THE
Ergonomist Bringing human factors to life
No. 556 | Nov-Dec 2016
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TIME TRAVELLING Improving experience by connecting experts 6
THE TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY
SETTING STANDARDS Helping organisations become humancentred 8
INTUITIVE INTERACTIONS Using gestures to control technology
How Network Rail is changing with the times
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TASTER EDITION
No. 556 | November - December 2016 / 3
Contents The magazine of The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors
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NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS 6/ Transport Improving travellers’ experiences with the help of the Transport Systems Catapult
27/ Book reviews The first new books for 2017 are making an appearance
10/ Perspectives Thoughts and comment on news and issues
28/ Journal extracts Research into human activity from exercise to firefighting
12/ A day in the life Personal experiences of an expert witness
30/ Technology Using human gestures to control technology
APPLIED ERGONOMICS AND HUMAN FACTORS
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14/ Aviation How natural human reactions might jeopardise safety
18/ Transport How Network Rail is changing with the times
The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors Elms Court, Elms Grove Loughborough, LE11 1RG 07736 893350 www.ergonomics.org.uk ergonomics.org.uk
26/ Manufacturing Workplaces need not change to maintain success
RESEARCH MATTERS
8/ Standards How ISO27500 helps organisations become human-centred
17/ Healthcare Using human factors to assist safe movement of patients
22/ Australian perspective A view of human factors over a hugely varied landscape
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CIEHF NEWS 32/ Member Q&A A Jamaican PhD student talks about her experiences 33/ Education How CIEHF is helping career changers
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34/ Events Learn, meet others and be inspired at local and national events
EDITORIAL Editor: Tina Worthy 07736 893350 editor@ergonomics.org.uk
ADVERTISING Ben Nelmes 020 7880 6244 ben.nelmes@redactive.co.uk
Senior lead designer: Carrie Bremner Senior picture editor: Claire Echavarry
PRODUCTION Aysha Miah-Edwards 020 7880 6241 aysha.miah@redactive.co.uk
PUBLISHERS Redactive Publishing Ltd 17 Britton Street London, EC1M 5TP 020 7880 6200 www.redactive.co.uk
Š2016 The Ergonomist is the bimonthly magazine of The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors. The views expressed in The Ergonomist are not necessarily the views of the Institute. Publication does not imply endorsement. Publication of advertisements in The Ergonomist is not an endorsement of the advertiser or of the products and services.
Nov-Dec 2016 | The Ergonomist
Editorial / 5
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Finding opportunity in changing times T
here have been many major developments in the UK over recent months which present both challenges and opportunities to our members and our discipline. Whilst nobody knows at this time what Brexit means in practice, it is clear that there are implications for research funding and collaboration with EU partners. A number of important human factors and ergonomics research programmes may be in jeopardy, or may not now include UK-based researchers and establishments. The CIEHF will look to lobby the government through its membership of CaSE, the Campaign for Science and Engineering, and the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, to maintain funding for important human factorsrelated research across all sectors.
The government’s decision to go ahead with Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear power plant for a generation, should however, provide good opportunities for ergonomists and human factors specialists for some time. The plant has a projected lifetime of 60 years and an estimated construction cost of £18 billion. This makes it one of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects and the integration of human factors and ergonomics principles throughout the design, construction and operation of the plant is paramount. According to Construction Enquirer, 25,000 job opportunities will be created over the lifetime of the project. I expect to see over the coming years many articles and papers on how CIEHF members have contributed to the safe and efficient design and operation of this facility.
