy function, human function, or hybrid function). By doing so, we uncover the technical capabilities of the CPSS in comparison with subject-matter experts' work activity. We called this concept technological coverage. The framework thereof allows close collaboration with design stakeholders to define detailed HAT configurations. We then imagined joint activity scenarios based on end-users work activity, the technological capabilities, and the interaction requirements to perform the work. We use a study on technological innovation in the aircraft maintenance domain to illustrate the framework's early phases.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates by empirically investigating how four chatbots were implemented and utilized in a professional context at a French business. The study aims to illustrate how the evolutive capacity of chatbots is partly influenced by the quality of interpersonal interaction of sociotechnical system actors.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to discuss issues raised by Artificial Intelli-gence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) in work situations, in the light of literature and an ongoing empirical study. Based on semi-structured interviews with 21 workers and 15 designers, this study explores stakeholders’ viewpoints and ex-periences of AI systems. The preliminary findings show the place and the use of AI systems by workers in different situations, the issues of explainability and trust, the preoccupations of workers about the introduction of AI systems in work activities and the transformations that it may cause. Finally, we discuss about an analytical framework for analyzing and anticipating the consequences of AI systems on work activities and for designing these systems through a Human-Centered approach.

ABSTRACT. Prior studies have shown conflicting results about the impact of information disclosure on human performance– often referred to as transparency (i.e., seeing-into) studies. We conducted an experiment to investigate whether transparency manipulations predicted whether participants could identify whether features and their relative weights of a decision aid guided by a Machine Learning model were consistent with stated best practices for making maintenance decisions. We had insignificant results on state estimation, automation reliance, trust, workload, and self-confidence. This study shows that disclosing information about the decision aid rationale does not necessarily impact operator performance.

ABSTRACT. Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are a commonly applied tool to analyze pedes-trian behavior in virtual environments. However, compared to reality, one's own body can only be represented in the form of a virtual replica. The present study examined the effects of displaying different virtual self-representations, or ava-tars, in a street crossing task on presence, virtual body ownership, gap acceptance and virtual collisions. 29 participants were instructed to cross a one-lane street with varying gap sizes between vehicles ranging from 1 to 6 seconds. Two dif-ferent avatar concepts (with or without hand and finger tracking) were compared to a baseline without any visual body self-representation. Crossing was repeated ten times in each avatar condition, resulting in a total of 30 trials per participant. There was no difference in presence scores between the conditions. The illusion of virtual body ownership was stronger for an avatar that featured hands and fin-ger tracking compared to an avatar in which only the position of the hands was displayed based on two hand-held controllers. In trials in which any avatar was present, participants accepted significantly smaller gaps to cross the street. An equal number of virtual collisions was observed for both avatars and the baseline without an avatar.

ABSTRACT. Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in the research of pedestrian behav-ior. At the same time, empirical evidence suggests that perceptual processes in VR may deviate from real world. Such perceptual biases may affect the estimation of the time until a moving object reaches an observer (time to contact, TTC) - a parameter which is crucial to collision avoidance in the frequent use case of pedestrian street crossing. While several factors appear to influence TTC estimates, the present study focused on the effects of reduced visual contrast and a potential interaction with speed effects. In a virtual street environment, participants indicated the moment at which they expected an approaching vehicle to pass them. In line with earlier findings, TTC estimates tended to increase at higher speed, whereas effects of contrast were insignificant. While also the interaction term turned out insignificant, the descriptive data suggest that limited visibility at large distances should be considered in the context of speed effects. Ques-tionnaires revealed that estimation accuracy was related neither to the feeling of presence, nor to the participants’ assessment of their own performance.

