Barry Kirby explores aspects of Human Factors, from practitioners in the field, through Processes and Tools that are useful (or not) and other Information and News that may be beneficial. For HF people to keep in touch and non-HF people to hear what we do.
2022 has been a year of, hopefully positive, change, with 20 episodes covering a wide range of topics. In this review, Barry highlights some of the most popular.
Tina Worthy is the COO of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors. She shares with us just how the organisation has achieved so much especially considering the relatively small number of staff, and where she sees it going in the future.
Becky Charles is an investigator with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and in this interview she gives us insights into what the role is and how Human Factors is a key component of the overall team.
Current approaches to defining and understanding safety risk can be seen to rely heavily on incidents occurring or near misses being reported. Dr Marcin Nazaruk talks with Barry about a new approach he is driving called Proactive Learning, or in layman's terms, how we learn from normal work.
Michael Bates interviews Gordon Dupont about the creation of the "Dirty Dozen" the 12 main reasons behind why human error occurs.
Suzy Broadbent is a Fellow of the CIEHF with twenty years experience working in Human Factors across defence, rail and now healthcare domains. She gave the Institute Lecture at EHF2022. This discussion looks back at her career and then dives into how we apply Human Factors methods with pragmatism and reflecting real world circumstances.
Iarnród Éireann, or Irish Rail, has its own share of Human Factors Challenges, and the person with the challenge of ensuring HF is kept up to standard is Nora Balfe. In this episode, Nora gives us an insight into the breadth and depth of her role and some of the issues she has to deal with.
Over the past decade or so, the Royal Air Force has been going through a cultural evolution. In this episode, Ian and Avril give us an insight into how the implementation of Human Factors and the attitudes to safety has evolved and the positive impact it has had on the organisation.
David Golightly is a lecturer at Newcastle University and works in the field of cognitive ergonomics, understanding the factors that make technology and systems fit for the intended user's needs and cognitive abilities. In this episode he talks with Barry about the broad range of work he has been involved in across the rail industry, with a strong emphasis on the passenger experience and understanding the complexity of the rail network.
Professor Peter Brennan is a NHS Consultant Surgeon in Portsmouth, specialising in head and neck cancer. Barry talks with him to see how he is driving Human Factors approaches from his perspective. To date, Peter has published over 700 publications including more than 80 on Human Factors and patient safety. His HF work has changed the delivery of postgraduate surgery exam delivery in the UK and abroad.
Chris Reid is the Human Factors and Ergonomics Boeing Technical Fellow within the Environment, Health and Safety organization at Boeing. He is also the current President at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES). In this interview, he tells Barry how he fell into ergonomics, some of his achievements and ambitions for HFES and a few hints and tips for Barry for when he takes on the Presidency of the CIEHF.
Barry talks to attendees and some of the key people behind the scenes about putting together EHF 2022 and what they thought of the result. Fair warning, this is the first time ever that Barry has put together a multi-person interview/montage and also first time using a complex media editor (in this case Davinci Resolve). Its not perfect, but certainly gives us something to build on for the next time.
In this podcast, Barry interviews John Owen, Project Manager at Gelli Aur Farm, Coleg Sir Gar, where they teach agriculture students about using future technologies in farming, as well as providing cutting edge research utilising sensor technologies and IOT.
Humans are currently blamed for the majority of damaging dwelling fires. An underlying reason behind that is a lack of knowledge of how people behave when waking up bleary eyed to a smoke or fire alarm. Nick Rutter, the co-founder of Fire Angel talks to Barry about how they are combining smoke and carbon monoxide alarms with IOT to gain more data into human behaviour and dangerous behaviour and habits.
In this interview, the topic of musculoskeletal disorders are a leading cause of occupational ill health in the UK, accounting for 30% of all work-related ill health cases and 27% of lost working days. Affecting 14.9 million people nationally, and its costs the NHS over £5 billion per-year for treatment and support. Arco have partnered with FLX Health to bring the FLP app to the UK which not only looks to accelerate the recover process, but also prevent injury in the first place. Barry interviews Rob Lewis, CEO of FLX Health and John Mckindland from Arco to tell us more about MSD, and about their intervention, the FLX app.