FROM THE EDITOR
Extending our horizons Welcome to the first issue of our bright, extended and relaunched magazine, redesigned and published by our new membership communications partner, Redactive Media Group. The majority of the content is provided by our members, who gather and edit information for us, report on their latest work or give their views and opinions. In this issue we feature news of the launch of a standard, BS ISO 27500 The Human-centred Organisation, which incorporates ergonomics and human factors knowledge and techniques to help businesses become human-centred organisations and act in
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socially responsible ways. Two articles feature news and opinion from the transport sector. Dr Donough Wilson argues technology must be used more to help eradicate issues that bring about the human ‘fight-or-flight’ response in pilots during emergency situations if aviation is to remain an ‘ultra-safe’ method of travel. Michelle Nolan-McSweeney looks at the challenges facing a company the size, scale and complexity of Network Rail in transforming itself into a better performing organisation. In healthcare, Oxford University researcher Antonia Burt describes a
Dr Ian Randle CIEHF President ian.randle@hu-tech.co.uk @IanRandleHuTech
Brexit has implications for human factors research funding
simple human factors method that allows analysis of the complex issue of patient transfer from one environment to another. On a more personal note, you can read about a day in the life of an expert witness and the views of a human factors specialist working in Australia’s defence industry. With journal extracts, news, event details and more, we hope you enjoy reading this issue. If you would like to contribute to this magazine or have ideas for future content that showcases the societywide applications and benefits of ergonomics and human factors, please contact me. Tina Worthy editor@ergonomics.org.uk @ciehf
Nov-Dec 2016 | The Ergonomist
8 / News and current affairs | Standards
How to become a human-centred organisation CIEHF Chief Executive, Stephen Barraclough, talks to Tom Stewart, a past President of the CIEHF and Deputy Chair of the Council for Work and Health, about the importance of workplace wellbeing and the introduction of a new ISO standard to enable organisations to become more ‘human-centred’. Could you tell us about the new standard?
The new standard, BS ISO 27500 The Human-centred Organisation – Rationale and General Principles, was introduced in March 2016 by the British Standards Institute (BSI). An earlier ergonomics and human factors standard, first published in 1999, on taking a human-centred approach to design and development has resulted in systems and products that are more usable. The new standard applies similar principles to the whole organisation. It is aimed at executive board members and explains the value and beliefs that make an organisation human-centred, the business and operational benefits that this may bring, and the policies they need to put in place to achieve this.
What was the reason for developing this new standard and what had gone before? Even in the early days of computer technology and equipment, we recognised the need for guidance in order to enable safe, comfortable and productive use of this emerging
The Ergonomist | Nov-Dec 2016
technology. As we all know, the pace of technological development in recent years has been rapid and has, in fact, overtaken the standards development process. Having seen the business benefits of making ergonomics and human-centred design mainstream, we recognised the need for a new standard aimed at making the whole of an organisation human-centred.
Why is a human-centred approach so important?
In today’s society human-centred design is embedded into everything we use, and everywhere we go – from medical devices to crowd control without many people even noticing. So, what does it actually mean? Well, to take a human-centred approach to design is to follow a four step approach. First, clearly identify and understand the target users. Second, use ergonomics and human factors best practice to create an initial design. Then test that design with people who represent the target users. Use feedback from the testing to improve the design and repeat the
cycle until the final design meets the requirements. When applied to the whole organisation, the key is to understand what matters to people and creating the processes and structures which optimise wellbeing and performance. This approach is particularly effective when it comes to managing health, safety and wellbeing. Increasingly, organisations all around the world are recognising the benefits of taking a human-centred approach to management in adding real value and enhancing overall performance.
Standards / 9
m ISO 27500 is different. It presents the rationale and general principles of human-centeredness in a concise form for board members
SEVEN HUMAN-CENTRED PRINCIPLES
Seven principles According to BS ISO 27500, there are seven principles that characterise an organisation as human-centred:
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Focus on uniqueness The first principle encourages businesses to capitalise on the individual differences employees bring rather than seeing them as a problem. By acknowledging that employees differ in their abilities and needs, employers can channel this information and benefit from it. Make usability and accessibility objectives The second principle is to make usability and accessibility strategic business objectives. Using international standards and best practice, a humancentred organisation ensures that products, systems and services are accessible and importantly, usable by both employees and customers. Adopt a total systems approach This principle ensures that the organisation recognises that its people are part of a wider system made up of many elements. It follows a socio-technical approach to both the design and implementation of new systems. Prioritise wellbeing This pro-active principle has been set to ensure health, safety and wellbeing are business priorities, enabling the organisation to protect individuals from health, safety and wellbeing risks. Value employees Valuing employees and creating a meaningful workplace are important elements of the standard. The criteria are targeted at encouraging a shared organisational ‘vision’ and promoting employee recognition. Be open and trustworthy This principle has been developed to encourage open and effective communication – including potentially difficult decisions – to ensure timely and sympathetic notifications are shared. Be responsible The final principle encourages organisations to act in responsible ways; behaving ethically and instilling pride and confidence in its employees, customers and community.
