bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Evaluation of a Shipboard Collision Avoidance Display
Authors: Krebs WK , Evanoff TV , Sinai MJ
Published: January 2012

Background: Navigating a ship at night in close proximity to another vessel is a dangerous task. To increase the conning officer's situational awareness, we propose a visual navigation display mounted on the stern of the aircraft carrier that will assist shipboard conning officers when maneuvering in a battle group formation. Methods: To test the effectiveness of the visual navigation display, the aircraft carrier and plane guard vessel were modeled in a virtual environment. Results: The navigation display condition had significantly fewer range and bearing errors than to the non-navigation display condition. The navigation display provided immediate feedback as to whether the aircraft carrier had changed bearing or speed, thus enabling the operator to initiate the appropriate input to maintain station astern of the carrier. Conclusions: Actual or potential applications of this research include combatants conducting plane guard duties astern of an aircraft carrier during flight operations and ships in underway replenishment waiting station.
When Beauty is Only Skin Deep: 3-D Realistic Icons are Harder to Identify than Conventional 2-D Military Symbols
Authors: Smallman Harvey S. , John Mark , Oonk Heather M. , Cowen Michael B.
Published: January 2012

Conventional 2-D tactical displays depict military objects (platforms) using non-realistic symbols. A new generation of 3-D tactical displays is being developed that depict platforms using miniature realistic icons of ships and planes. These icons are very compelling, but do they translate into performance benefits for users? In four experiments we measured identification and classification performance for a set of common military platforms displayed as either 3-D icons, 2-D icons, or conventional 2-D symbols (from Mil. Std 2525B). 3-D icons were identified consistently slower and less accurately than 2-D symbols, and no better than computationally simpler 2-D icons. Icons are poor because they put the work of discriminating between subtly different real-world platforms onto the user. Symbols, on the other hand, can be engineered to have arbitrarily high discriminability for similar-looking real-world platforms. Users may appreciate, and clamor for, a familiar faithfully realistic representation of the world on their display, but they may be much better off operating on a pre-processed discriminable, if unrealistic, version of it.
Effects of Vertical Viewing Angle on Eye Blink Rate during Computer Work
Authors: Solorzano Sol , Bommarito Paul , Burastero Stephen
Published: January 2012

The effects of vertical viewing angles and eye blinking rate during computer work were investigated Twenty subjects read from a computer screen set at four levels of viewing angles. Eye blinks during reading tasks were measured by electrooculography. Subjective ratings on visual and musculoskeletal strain were obtained. Test hypotheses were: (a) blink rate does not change with variations of viewing angle, (b) blink rate does not change with time-on-task, and (c) there is no interaction between viewing angle and time-on-task effects. The results indicated that blink rate increases as the viewing angle approaches eye level, and that blink rate increases with time-on-task. No significant interaction was found between viewing angle and time-on-task. Results and subjective ratings support recommendations of VDT viewing angle range near 15° below eye level.
Quantitative Measurement of Human Visual Characteristic on Depth Perception with Using Random-Dot Stimulus
Authors: Wu Jing-Long , Tsukamoto Kazuyoshi
Published: January 2012

Human interactive characteristic between the binocular disparity and the occlusion for depth perception is measured with using random-dot stimulus. The experimental results suggested that if the binocular disparity is set at a proper value, the depth information is mainly obtained from the cue of the binocular disparity, and if the occlusion ratio is larger than some constant value the depth information is obtained from the cue of the occlusion. Based on the experimental results, we can find a method to make images with depth information in the Head Mounted Display (HMD) when the cues of the binocular disparity and the occlusion are concurrently used.
Development of a Railway Ergonomics Control Room Assessment Package (Recap)
Authors: Cordiner Lucy A. , Nichols Sarah , Wilson John R.
Published: January 2012

This paper discusses one of the tools developed as part of a Railway Ergonomics Control Assessment Package (RECAP) which will be used to benchmark current human factors operations and assess the impact of new centralised control rooms on the performance and safety of the railway network. The questionnaire included sections covering areas such as workplace design, work environmental conditions, work attitude, occupational stress and teamwork. Results from initial analysis indicated that a number of workplace factors, such as workplace design, job content and teamwork, had an impact on employee well-being, including general health and job satisfaction. A number of issues associated with questionnaire design and administration were also highlighted.
Critiquing Team Procedure Execution
Authors: Guerlain Stephanie , Bullemer Peter
Published: January 2012

Critiquing is a form of decision support whereby a computer system monitors the actions of people to help prevent errors. Critiquing systems developed to date (spell checkers, problem-solving assistants, etc.) traditionally support a single person performing a static, non time-critical task. We have now developed a critiquing system in the more dynamic world of process control. Specifically, we support the execution of complex procedures in petrochemical plants with an on-line, executable dynamic procedures decision support system, where we introduce critiquing as a means to assist teams of operators as they execute procedures in real time.
Huaman Reliability Analysis on Ship Power System Control Room Design
Authors: Hong Yi , Changchun Li , Min Xu , Tong Ge , Yao Ma
Published: January 2012