Tony Andre is the founder of Interface Analysis Associates and has decades of experience applying Human Factors in the healthcare setting. Additionally he also started the international symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare it 11 years ago and now it is the main event in the field. The latest is in March physically located in New Orleans. (You can still register and attend!) Plus the new human factors in healthcare journal. He is also launching a new Pro Bono initiative for any company working in the ALS space He wants to facilitate FDA approval of any solutions, drug wise or product wise. Find out what that involves and why!
A domain that has always held an attraction is Agriculture, and even more so with the development of technology that is being utilised to enable fewer people on a farm to do a lot more. From GPS enabled tractors to the use of IOT technology to ensure the soil and water have exactly what is needed and when, as well as being able to predict weather windows for fertilising the land and harvesting crops. But its also a dangerous environment, with heavy machinery that is focused on cutting, mulching, squashing and shredding as well as simple things like pitch forks and animals that can do unpredictable things. Jill Poots, joined Barry to have a chat and give some insights into Human Factors in Agriculture.
Working from home has been a necessity throughout the pandemic, but now the idea of Hybrid Working is the "new normal". As we move from necessity to normal, we should also be moving from the dining room chair to something that is going to properly support us. Guy Osmond has been on that journey throughout the pandemic with his ergonomic furniture business, and shares with us what we should be looking for.
An introduction to the 2022 programme, what can be expected and what are the opportunities.
We look back not only at 2021, but at all the podcasts to date and pick our favourites, as well as look at the other statistics such a location and popularity.
CPD deadlines are looming for 2021 and Dr. Fiona Cayzer gives us some insights into what we should be doing by the end of December. We also learn about what the Professional Affairs Board does in the CIEHF as well as about how she got into Human Factors.
An interview with Dr. Nora Balfe, and Dr David Golightly, the co-Chairs of the Conference Proceedings about what goes on in the background of organising the Ergonomics Conference and what 2022 is shaping up like
An interview with Professor Charles Musselwhite about his research into the design if public spaces and how we need to be thinking about the aging population. Not only embracing the fact that we all age, but that we should also have enjoyable spaces to engage with as we age.
Ian Peterman is the Autor of a new book, Conscious Design which has just launched. Conscious design is a philosophy Ian uses within his team, to create brands and products that restore and sustain our planet. This interview talks about how we can embed through-life thinking in our everyday work. To find out more about the book: https://www.consciousdesignbook.com/
Nick Roome is the creator and main host of Human Factors Cast, a weekly Human Factors podcast that looks at current news and events in the HF domain. In this interview he explains how the podcast came to being, how the different elements of it works, and his plans for the future.
Paul Salmon is Professor in Human Factors and is the director of the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast. In this interview he talks about how his interest in HF was sparked by Football boot design, and then goes on to highlight the research with Transport and Infrastructure he has been doing and the surprising sociotechnical links he and his team have found.
The modern trend of rushed lifestyles, fast food and fitness being for those who like to flex it in the gym could be drivers behind what some describe as a health epidemic. Barry Kirby has been on a 13 week journey with the team at FitnessTMB which takes a more behavioural approach and had led to him losing over 2 stone in weight. In this episode, Barry interviews the team at FitnessTMB, Hec Salgado and José Martínez-Abarca, to look under the bonnet of the programme and why behaviour change is at the core of what they do.