2 What are the key elements of the new standard?
The standard itself describes the values and beliefs that make an organisation human-centred. It incorporates a wealth of ergonomics and human factors knowledge and techniques to set criteria that will help businesses capitalise on the growing human-centred trend. It is based on seven core principles.
IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK
What are the key benefits to an organisation taking this human-centred approach?
Human wellbeing is now widely recognised as an important economic measure to complement traditional measures of business output and therefore, success. At the heart of every company is the people it employs and business owners must take their social responsibility seriously. There are clear benefits to businesses of all shapes and sizes to adopting BS ISO 27500. The standard sets out to improve workforce effectiveness by unifying the organisation towards a common goal. This approach will give workers
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greater confidence and trust in the organisation they are employed by and are likely to feel more motivated in the job they do – all of which helps to reduce staff turnover and build a stronger workforce.
What is the likely impact on the responsibility of health and safety professionals?
One of the core principles of the standard is to ensure health, safety and wellbeing are business priorities. This should be a proactive approach that goes beyond the minimum required by legislation, ensuring that the organisation takes the necessary steps to protect individuals from health, safety and wellbeing risks. Health and safety professionals, who are often used to working across boundaries, could be best placed to encourage co-operative action and to take the lead.
Where can you get a copy of the standard?
Go to the BSI online shop, where you can buy a copy in PDF download or hard copy format. • Visit: http://bit.ly/2d28KEe
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Nov-Dec 2016 | The Ergonomist
18 / Applied ergonomics and human factors | Transport
With passenger numbers expected to double in the next 25 years, Michelle Nolan-McSweeney explains the journey Network Rail is taking to ensure the delivery of structured, continuous improvement in safety and performance.
The transformation journey
The Ergonomist | Nov-Dec 2016
Transport / 19
IMAGES: NETWORK RAIL
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ritain’s railways are currently the safest they have ever been. The progress of the last decade has been built on a shared commitment by industry leaders, managers, workers, trade unions, government and regulators to improve risk management. However, it is acknowledged that there is still room for improvement from a position where performance, in terms of safety, and operationally, still falls short of Network Rail’s ambitions. This is particularly true of workforce safety, and is the reason why transformation is not a choice, it is a necessity. Network Rail is a large, complicated rail engineering organisation sitting within a complex industrial landscape which includes UK, European and devolved government bodies, regulators, train and freight operators, suppliers, trade unions, trade associations, and safety and passenger bodies. Given the geographical and functional breadth of its operations, the success or otherwise, of Network Rail to deliver structured, continuous improvement in safety and performance, depends on its ability to manage its socio and technical interactions effectively, both internally, and across the wider rail industry. Passenger numbers are expected to double in the next 25 years, increasing demand on an already ageing infrastructure. This will also increase the need for technological transformation whilst still meeting the multiple objectives of safety, production and performance. Transforming a company the size and scale of Network Rail is a huge undertaking, and the plan to make the changes can be captured under what the Chief Executive Officer has referred to as “the 5Cs”: b Customer focused; getting closer to train operator and freight operator customers, relentlessly focusing on giving them the quality of services they need. b Cost competitive; being cost conscious and finding innovative and new ways of working. b Commercial; no longer depending on tax payers to fund all the railway investments, and seeking private capital. b Culture; becoming an organisation that has a high performance culture, where people work collaboratively, strive for continuous improvement, where diversity and inclusion are at the core of behaviours, and where everyone feels able to perform at the limit of their own potential. b Capacity; addressing passenger (and freight) growth through increased capacity and connectivity. Whilst the organisation’s safety leadership has strengthened and broadened to meet demand and balance conflicting goals in a complex and dynamic industry, Network Rail’s staff constantly have to make decisions requiring a continuous dialogue about how the system works, make trade-offs, and adapt to quickly changing situations as they arise. There is little research on how an organisation that