ABSTRACT. The mental burden associated with the activity of the control room operator has been the subject of study for ergonomics, which is interested in the strategies used during work situations. Aiming to support traditional training of control room operation activities in an innovative fashion, the Innovation Center in Ergonomics proposed to include immersive technology in a virtual environment as an integral part of the workers’ learning process, aiming to facilitate and enhance responses to stimuli, provide a positive experience in the learning process and avoid possible accidents. For immersion in a 3D virtual environment, HTC VIVEPORT virtual reality glasses and gamification elements were used. For such, a company in the logistics industry was chosen, which manages part of the rail network in Brazil. The control room modeling process was carried out from the understanding of the activity through observation, activity analysis and semi-structured questionnaire. From this, it was possible to identify the operator’s work requirements both in the physical, cognitive and organizational aspects. After modeling the game, the first pilot test allowed the identification of some items to be adjusted for a better understanding of the process. The second pilot test, carried out at the company, showed that most experiences were positive, based on the operators’ perceptions. The development of educational projects using interactive technological resources of virtual simulation, can be very efficient in the work environment, making it easier the perception of risk and accelerating the knowledge curve of the control room operators.

ABSTRACT. "Researchers and Practitioners: do we understand each other?" This is a major question for the Human Factors (HF) community. For scientists, it is time to accept structured Practitioner cases as a contribution to science. Prac-titioners: it is time to share your experiences. One way to share experiences is to publish real-world HF projects. For this paper, seven cases of Control Room (CR) design projects have been reviewed. The focus is not only on the product -the actual control room design result- but also on the roles of stakeholders, HF Consultants, as well as on HF methods and their effectiveness.

ABSTRACT. The applications of ergonomics have been commonly unidirectional, superficial and with interventions that are not very close to the reality of processes and people's commitment. The objective of this study is to report on the development and implementation of participatory method aimed at understanding production process, recognizing risks linked to ergonomic factors and developing an action plan in the manufacture of heart valves. Participatory ergonomics can be understood as the involvement of people in the planning and control of a significant amount of their own activities, with sufficient knowledge and power to influence both processes and results in order to achieve desirable objectives. Four methods were developed and applied that allowed the awareness, engagement and effective participation of the different hierarchical and technical levels of the company. The work carried out resulted in 132 items in the action plan, 25% of which were solved even before the end of all analyzes. This advance was possible due to the participatory approach that allowed knowledge, involvement and empowerment of people to implement the required actions.

ABSTRACT. A consortium of oil and chemical processing companies, the Center for Operator Performance (COP), initiated a project to improve the ergonomics of audible alarms in control rooms and to bring them in line with best practice. This paper describes this project including surveys of control rooms, the design of new sets of alarms, and site testing.

ABSTRACT. This special session will consist of an interactive panel discussion with international experts on ‘How to kick start your research program’. The session will end with an open-mic ‘ask the expert’ session.

ABSTRACT. Human strength capability is an important component in the design of manual work tasks. However, hand dominance is rarely considered in this process. This study examines how manual arm strength differs between dominant and non-dominant limbs.

ABSTRACT. Dassault Systèmes recently released a new application that quickly generates and assesses simulated work situations, that is, a postured manikin in a 3D environment. This allows first ergonomic evaluations on a large scale. When many risks are found, it then becomes difficult to determine which problem to tackle first. This paper proposes a methodology to calculate a score at different levels, from as high as factory level to as low as specific actions in a workstation.

ABSTRACT. The goal of the current study was to mitigate employee discomfort and fatigue and improve emotional well-being through a job-specific stretching program at a local manufacturing facility. While preliminary analyses suggest that this program may have the desired impact on flexibility, fitness, and affect, it is only as good as its buy-in from the company. While the company seemed eager to adopt such a program at the initial planning-stages, large-scale implementation strategies were met with resistance. Some departments encouraged their employees to stretch together before starting the shift but did not promote the mid-shift or post-shift stretching to the same degree, while other departments were not as supportive of the program and did not complete any stretches as a group. Some employees in these departments noted that they wanted to take part independently. However, while completing the stretches on their own at their workstation, nearby coworkers led them to feel self-conscious. Employees noted that they would try to find an isolated place to do their stretches but that they were frequently "caught," which led them to stop participating. Further investigation is underway after having addressed some of the identified issues with the initial launch. Based on the researchers' feedback, the company has established a wellness committee to support engagement and lead group stretches. The safety and management teams have been actively engaged with promoting the program, leading to overall positive feelings towards the relaunch on the part of employees. Further data collection is underway.