Our Performance can be hugely affected by the amount of Sleep that we get. Yet it is one of those subjects that can be difficult to engage with, never mind manage. In this episode, Sarah Booth, an expert in Fatigue Risk management with Baines Simmons highlights some of the issues and mitigations that should be considered, and from a personal perspective, what we can do to get a good nights rest! You can contact Sarah though LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-booth-73913070
This episode is a "deep dive" into the Human Factors aspects of Diving (see what I did there....). In this episode, Gareth talks about how he has brought his knowledge of Human Factors into the arena of Diving. In an industry that comprises a huge leisure and tourism sector as well as a military and police angle, Gareth highlights just how HF can play a huge part, as well as how he is overcoming the challenges of developing HF in a new sector. Gareth is the author of the book "Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors" and he is also leading a world first Human Factors in Diving Conference. You can find out more about the conference here: https://www.hf-in-diving-conference.com/ and see the many ways you can sign up. To get in touch with Gareth, his website is: https://www.thehumandiver.com/
In a Bank Holiday Special, Barry caught up with Alastair Somerville, a Sensory Design Consultant who injects a much broader vision on UX by asking the question of "what are people capable of" rather than what they are not. Alastair also talks about how his approach to delivering workshops, and gives us an insight into how his next series, called 'Workshop on a Card' is going to work. To get in touch with Alastair, his LinkedIn is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alastair-somerville-b48b368/ To learn more about the workshops, see here: http://acuity.design/workshop-on-a-card/
Culture is something that influences everything we do, so having the right culture can really make or break a business. in this episode, Barry interview James Hayton, the Human Factors and Safety Culture lead at Baines Simmons Ltd (https://www.bainessimmons.com/). The discussion looks at what a Just Culture is all about, and how empowering your workforce to say what they think can have real benefits to the bottom line. James talks through the steps involved and how it should be implemented. To contact James, his linked in is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-hayton-55865057 Within this, James mentions a FAIR flowchart - this can be found here: https://www.bainessimmons.com/aviation-consulting-services/smarrt-tools/fair-system/fair-system-download/
To have a successful user experience takes more than just a good user interface, it needs to have the user centred approach at the core of the product and the…
To have a successful user experience takes more than just a good user interface, it needs to have the user centred approach at the core of the product and the business. In this episode I talk to Lee Waters MS, who (at the time of recording as there is now an election) is the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, and more importantly for this interview, the lead for AI and Digital in the Welsh Government. We talk about the Digital Strategy for Wales and his motivation for driving it. It builds upon the "System Reboot" panel report which he led before becoming a minister. But he also reflects on the real world examples of why this is important, using the technology to solve residents problems, rather than just technology for technology sake. We also touch upon decision making during the pandemic and how that has been different, not only in terms of the technology, but the decisions themselves. As always, feedback is always welcome, just drop me a line :-)
In a career that has spanned 41 years to date, Prof. Bob Stone has had significant input into the Human Factors domain as a whole, as well as more specifically the VR, AR and XR field. Despite his claim of being semi-retired, he is still involved in a great number of projects. In this discussion we talk about how he got into Human Factors, his work in the defence industry an then onto his research into Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality, with a focus on not only the evolution but where it will go next.
In a career that has spanned 41 years to date, Prof. Bob Stone has had significant input into the Human Factors domain as a whole, as well as more specifically…
Dr Karl Bridges is the Managing Director of HFEx, based in New Zealand. He is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of New Zealand (HFESNZ) and is…
Dr Karl Bridges is the Managing Director of HFEx, based in New Zealand. He is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of New Zealand (HFESNZ) and is a past president too. He is also a fellow of the CIEHF. In a wide ranging discussion, Karl and Barry talk about how Karl came to emigrate to, and make his mark in New Zealand. They also talk about imposter Syndrome, pandemic experiences and how the two countries can support and learn from each other. Underpinning the discussion is the fact that Barry and Karl worked together for a period, and therefore it was a great opportunity for a catch up too.
Being the CIEHF president is no mean undertaking, its a three year commitment, being the face of the Institute and representing members at different meetings and other organisations. But this year has been even more challenging because of the Pandemic. Amanda Widdowson was president-elect when the pandemic started and took over at the 2020 AGM from Bob Bridger. In this interview, we talk about how she has found being president during the pandemic and the unique challenges that has brought. We also talk about her "presidents project", Design for Everybody where she is encouraging everyone to collect anthropometric data. Amanda's LinkedIn is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-widdowson The link to the Design for Everybody project is here: https://www.ergonomics.org.uk/common/Uploaded%20files/CIEHF%20Design%20for%20Everybody%20Guidance.pdf
Being the CIEHF president is no mean undertaking, its a three year commitment, being the face of the Institute and representing members at different meetings and other organisations. But this…
From engaging with “Commander Data” as a colleague, to future aggressors being machines like the Terminator, the Borg or Hal, the idea that computers will become more like humans and…
From engaging with "Commander Data" as a colleague, to future aggressors being machines like the Terminator, the Borg or Hal, the idea that computers will become more like humans and engage with us more naturally that a keyboard and mouse has generally been the area of science fiction. But in some respects the reality is closer than we think, from the chatbot you use on a company Facebook page, to the experimentation that is going on to capture, not only what people think, but the way people think is very much on todays agenda. This interview with David Burden, MD of Daden Ltd (https://www.daden.co.uk/) , and co-author of the book, Virtual Humans highlights the current development, but also a lot of the issues that have come to the surface as a result, including digital immortality and the ethics of using the data that is derived. The book and more information about the work that David and Maggie Savin-Baden have been doing can be found here: http://virtualhumansbook.blogspot.com/
2020 certainly delivered its own curveball challenges on many working fronts and trying to do Continuing Professional Development (CPD) from the bedroom or kitchen table was certainly “interesting”. In this…
2020 certainly delivered its own curveball challenges on many working fronts and trying to do Continuing Professional Development (CPD) from the bedroom or kitchen table was certainly "interesting". In this podcast, I am joined by Martin Thody, who is the CIEHF CPD lead, to talk about what CPD looked like last year and what we can learn from it in 2021. Martin is no stranger to the podcast, and in the back catalogue there are other episodes where you can find out more about his background. This podcast aims to kick of the 2021 series with good habits and useful discussion. Having said that, apologies for the sound quality of my side of the interview, clearly I didn't have the setup quite right in the office.
