One of the primary challenges I face when introducing people to the discipline of human factors and ergonomics is being able to succinctly explain the breadth of work our professionals perform in a multitude of industries. I have my 30 second “elevator pitch” that I tailor depending on the professional background and interests of the audience. But, I’m always struck by the sense that I didn’t adequately represent the discipline.
A quick way of understanding the discipline’s comprehensiveness is to peruse the Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics (4th ed.). The book was edited by Gavriel Salvendy and should be on the bookshelf (or in the digital library) of all human factors and ergonomics professionals. Below are the 61 chapters:
- The Discipline of Human Factors and Ergonomics
- Human Factors Engineering and Systems Design
- Sensation and Perception
- Selection and Control of Action
- Information Processing
- Cross-Cultural Design
- Decision-Making Models, Decision Support, and Problem Solving
- Mental Workload and Situation Awareness
- Social and Organizational Foundations of Ergonomics
- Human Factors and Ergonomic Methods
- Anthropometry for Product Design
- Basic Biomechanics and Workstation Design
- Task Analysis: Why, What, and How
- Task Design and Motivation
- Job and Team Design
- Personnel Recruitment, Selection, and Turnover
- Design, Delivery, Evaluation, and Transfer of Training Systems
- Human Factors in Organizational Design and Management
- Situation Awareness
- Affective Engineering and Design
- Workplace Design
- Vibration and Motion
- Sound and Noise: Measurement and Design Guidance
- Illumination
- Occupational Health and Safety Management
- Human Error and Human Reliability Analysis
- Managing Low-Back Disorder Risk in the Workplace
- Work-Related Upper Extremity Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Warnings and Hazard Communications
- Use of Personal Protective Equipment in the Workplace
- Human Space Flight
- Modeling Human Performance in Complex Systems
- Mathematical Models in Engineering Psychology: Optimizing Performance
- Human Supervisory Control
- Human Digital Modeling in Design
- Virtual Environments
- Neuroergonomics in Human–System Interaction
- Accident and Incident Investigation
- Human Factors and Ergonomics Audits
- Cost/Benefit Analysis for Human Systems Investments
- Methods of Evaluating Outcomes
- Visual Displays
- Information Visualization
- Human Factors in Online Communities and Social Computing
- Human Factors and Information Security
- Usability Testing
- User Requirements Collection and Analysis
- Website Design and Evaluation
- Human Factors in Ambient Intelligence Environments
- Interactivity: Evolution and Emerging Trends
- Design for People with Functional Limitations
- Design for Aging
- Designing for Children
- Design for All: Computer-Assisted Design of User Interface Adaptation
- Human Factors and Ergonomics Standards
- Office Ergonomics
- Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care
- Human Factors and Ergonomics in Motor Vehicle Transportation
- Human Factors and Ergonomics in Automation Design
- Human Factors in Manufacturing
- Human Factors and Ergonomics in Aviation
References
Salvendy, G. (Ed.). (2012). Handbook of human factors and ergonomics (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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