Human Factors and Sustainable Development

Latest update: 2010/04/06

About the Technical Committee

The Technical Committee “Human Factors and Sustainable Development” (TC HFSD) is intended to build a powerful global network of experts in the fields of ergonomics/human factors and sustainability. Its foundation was endorsed by the IEA Executive Committee in July 2008. Since then, the group gained about 35 members worldwide. The TC is chaired by Klaus J. Zink (University of Kaiserslautern, Germany) and Colin G. Drury (University at Buffalo, USA).

Chair

Klaus J. Zink, Prof. Dr.
Research Institute for Technology and Work
Chair of Industrial Management and Human Factors
University of Kaiserslautern
Gottlieb Daimler Straße - Bldg. 42
67663 Kaiserslautern
GERMANY
Tel: (+49)(631) 205-2027
Fax: (+49)(631) 205-3397
Email: kjzink@wiwi.uni-kl.de

Co-Chair

Colin G. Drury, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emritus
Department of Industrial Engineering
University at Buffalo
438 Bell Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-2050
USA
Tel: (+1)(716) 645-2357
Fax: +1(716) 645-3302
Email: drury@eng.buffalo.edu

Background

Sustainable development was generally defined as meeting human needs of current as well as future generations. In particular, this anthropocentric perspective leads to joint objectives between ergonomics/human factors and sustainable development. Although the explicit reference to the concept of sustainable development is relatively new for ergonomics/human factors, the underlying ideas and approaches are not.

The sustainability of human resources is based on enduring workability and employability, which have been dominant elements in ergonomics/human factors ever since. Social sustainability is realized in concepts such as preventive occupational health and safety, human-centered design of work, empowerment, individual and collective learning, employee participation, or work-life-balance.

But ergonomic interventions are not limited to aspects of social sustainability: a more efficient design of work processes, participatory capacity building concepts or the use of macroergonomic change management instruments allow to initiate and diffuse those technical, organizational and social innovations that are necessary for a more sustainable development in regard to environmental, social and economic aspects.

Objectives

To improve and increase the knowledge about the contribution of ergonomics to corporate and societal sustainability concepts
To improve knowledge transfer from human factors/ergonomics to the academic community dealing with sustainable development
To strengthen the relationship between human factors specialists/ergonomists and other actors in this field
To promote ergonomics as a stakeholder oriented approach
To promote the role of ergonomics in realizing sustainable development to the public at large

Structure

The TC currently works with a structure of four Sub-Committees which are focusing on specific subjects of “Human Factors and Sustainable Development”. It has about 35 members worldwide (http://iea-kl.de/download/members.pdf) who are engaged in one or several of the following Sub-Committees:

Sub-Committee 1: “Theoretical Perspectives on Human Factors and Sustainable Development”

Chair:

· Dave Moore, Centre for Human Factors and Ergonomics, Auckland (New Zealand);
Email: Dave.Moore@cohfe.co.nz

Sub-Committee 2: “Sustainability and Risk Management”

Chair:

· Sylvie Nadeau, École de technologie supérieure, Québec (Canada);
Email: sylvie.nadeau@etsmtl.ca

· Barthélemy Ateme-Nguema, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (Canada);
Email: Barthelemy-hugues.ateme-nguema@uqat.ca

Sub-Committee 3: “Human Factors and Sustainable Development in Global Value Creation”

Chair:

· Houshang Shanahvaz, Center for Ergonomics in Developing Countries (Sweden);
Email: Hshahnavaz@yahoo.se

· Ardana I Gusti Ngurah, Indonesia Institute of Art, Interior Design Department of Fine Art & Design Faculty of Indonesian Institute of The Art (Indonesia);
Email: ardanahome@yahoo.com

Sub-Committee 4: “Ergonomics and Design for Sustainability”

Chair:

· Antonio Marano, University of Chieti-Pescara "G. d'Annunzio" – IDE Department (Italy);
Email: a.marano@unich.it

· Giuseppe Di Bucchianico, University of Chieti-Pescara "G. d'Annunzio" – IDE Department (Italy);
Email: pepetto@unich.it

For more information about the TC and its Sub-Committees, please follow this link: http://iea-kl.de/download/gitcsc.pdf

To find out more about each Sub-Committee, please visit the respective forum at our TC Online Platform on http://www.iea-kl.de.

Activities

2009

In 2009, the TC introduced itself to a broad professional audience for the first time at the IEA World Congress on Ergonomics in Beijing in August 2009. For this conference, the TC organized three conference sessions and informed about its activities with flyers and a poster.

The TC furthermore had its official kick-off during the conference and could gain about 30 new members there. After the event, the current TC structure with four Sub-Committees could be established.

2010

In the following, you can find an overview of some TC activities planned for 2010:

The TC organizes a track on Human Factors and Sustainable Development during the yearly spring conference (March 24-26, 2010) of the Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft (the German Human Factors and Ergonomics Society). The track is divided in two groups, focusing on "Sociotechnical Systems Design for Sustainability" and "Human Factors/Ergonomics in Globalized Value Creation" respectively.

The URL of the confernce website is http://www.gfa2010.de

We also received an offer to organize a similar track and even pre-conference workshops for the ergofuture conference in Bali (August, 3rd-6th; pre-congress workshops: August 2nd). The concrete activities for this conference are currently under planning. Please find additional information about ergofuture 2010 at http://www.apchiergo2010.web.id/

Furthermore, we would like to invite all of you to use the next ODAM conference 2011 in Grahamstown, South Africa to meet for discussions as well as to represent the field of Human Factors and Sustainable Development there by multiple authors and speakers from our TC (the deadline for submissions is 1 August 2010, please find more information at http://www.ru.ac.za/static/conferences/odam2011/

Web Links

The Technical Committee installed a TC Online Platform to provide a forum for exchange for all TC members and sub-committees. It allows to initiate discussions between members worldwide, to announce relevant conferences as a place to meet or to organize own workshops and publishing activities etc.
Of course, this forum can only be a helpful instrument for our TC/SC work, when it becomes widely used by the members as well as interested visitors. Thus, we would be glad to welcome you as one of its users!
After registering, you will directly get access to the forum as a visitor (read permission). As a TC member, you will furthermore get the permission to write own posts, to upload and exchange files as well as to write and receive private messages.
Of course, registering at the online platform is free of any charge! The same is true for becoming a TC member.
Please visit our TC Online Platform at http://www.iea-kl.de
You are interested to become a registered TC member? Please download our registration form: http://iea-kl.de/download/afm_iea.pdf

Update:2010/07/16 Edited by IEA webmaster Created by Addictive Media