Nowadays, Modern warship has been highly automated and integrated. Therefore, seemingly, the crew need copes with litter tasks than before. In fact, however, the crew's importance and tension have rapidly increased, even a slightest error may result in an accident. Consequently, consideration for human factor analyses should be taken independently in marine engineering. Our study focus is how to evaluate the ship power system control room design in the light of human factor analysis. According to the human factors theory, this article develops a common human reliability evaluation approach which is helpful to the ship general arrangement design for the highest efficiency of the whole ship. A case is also presented in this article, including the model test and HET analysis.
Methodology for Ergonomic Design of Commanding Stands
Authors: Grozdanovié Miroljub
Published: January 2012

This paper gives a survey of ergonomic research of an interactive operator-commanding stands relation, in order to join the appropriate parameters for ergonomic designing of new commanding stands as well as the reconstruction of the old ones.
An Ecological Approach to the Study of Highly-Reliable Organizations
Authors: Rochlin Gene I.
Published: January 2012

Field studies of highly-reliable organizations performing safety-critical tasks in real time demonstrate the importance of understanding both operator and task performance as contingent and emergent properties of interactive and overlapping interactions within and between the operators and their mechanical and organizational “environment.” Since the interface is an integral and constitutive element in the construction of the operator's cognitive field, analysts and designers alike need to remain sensitive to the extent to which changes in interface design or specification can have long-term and indirect effects on system performance and safety.
Conducting Generalizable Research in the Age of the Field Study
Authors: Kirlik Alex
Published: January 2012

Over the past 10 years or so, cognitive engineering researchers, especially those working within an ecological orientation, have become increasingly skeptical of any abstractions of task environments made for research purposes. Misidentifying ecological research with field research, I suggest, misses the cental insight underlying ecological theory and method: the need for scientific descriptions and theories of the behavioral, cognitive and social environment on a par with those of internal psychological processes. We realize that for theory of internal cognition to be generalizable, it must be abstract, and we must recognize that the same holds for the need to abstractly model the environment. While ecologically-oriented research should originate in the field, it cannot end there as well, if it hopes to make good on its promise of providing more generalizable accounts of human-machine interaction than the laboratory-bound human factors methods of the 1970s-80s.
Design of Ecological Interfaces
Authors: Vicente Kim J.
Published: January 2012

This session is the second of three to examine the implications of an ecological approach for interface design. The goal for this session will be to consider how the general ecological approach discussed in the first session can be applied to the specific problem of interface design. Several examples of ecological interface design will be presented, and the importance of transferring this technology to practical problems industry will be discussed.
Interface Style and Error Rates - Some Experimental Results
Authors: Elzer Peter F. , Boussoffara Badi , Beuthel Carsten
Published: January 2012

At the IPP a number of new forms of visualizations of process values have been developed. Several of them have been evaluated by user experiments. In the context of a research project (supported by the Volkswagen Foundation in Germany (Ref. Nr.: I/69 886)) a comparative study with respect to the influence of the interface style on the error rate during classification of process states was undertaken. The paper describes the results and discusses them in a taxonomy context.
Upper Extremity Disorders in Professional Female Milkers
Authors: Stål Marianne
Published: January 2012

The prevalence of and the impact of selected factors on self-reported musculoskeletal complaints in Swedish female milkers with special reference to symptoms in the upper extremities were investigated using on data from mail-in surveys. An agricultural study group was formed of three subgroups: 161 active milkers, 108 non-milkers and 62 ex-milkers, women who had been milkers earlier but were no longer doing that kind of work. In the course of the analysis these subgroups were compared with each other and also, separately or in combinations, with a non-agricultural population consisting of 166 nursing assistants. Problems in the upper extremities were significantly more common in the agricultural group than in the non-agricultural group. Milkers had a higher risk of developing symptoms in the wrists and hands than non-milking women. Symptoms like numbness, coldness in the wrists and white fingers were more common in all agricultural subgroups than in the non-agricultural group. Numbness and white fingers were related to vibration exposure in the ex-milking and the non-milking groups but not in the milking group. Psychosocial factors such as occupational well being were not related to the occurrence of symptoms. Milking in modernised barn gave fewer problems in the elbows than milking in a traditional barn. Milkers who had received ergonomic instruction on how to work in order to reduce muscle stress had fewer problems in the elbow region than those who had not.
High Risk Tasks for Musculoskeletal Disorders in Agricultural Field Work
Authors: Meyers James M , Faucett Julia , Tejeda Diana G , Kabashima John , Miles John A , Janowitz Ira , Duraj Victor , Smith Rhonda , Weber Ed
Published: January 2012

Agricultural work involves heavy physical exertion and is characterized by evidence of high rates of musculoskeletal disorders. Currently ergonomics is a low priority for injury and illness prevention in agriculture. However, based on costs and incidence rates ergonomics risk factors should rank among the highest farm safety priorities.