ABSTRACT. This paper frames theoretical reflections to connect the Design for All (DfA) approach with Policy Ergonomics (PE) through the Research Through Co-design (RTC) theory. We used the RTC theory for connecting variables of the RTC model with DfA by assuming the context of policy-making. We also used a polynomial to express the diversity in the RTC model. As a result we obtained the Polynomial of Diversity (PoD) to make the diversity as a tangible value in the RTC model. The PoD describes the diversity in terms of different weights of the co-designers in the RTC model. In practical terms, the PoD helps practitioners, designers, designers-researchers, policy-makers to reflect on those variables that can influence the application of the DfA approach in the context of policy-making. At the same time the application of the RTC theory through the PoD has the potential of co-creating useful knowledge for identifying innovative, sustainable and inclusive policies in different policy-making contexts. Finally, this paper provides a theoretical connection among DfA, RTC and the policy-making context highlighting the need to define the field of study in PE.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents an ongoing study aiming to evaluate Brazilian health campaigns' graphical aspects considering Plain Language as an inclusive approach. One of the barriers to this informative material for health promotion is language. Texts must be easy to read and comprehend to allow all populations to access health information and make decisions as needed. This scenario reveals the need for government health communication proposing as a research question: the messages presented in government health campaigns are clear and accessible for citizens? This paper presents part of broader research that aims to analyze the federal government's comprehensibility in health information and education, considering Plain Language aspects. Data analysis is still ongoing at the time of writing, but results highlight a lack of information in health campaigns.

ABSTRACT. Reading is a frequent activity in everyday life for most people all over the world. A highly legible font represents an effective and inexpensive device to help reading in an accurate and less fatiguing fashion. The EasyReading® font was originally conceived to alleviate the hindrance experienced by dyslexic readers, but its design has soon evolved to encompass the broader public. To this end the De-sign for All methodology has represented a constant guiding reference. Examples of the solutions adopted in the design of roughly one thousand glyphs are presented to illustrate the simplicity of the main concept at the foundation of EasyReading®.The results and the conclusions of three independent scientific investigations are reported and briefly discussed. In two cases the main question concerns the effectiveness of EasyReading® vs. Times New Roman as an aiding tool for dyslexic pupils compared to normal readers of the same educational level. The third case offers a challenging point of view about the effectiveness of a font as an aiding device.Finally, a brief overview is offered about possible practical applications and future developments of the font.

ABSTRACT. The elevator is a machine, a transport system, a space. It is the solution par excellence addressed to everyone. Its installation and use should be simple, and open to all users. The accessibility (for all), safety, and hygiene aspects of the elevator are constantly evolving: on these topics, this research takes its first steps and deepens each subject connected to ‘the vertical travel’. The paper introduces the European Standards on elevator’s accessibility, defines the declination of DfA/HCD methodology applied to product design processes, and shows some innovative product solutions inspired by the health emergencies, which are suitable for inclusion and safety above the current circumstances. Finally, the interaction of the studies represents the base for future research collaboration about the safe and fair use of elevators and vertical journeys.

ABSTRACT. Background: The rate of disability is rising in Canada as many individuals are now experiencing functional limitations due to aging, joining those with injuries and permanent or temporary impairments. In emergency situations, these individuals as well as first responders are at an increased risk of injury due to evacuation guidelines in Canada being out of date and not based on best available evidence. The Canadian evacuation guidelines were published in 2002, highlighting the immediate need to revise egressibility standards for individuals with functional limitations. Objective: The objective of this project is to summarize the best available evidence on solutions for evacuating individuals with functional limitations from the built environment. Methods: We will perform a scoping review to identify current solutions used to evacuate this population. The literature search will be structured around three concepts: functional limitation, evacuation, and built environment. Results: Two-dimensional matrices will be created – the first to list solutions appropriate for existing buildings and the second to list solutions appropriate for new buildings. Each matrix will list building types across one axis and individual functional limitations along the other axis, with each cell containing a list of possible evacuation solutions for a given building type and individual with a specific limitation. Conclusions: Results will inform the public on current evacuation protocols for individuals with functional limitations and highlight areas for improvement regarding safe egressibility. The outputs of this project will also provide a comprehensive toolkit useful for improving protocols for evacuating this population from the built environment.