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Engineering Psychology.

Grether CB

The Human Side of Accident Prevention: Psychological Concepts Which Bear on Industrial Safety, Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois 1975:45-91

00090519

Engineering psychology is concerned primarily with the design of equipment and work operations to fit the capabilities and limitations of the worker population, with special emphasis on human performance requirements. Workers can and do successfully adapt to a wide variety of situations and tasks, but should not be required to compensate for engineering design deficiencies in equipment and work operations without a corresponding increase in accidents and errors. Engineering psychology guidelines have resulted from observation and research concerned with methods of improving human efficiency and performance. Work organization guidelines deal with allocating work functions between workers and machines, establishing policies on shift work, developing safe job designs, and scheduling work/rest periods. Job characteristics and demands require guidelines to ensure that the processes of arousal and stress do not adversely affect safety performance. Worker fatigue and the determination of the manner in which performance of job tasks should be paced are also discussed. Workplace design and layout guidelines address the issues of illuminating the workplace, designing the work space, equipment and personal protective devices; providing adequate methods for warning workers of hazards or emergencies; and arranging controls and displays for maximum efficiency. Task characteristics and demands require guidelines to deal with the adverse effects of uncertainty during task performance; methods for reducing uncertainty; the decision-making burden on the worker; task design to improve skilled motor performance; use of task performance memory aids to enhance job safety; and the use of redundant information or increasing the worker's response speed in hazardous, complex, or emergency situations. Control display characteristics guidelines relate to the need to ensure that various features and characteristics of controls and displays are consistent with human expectations. They also deal with methods of coding information for quick and easy identification, specific design considerations for displays, and control design.

NIOSH-Contract; Contract-099-72-0027; Human-factors-engineering; Job-analysis; Psychological-factors; Work-areas; Ergonomics; Physiology; Work-performance; Safety-engineering;

19750101

Contract;

1975

Contract-099-72-0027

The Human Side of Accident Prevention: Psychological Concepts Which Bear on Industrial Safety, Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois

IL;