Analysis of field work jobs by the University of California with support from NIOSH yield an industry generalizable set of high risk tasks which should have high intervention priority. These are:

repetitive and awkward forward flexion, repetitive lifting and carrying heavy loads, and highly repetitive hand work.
Non-Verbal Auditory Warnings in Avionics Application
Authors: Noyes Jan M. , Kazem Mandana L.N. , Phyo Christopher S.
Published: January 2012

Air traffic continues to increase and there is a concern that aircraft accident and incident rates will also rise. Combine this with ever increasing automation technology, often itself introduced for safety purposes, and the results inevitably lead to an increase in the number of required cockpit warnings. The design of auditory warnings in particular is an important consideration in both civil and military aircraft. Two experiments are reported here: one which considers the role of traditional nonverbal, auditory warnings while the other investigates the concept of a non-verbal, background, auditory environment. It is concluded that non-verbal auditory warnings are useful, but there may also be some benefit in having a background ‘soundscape’ within the cockpit.
Velocity Judgments of Moving Sounds in Virtual Acoustic Displays
Authors: Ericson Mark A.
Published: January 2012

A pure tone sound source, moving along a linear left-to-right trajectory, was simulated over headphones. Six attributes of the object motion were varied independently in a randomized block, factorial design experiment. The independent variables included: 1) sound source velocity, 2) distance from the observer, 3) interaural time delays, 4) Doppler frequency shifts, 5) overall intensity and 6) signal duration. Eight listeners estimated the magnitude of the velocity of the simulated moving sound source in miles per hour. Five of the six independent variables were found to make statistically significant (p<.05) contributions to estimates of velocity magnitude. Correct velocity estimates were found to be moderately correlated with the minimal distance between the trajectory path and the observer, Doppler frequency shifts, and intensity changes. The simulated velocity of the sound source and interaural time delay variables, although statistically significant, explained less than ten percent of the variance in the data. Implications of these research findings for virtual acoustic display design are discussed.
Speech-Based Distance Cueing in Virtual Auditory Displays
Authors: Brungart Douglas S.
Published: January 2012

One of the greatest weaknesses of current virtual audio displays is their inability to produce robust distance cues. There is, however, reason to believe that the systematic changes that occur in human speech as the loudness of the voice increases can provide distance information in a virtual audio display. In this experiment, speech samples ranging from quiet whispers to loud shouts were processed to simulate live human talkers at 9 distances from 0.25 m to 64 m, and were presented over headphones to listeners in an outdoor environment. The resulting distance judgments indicate that vocal effort has a strong influence on the perceived distance of speech, and that the effects of vocal effort are consistent across a range of talkers, utterances, and listeners. Thus, it appears that speech-based distance cues are capable of providing salient distance information in virtual audio displays.
Use of Computer Based Training for Aircraft Inspectors: Findings and Recommendations
Authors: Gramopadhye Anand K. , Melloy Brian J. , Chen Stacye , Bingham Jamie , Master Reena , Copelan Sony , Camp Chris , Smith Art
Published: January 2012

Research in aircraft inspection and maintenance has revealed the criticality of human inspection performance in improving aviation safety. Training has been identified as the primary intervention strategy in improving the quality and reliability of aircraft inspection performance. If training is to be successful, it is clear that we need to provide aircraft inspectors with tools to help enhance their inspection skills and improve performance. In response to this need, the Clemson research team developed a high fidelity inspection-training simulator (ASSIST: Automated System of Self Instruction for Specialized Training) - a specialized inspection software focused on improving aircraft inspection performance. Following the development a detailed usability evaluation was conducted and is reported as a part of this paper.
Development and Use of the Documentation Design Aid
Authors: Drury Colin G.
Published: January 2012

In aviation maintenance and inspection, work documents are critical to safety, as they act as both production control devices and job aids for mechanics and inspectors. Based on an analysis of the current state of documentation in aviation maintenance, there was a clear need to help document designers/writers utilize good human factors practice. Design guidelines were developed and tested (Patel et al, 1994) and then made accessible through a Visual Basic window, called the Documentation Design Aid or DDA, available on-screen while writing a procedure. This DDA was tested for usability by writers and for comprehension of the documents produced. A number of different evaluations showed that the DDA reduced comprehension errors significantly. The DDA is now available via a WWW site for users to download and use.
Man-Machine Interface Design for Korean Next Generation Reactor: A Human Factors Perspective
Authors: Kim Joong Nam
Published: January 2012