We breathe it every day and are very aware of the larger issues of air pollution and the future effect on humanity. But what about the day to day, what does it do to the performance of the human body and how should we be measuring it? Professor Paul Lewis, an expert who not only lectures at Swansea University but also advises the Welsh Government on Air pollution gives us an insight into the main issues we should be concerned about, ranging from the actual particulates to the modelling data that is used, as well as the legislation that is already present, and what is coming down the line. Jo Polson, MD of Vindico goes on to give us a glimpse of what he is doing to help us get ahead of the game in terms of sensor capability, but also drives the message home that the data is only the first step, its about what you do with it that counts, or as he would say, how do you #ThinkPurple with it? To contact Prof. Paul Lewis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-lewis-4857588 To contact Jo Polson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jopolson/
We breathe it every day and are very aware of the larger issues of air pollution and the future effect on humanity. But what about the day to day, what…
When this was recorded, it was the 1st birthday of this podcast, so Happy Birthday to us. There are precious few HF tools that are made with the input of HF practitioners who use them, but VAPS has been the mainstay of a number of my projects that rely on the ability to design an interface, implement it and for the embedded output to reflect what you started with. Matt Jackson has worked with Presagis for most of his career, but in that time, he has been embedded with clients to help them deliver the best results, as well as feed back to the VAPS development team just what the tool should do in the future. In this interview, Matt reflects on his role being sandwiched between his own Software team and us as HF practitioner clients, as well as putting a bit of light on standards such as ARINC 661.
When this was recorded, it was the 1st birthday of this podcast, so Happy Birthday to us. There are precious few HF tools that are made with the input of…
Human Factors is applied to many domains, but perhaps one of the most challenging is the Space environment due to the very nature that it is not of this world. …
Human Factors is applied to many domains, but perhaps one of the most challenging is the Space environment due to the very nature that it is not of this world. That, coupled with a challenge of a new space race, firstly with the mission to Mars, but also the commercialisation of the sector, makes working there a very exciting place. But it also helps to have the right people doing the right job. In this episode, I interview 3 HF Practitioners from Johnson Space Centre (JSC) who are largely focused on the Orion spacecraft which is part of the wider Artemis programme, they are: Sarah Margerum -- anthropometry/bio-mechanics and modelling human factors https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-margerum-0116818/ Jason Hutt -- Orion Crew Systems Integration (and liaison to Human Engineering team) https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-hutt-2b0a1828/ William Foley -- Leading Orion Human Engineering team https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-foley-26b19510/ They give us an insight into the challenges that they are dealing with, as well as the Human Factors capability they have at their fingertips. Its also worth highlighting that the team they outline is only at JSC, there is also another (vast) team at Kennedy Space Centre (KSC).
One of the areas where Human Factors is getting more traction is within the Healthcare sector. It is still a slow burner though with lots more work to be done, and this is getting more urgent as new technologies are available to make procedures and processes better and potentially support more effective patient outcomes. Dr Mark Sujan has taken this challenge head on by launching the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health Special Interest Group with the CIEHF. In this episode, we find out more about Mark and his motivations, as well as what his intentions for the SIG are. The Link to Marks LinkedIn is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-sujan-951202185 And his consultancy, Human Factors Everywhere is here: http://humanfactorseverywhere.com/
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