The concept of advanced man-machine interface (MMI) technology is employed to the design of the main control room (MCR) for Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR), an advanced light water nuclear power plant (NPP) currently under development. In the KNGR MCR, computerized workstations and digital operating systems provide the operator with electronically generated graphics and information for system status displays and plant controls. The introduction of digital technology to the development of advanced power plant control station has brought new issues and concerns associated with the KNGR MMI design, especially in human factors perspective. This paper presents some of human factors efforts in the development of KNGR MMIs that includes large screen display, workstation CRT, computerized procedure, and soft controller.
HEDOMS: A Framework and Toolkit for Analysis of Human Error and Disturbance Occurrence in Manufacturing Systems
Authors: Barroso Mònica Paz , Wilson John R.
Published: January 2012

New demands on modern manufacturing systems have emphasised the need for higher levels of overall system reliability. The main focus of this paper is that of the reliability of manufacturing personnel and the way in which this interrelates with overall system performance. A framework - Human Error and Disturbance Occurrence in Manufacturing Systems (HEDOMS) is proposed, which integrates human reliability with overall system performance, relating human error with disturbance occurrence and handling. The HEDOMS framework has been extended into a toolkit to enable the identification of potential for human error and disturbance occurrence in manufacturing systems, as well as the definition of suitable error reduction measures.
Environmental Support and Design: An Information Processing Perspective
Authors: Charness Neil , Holley Patricia
Published: January 2012

Environmental Support has been loosely defined to mean those aspects of a task that reside outside the person. For instance, a recognition task is said to provide more environmental support than a recall task. Recall is usually inferior to recognition, and recognition tasks tend to minimize age differences in memory performance. However, there are memory tasks where having partial information presented at test (e.g., “part-set cueing”) makes people worse at recalling prior information than the simple “recall” cue. Similarly, presenting a display with task-irrelevant information will hurt the detection performance of older adults more than that of younger adults, probably because older adults inhibit the irrelevant information less successfully. We will present a framework for understanding task performance and environmental support that can be useful for deciding when presenting information in the environment will help or hinder task performance and review some evidence for that framework. Implications for designing age-appropriate technology will also be presented.
Designing Automated Telephone Messages for Older Adults
Authors: Morrow Daniel G.
Published: January 2012

Automated telephone messaging is used to remind patients about appointments, monitor health status, and to provide other health services. Previous research has documented that these systems improve health services delivery to patients, but little attention has been paid to the messages. Well designed messages increase the potential of these systems to provide environmental support for older adults' performance of daily health activities such as appointment attendance. Our research builds on theories that point to the importance of tailoring health information to patients' needs and abilities, and theories that predict improved comprehension when messages are compatible with listeners' knowledge. Our goal is to design the content, organization, and presentation of automated health appointment messages so that they provide environmental support for older adults. We review several studies that have implications for both improving automated health communication and refining the construct of environmental support.
Aging and the Efficiency of Stimulus-Driven and Goal-Directed Visual Selection
Authors: Mead Sherry E. , Fisk Arthur D.
Published: January 2012

The present paper addresses the efficiency with which stimulus-driven attentional capture can interfere with target detection by older and younger observers. The attentional capture paradigm places the stimulus-driven visual selection of perceptually salient objects in opposition to the goal-directed visual selection of objects that possess a target feature. Eighteen older adults and 17 younger adults completed a perceptual feature search experiment that utilized the attentional capture paradigm. Participants searched for a target color in an eight-item display that contained six identical distractors and one singleton distractor. No evidence for age-related differences in the ability to ignore the perceptually salient, but irrelevant singleton distractor were observed.
Age Changes of Mental Performance and Cardiovascular System Activity in Control Room Shiftworkers Under High Work Tension
Authors: Bobko Natalia A.
Published: January 2012

Aging affects majority parameters of mental performance (MPP). Shiftwork is considered as a risk factor of cardiovascular disease. High work tension can influence both the mental performance and the cardiovascular system activity. The purpose was to reveal some peculiarities of the aging influence the mental performance and cardiovascular system (CVS) activity in shiftwork under high work tension.
Disorientation in Minimal Access Surgery: A Case Study
Authors: Cao Caroline G.L. , Milgram Paul
Published: January 2012

Navigating through minimal access surgical environments such as the human colon can be difficult, even for expert gastroenterologists. “Getting lost” is a common experience for endoscopists, especially within the tortuous sigmoid colon where salient landmarks are not generally available. This paper presents the concept of “getting lost” in endoscoppy as a loss of both global and local spatial orientation. For the endoscopist performing a colonoscopy, the consequence of local disorientation is an inability to continue the procedure, or possibly even injury to the patient, while consequences of global disorientation can be mistaking the location of a lesion, and/or incomplete examination, resulting in misdiagnosis. This study provides important insights into the physical and cognitive constraints of the task of navigating in colonoscopy, contributing to disorientation in the colon. The implications of our findings for the design of navigational aids and training tools are also discussed.
A Hierarchical Job Analysis System for Assessing Physical Work Barriers
Authors: Armstrong Thomas J. , Keyserling W. Monroe , Ulin Sheryl S. , Marshall Matthew M.
Published: January 2012

Knowledge of physical work requirements is necessary for determining if a job can be performed by a given person or population. It is also necessary for assessing the risk of fatigue, discomfort and musculoskeletal disease. We have proposed a hierarchical job analysis system that includes four levels of analysis. Level I is based on worker and supervisor interviews and provides descriptions of work tasks, materials, equipment, work environment and activities that may challenge a given person's work capacity or result in excess risk of injury or illness. A Level II analysis is based on direct work site observations and measurements and provides additional quantification of the data obtained from Level I. A Level III analysis is based on expert ratings of ergonomic stresses: repetition, force, contact stress and posture of each task. A Level IV analysis uses instrumentation, e.g., goniometers, electromyography, force gages and accelerometers, to provide quantification of specific task attributes.
Modeling “Deranged” Physiological Systems for Icu Information System Design
Authors: Miller Anne , Sanderson Penelope
Published: January 2012

The Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) framework has recently been applied to the design of patient monitoring systems in acute care medical settings. Work Domain Analysis (WDA), models the problem field in which people act. We argue that the most widely-used form of WDA which uses an abstraction-decomposition space (ADS) may not be the most effective form when applied to ICUs. We propose an approach based on the cybernetic hierarchical control model of Beer (1981) and the systems approach of Forrester (1971).
The Emergent Features of a Medical Object Display Improve Anesthesiologists' Performance of Simulated Diagnostic Tasks
Authors: Blike George , Jensen Jens , Whalen Kate , Surgenor Stephen
Published: January 2012

The anesthesiologist is expected to monitor multiple data streams from the anesthetized patient, recognize problem states, identify the etiology or cause of problem states (i.e., perform diagnosis) and take corrective action to return a patient to the desired goal state. This study represents efforts to further investigate features of a multi-dimensional Object display of hemodynamic data. Clinicians using this Object display recognized problem states and determined etiology, faster and more accurately than when they used a Single Sensor Single Indicator (SSSI) Numeric display. This study hypothesized that shapes designed into the Object display accounted for the diagnostic performance gain observed. To test this hypothesis, variant of the Object display, with the emergent shape features removed ( Object Minus Shapes display) was used as a probe to assess the impact of the shape-encoded information on diagnostic performance. Both the Object and Object Minus Shapes displays improved problem state recognition when compared to the Numeric SSSI display. The former displays graphically represent current data values and boundary information using a pointer, a reference scale, and solid bars to depict normal and abnormal value ranges. The emergent shape features in the Object display were the essential graphical elements that conferred improved etiology determination by anesthesiologists. This study partially validates the design goal used to construct the Object display under investigation—to map multi-dimensional physiologic relationships of hemodynamic data using graphical representations with emergent features that are clinically meaningful.
The Motivations and Difficulties of the Case Manager's Work: Observations from an Exploratory Study of a Home Care Department
Authors: E. Cloutier , H. David , C. Teiger
Published: January 2012

In a context of population aging and a shift towards ambulatory care, this exploratory study attempts to understand the work of home care nurses and to identify its impacts in terms of self-actualization and difficulties.
Home Alone: Prescription Users and Medication Information Sheets
Authors: Isaacson Judith J. , Klein Helen Altman , McKelvey Alan C.
Published: January 2012

Prescription medication is an important but potentially dangerous component of medical care. We compared conventional medical information sheets provided by pharmacies with human factored sheets developed in our laboratory. On all preference measures, the human factors sheets were judged more favorably by medication users. We also identified some recurrent misconceptions held by users. Human factors can contribute to safe and effective medication use.
Shoulder Muscle Load during Pushing and Pulling
Authors: Laursen Bjarne , Schibye Bente
Published: January 2012

Substituting lifting with pushing and pulling generally reduces the disc compression in the low back. However, from a biomechanical point of view, pushing and pulling tasks are much more complex to analyse compared to lifting. Instead of being close to vertical, the force directions are virtually unknown, and may vary during different phases of the task. The relation between external force and internal load is not simple, as force direction and body posture may change accordingly. Further, focus has mainly been on the lumbar spine and not on shoulder load. Although the lumbar spine load is reduced, shoulder muscle load is not necessarily changed to the same extent during pushing and pulling compared to lifting. Therefore, shoulder load is brought into focus in a study of pushing and pulling. Seven male waste collectors pushed and pulled two-wheeled containers with up to 50 kg of waste. When performing one-handed pull behind the body, the force was up to 280 N, and the internal shoulder flexion moments were up to 80 Nm in the initial phase, close to the subject's maximum shoulder flexion moments. For the two-handed push in front of the body, the total force was up to 360 N, corresponding to approximately 180 N for each hand. Pushing caused lower shoulder moments, up to 34 Nm in the initial phase. During steady state, the total force was up to 230 N when pushing and 130 N when pulling. Shoulder moments were below 27 Nm when pulling and below 16 Nm when pushing (all results are given as mean of subjects). Regarding the relation between exposure and internal load, there was a positive relation between the magnitude of the hand force and the shoulder moment (r=0.48). For the compression in the lumbar spine there was no relation to the magnitude of the hand force (r=0.05).

In conclusion, although loads on the low back during pushing and pulling are relatively small, loads on the shoulder muscles may be very high in some cases. Pushing and pulling may therefore be a risk factor for shoulder disorders.
Predictors of Pictorial Symbol Comprehension
Authors: Young Stephen L. , Wogalter Michael S.
Published: January 2012

Open-ended comprehension testing is a commonly-recommended form of evaluation for safety symbols, but such testing can be costly in terms of time, effort and expense. The present study examines two alternative rating methods that can be used to approximate open-ended comprehension results. The first method, used previously in the literature, had participants estimate the percentage of the population that would correctly interpret the symbol's meaning. The second method involved providing participants with the symbol and its meaning and having them provide a rating of the correspondence between the two. Results demonstrated that both ratings correlated highly with participants' open-ended comprehension results. The present study suggests the utility of alternatives to open-ended testing, especially in the early stages of a symbol's development cycle.
Methodology for Performing Applied Research to Improve an Existing Product Warning (Soda Bottle)
Authors: Deppa Shelley Waters
Published: January 2012

A research project to evaluate and improve warnings concerning unexpected missiling of carbonated beverage caps is described. The methodologies employed, which have wider application, included the use of commonly accepted evaluative criteria, observation of bottle opening behavior, directed interviews, evaluative feedback from interviewees, iterative testing of modified labeling, and symbol comprehension testing.
The Value of Explicit Hazard and Consequence Warnings for Products with Hidden Hazards
Authors: Martin B. Jay
Published: January 2012

Many product warnings provide no bazard or consequence information, and rely on all-encompassing avoidance messages to communicate risk and mitigate hazards. While these avoidance-only warnings may be appropriate when hazards and consequences are obvious, they could be insufficient when the hazards or consequences are not apparent. This study examined the relative effectiveness of avoidance-only warnings versus warnings including hazard identification and explicit consequence information. Ninety-five subjects completed surveys that presented six products and their warnings. Explicit and non-explicit (avoidance-only) warnings were crossed with products having hidden or obvious hazards. The results suggest that for products with hidden hazards, explicit warnings improve understanding of consequence severity and increase perception of risk. Predicted compliance and product avoidance were also measured. The results are presented with a discussion of the relationship between perceived risk and safety behavior.
Integrated Safety Management in Team-Work Organizations
Authors: Seppala Anne , Vikman Ari , Karlund Jarmo
Published: January 2012

The group and team work has expanded during the 1990's in Finland. Changes in the role of the management and in the work organization have had marked impact also on safety measures. A research project was targeted towards clarifying safety issues in the team work. Rules and responsibilieties were defined together with the production personnel. Measures to integrate safety with the team work were specified, as well as criteria for successful team activities. The effect of team organization on safety culture and occupational accidents were evaluated.
Eye-Movement Analysis of Track Monitoring Patterns of Night Train Operators: Effects of Geographic Knowledge and Fatigue
Authors: Itoh Kenji , Tanaka Hiromasa , Seki Masaki
Published: January 2012

Track maintenance is one of the most critical activities for railway safety, particularly for high-speed trains. In maintaining tracks, a number of special purpose trains are used for materials transportation, inspection of the track and rails, construction and other purposes. These track maintenance trains are operated under stressful and changing conditions such as the lack of traffic signals and low visibility. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate train operators' human factors for enhancement of their operation quality and reliability. The present paper particularly focuses on their geographic knowledge on driving area and fatigue by time course as such factors. Through task analysis using eye-tracking data recorded during performance of track inspection task, several analytical diagrams were produced: transition network of attention allocation, distribution of eye-gaze duration at each location on the ground and surroundings, and so forth. Based on these results, we examine the effects of the train operator's human factors on their cognitive and perceptual processes, and also discuss the operator's strategy for obstacle detection on the track.
Evaluating the Positional Stability of Motorcycle Helmets
Authors: Thom David R. , Ouellet James V. , Smith Terry A. , Hurt Hugh H.
Published: January 2012

Traditional motorcycle helmet performance standards provide a test for the strength and stiffness of the retention system. While such tests assure adequate strength, they do not assure that the helmet will be retained in place on a motorcyclist's head, even when securely fastened. The reason is that the geometry of the retention system can allow the helmet to roll off when contact or inertial forces are generated in a collision. This ejection of motorcycle helmets during accident events has been widely noted by various researchers.

Different types and styles of motorcycle helmets were tested to determine the susceptibility to roll off, i.e. “positional stability”. Tests were performed with two commonly used adult sizes of headforms corresponding to standards of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the International Standards Organization (ISO). The laboratory test results were validated by comparable tests on one hundred human subjects. The results of the human subject tests show a meaningful relationship to the laboratory test that employs a 10kg mass dropped 60cm to jerk the helmet forward to cause it to roll off.

The results show that the geometry of the helmet retention system has a powerful effect on the ability of the helmet to resist forward roll off in both laboratory and human subject tests. Also, there is considerable difference in the retention characteristics between DOT and ISO headforms, with the DOT headform more closely corresponding to human subject data.
Communications Problems in Marine Casualties: Development and Evaluation of Investigation, Reporting, and Analysis Procedures
Authors: McCallum Marvin C. , Raby Mireille , Forsythe Alice M. , Rothblum Anita M. , Smith Myriam W.
Published: January 2012

The contribution of ineffective communications to marine casualties was studied. A standardized procedure was used to guide casualty investigations by Coast Guard investigators over a six-month period. Analyses of the resulting 589 casualty reports were conducted to characterize the extent and nature of communications problems in critical marine casualties. The results suggest that increased efforts to address these problems through improvements in operational procedures and training could reduce occurrences of such casualties. The study procedures were revised for future use in marine casualty investigations.
Hearing Protection Devices: Issues on Selection
Authors: Arezes P. M. , Miguel A. S. R.
Published: January 2012

Although hearing protection devices (HPD) should be used as a temporary solution, their selection shouldn't be neglected. Some ergonomics features associated with this kind of protective device must be taken into account. The present study aims at analyzing the relationship between the efficiency and the ergonomics aspects related to the comfort afforded by a personal hearing protector when used in industrial noisy environments. Results obtained seem to demonstrate that there are significant differences between catalogued and effective attenuation. Finally, we must emphasize that the former goal can only be achieved through the attainment of an adequate balance between the range of parameters likely to determine HPD usage. Moreover, it is important to consider the role played by the workers, namely their attitude towards the use of hearing protection, which will ultimately determine the overall success of any hearing conservation program.
Equipment to Improve Man-Duties-Animal-Interaction in the Equine's Handler Work
Authors: Goebel Marilia
Published: January 2012

Based on ergonometric analysis of the farrier's work, an ergonometric equipment was developed in order to facilitate the shoeing of small and big horses. We proposed an ergonometric approach, using the principles of human antropometry and physiology. Using the equipment We found the following results: impact reduction of the animal's weight on the farrier and groom, improvement of the handler posture, and reduction of work accidents during hoof treatment and horseshoeing The equipment aims at the reciprocal sensation of comfort (between man and animal) during the work. It represents an evolution in the task of shoeing since it reduces the work accidents incidence, it minimizes pains in articulations, bones and muscles. All this contributes for quality improvement and work time reduction.

This equipment supplies a gap in the market, once there was not an equipment to attend the physical and mechanical needs found in the routine of people involved in horse shoeing and hoof care.
Effects of Gender, Age and Experience on Bicycle Riding Behavior
Authors: Matsuda Fumiko , Ikegami Thor , Kishida Koya , Kimotsuki Kuninori
Published: January 2012

This research aims to clarify the distinction between consciousness and actual behavior on dangerous actions among young users of bicycle. About 5000 high school students were selected as the target for this research. As a result, although they had same tendency of doing dangerous actions both boys and girls, the boys had poor recognition of dangerous action more than girls did.
A Reappraisal of Performance Standards for Warehouse Operations
Authors: Genaidy A. , Khalil A. , Goyal D.
Published: January 2012

Time standards have been traditionally used as a major factor in the measurement of labor productivity in the warehouse industry. This work practice has raised questions and concerns by many professionals including ergonomists and quality management experts. The objective of this brief communication is to present: 1) a formulation of this problem and 2) a general direction for solving this complex problem.
The Development and Standardization of Warning Symbols; the Role of Design and Human Factors
Authors: Zwaga Harm J. , Mijksenaar Paul
Published: January 2012

International organizations of manufacturers and standardization organization are promoting the use of graphical symbols or pictograms to present instructional and product information including safety messages. To assure that comprehensible symbols are selected by these bodies designers and human factors specialists should cooperate in a fruitful way, respecting each other's skills and knowledge. It is argued that using the evaluation procedure described in the standard ISO 9186 ‘Procedures for the development end testing of public information symbols’ is an effective instrument for this cooperation.
Evaluating Choking Child Pictorial Symbols
Authors: Kalsher Michael J. , Brantley Kimberly A. , Wogalter Michael S. , Snow-Wolff Jennifer
Published: January 2012

Two experiments evaluated pictorial symbols intended to warn consumers of a child choking hazard. In Experiment 1, participants used the Zwaga (1989) comprehension estimation procedure to estimate the percentage of the U.S. population they felt would understand the intended meaning of 15 symbols designed to depict a choking hazard. For the symbol with the highest comprehension estimate, participants indicated that 74% of the population would correctly interpret the intended meaning: choking. All of the top-rated symbols contained similar combinations of features, including crossed hands, a protruding tongue, and a frontal face orientation. But interestingly, symbols with lower comprehension estimates also contained a different set of similar features. In Experiment 2, small groups of participants constructed multiple panel choking hazard symbols from the set of 15 symbols in the first experiment. As in the first experiment, there was a high degree of consistency among participants' responses. Unexpectedly, the first and last symbols selected for this three-panel sequence were among symbols that received the lowest comprehension estimates in the first experiment. These findings seem to confirm that symbol comprehensibility can be influenced by context. Implications of this study for future research are discussed.
Age as a Predictor of Adequate Warning Design
Authors: Hancock Holly E. , Rogers Wendy A. , Fisk Arthur D.
Published: January 2012

Although hundreds of studies have been conducted in the separate fields of cognitive aging and warnings, little is known about the intersection of aging and warnings. In recent years, there has been a growth in interest regarding how age-related declines in cognitive functioning might affect different stages of the warning process. This paper discusses how chronological age may be used in warnings research as a means of determining whether warnings are processed effectively. Generalizations to other special subpopulations are made.
A National Campaign for Increasing Safety and Health in the use of Ladders and Scaffolds
Authors: Rundström Inga
Published: January 2012

In 1998 The Labour Inspectorate in Sweden carried out a campaign aiming to improve safety in the use of ladders and scaffolds. Altogether 2100 worksites were inspected by 311 Labour Inspectors. Around 2000 defects were found and recorded, 85% concerning ladders and 15% scaffolds. The most common single defect concerned missing or defective antiskid devices at the foot of ladders. One third of the faults found in scaffolding involved defective or missing guardrails. The campaign that was performed together with the Swedish Consumer Agency, received much attention in the media. The two authorities jointly published a brochure focussing on the safe use of ladders.
Safety of Operators' Movements on Access Paths of Mobile Machinery
Authors: Leskinen Timo , Suutarinen Juha , Väänänen Janne , Lehtelä Jouni , Haapala Hannu , Plaketti Pekka
Published: January 2012

Access to and from the safety cabins of mobile machinery (tractors, earth moving machines, etc.) typically involves climbing up or down a few steep steps. Slipping, tripping and falling accidents are common when entering and especially when leaving the cabins. Safety of access paths (including steps, hand holds, and doors) depends on their mechanical design, and on operators' movement practices (e.g. jumping instead of climbing down). To improve the safety of access paths, existing paths were measured, and the use of different paths by different drivers was studied by interviews and from video recordings using 3-dimensional motion analysis.
Medical Device Requirements: A View from Canada: Symposium on “Global Challenges in Human Factors and Medical Systems” Session 1: “Medical Device Design and Labelling Requirements for the Global Market”
Authors: Roy Denis
Published: January 2012

This paper provides an overview of the Canadian Medical Device Regulations and focuses on those requirements that may impact on human factors and ergonomic issues. Additionally, the paper provides examples of specific incidents with medical devices that occurred in Canada where ergonomic and human factor issues were directly responsible for the problem.
Colloquium: Beyond 2000, Charting a Course for User-Centered Medical Equipment
Authors: Mavor Anne
Published: January 2012

This two-and-one-half-hour colloquium is designed to provide an open exchange of ideas regarding future directions for the application of human factors to the reduction of human error in medicine with specific emphasis on the design and use of medical equipment and supplies. The goals are to frame topics for building a research agenda and examine strategies for its pursuit. Three panels will provide brief presentations to stimulate discussion from participants and attendees.
2D Analysis of 3D Lifting: How Far can we Go?
Authors: Kingma Idsart , De Looze Michiel P. , Van Dieën Jaap H. , Van Toussaint Huub M. , Van Adams Michael A. , Van Baten Chris T.M.
Published: January 2012

Occupational manual material handling (MMH) is generally not limited to the sagittal plane. Yet, for practical reasons, biomechanical modeling of low back loading during occupational MMH is mostly restricted to 2D. In this study, the limitations to such an approach are analyzed through quantification of the errors made during 2D analysis of 3D lifting. In addition, an estimate is given of the improvements that can be obtained using a simple method to resolve one major source of error, i.e. the error due to projection of lumbar markers onto the sagittal plane.