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faces an array of challenges in a complex and changing rail industry is able to develop a socio-technical system framework or model that can be applied in practice, particularly one that can complement established processes. It is essential that gaps are explored between ‘work as imagined’ in the formal rules and regulations, and ‘work as done’ in practice, to help promote and ensure the resilience of the system. As part of my PhD, I am undertaking research and evaluation of the rail engineering socio-technical system, the outcome of which can feed into the 5Cs programme. I particularly want to see the system from the perspectives of the people who are part of it. Twenty three senior Network Rail executives, managers and key decisionmakers in the rail industry are being interviewed to develop a picture of the complexity of the rail industry from a range of perspectives. In principle, socio-technical systems theory is quite simple. There are work or technical systems - work processes, task definitions, equipment and information flow - and there are social systems - the ‘people’ systems or culture that surround the work environment. The technical system and the social system are interdependent - each impacts on the other. It should then seem obvious that each should be designed along with the other. However, from the early analysis of the interview responses of a number of Executives / Senior Managers, these two systems appear to have been designed independently. Engineers have designed the flow of work, the use of assets, and defined how equipment will be used, maintained etc. The organisation of people, the structure, the systems of motivation, are designed by others who appear to have little appreciation for the demands of the work system. The stated ambitions of Network Rail were reinforced by a number of interview participants, that is, a need for a matrix management structure and devolved route businesses operating within a national framework with empowered leaders able to focus more precisely on the needs of customers and take decisions faster, and innovate more effectively to achieve a more autonomous business. The Government-commissioned Nicola Shaw review (considering the long term shape and financing of Network Rail), which reported in March 2016, raised similar concerns to many of those interviewed regarding the highly complex nature of the industry. 3
Transforming a company the size and scale of Network Rail is a huge undertaking
Nov-Dec 2016 | The Ergonomist
20 / Applied ergonomics and human factors | Transport
Socio-technical systems theory could be used to investigate the actual rail engineering operating environment n
A socio-technical systems approach may help Network Rail to better understand the interconnections between human actions, decisions and technological factors. Making this a practical reality will require the organisation to continue to set and be clear on the strategic direction, to build and sustain relationships by understanding the interpersonal domains (team working, leadership, communication), and to deliver results within clearly defined operational parameters (a matrix structure, more autonomy, better planning). It is anticipated that the findings from the interviews, in conjunction with the results from the investigation of the Business Critical Rules programme, will lead to a description of the rail engineering socio-technical system, and some simple ‘guiding principles’ based around a systems-thinking approach to transformation. The aim is to assist Network Rail in making the changing landscape seem less complex, rather than more so, particularly for its frontline staff. •
Network Rail is also seeking to produce a simplified set of ‘Business Critical Rules’
Network Rail is also seeking to produce a simplified set of ‘Business Critical Rules’ that focus on managing key risks and clarifying accountabilities and responsibilities, whilst also reducing the vast number of industry and company standards. Socio-technical systems theory could be used by practitioners as a framework to investigate the actual rail engineering operating environment. The aim is to identify where there may be process, people or technology issues, and how the different levels of management, influencers and other sources of complexity across the sector impact on decision-making. An investigation of the Business Critical Rules programme has highlighted ‘change fatigue’, that is, too many initiatives impacting the same people over and over again, and ‘cultural challenges’, for example, the culture and ways of working have deep roots in past practices, and can act as barriers to successful implementation of change. It is clear from the interviews that transformation programmes need to be cascaded consistently and implemented on the frontline with a clear vision and purpose, reinforced by training and communications that prepare people, technically and behaviourally, for change.
The Ergonomist | Nov-Dec 2016
Michelle Nolan-McSweeney is the Head of Training Strategy for Network Rail and part-time Human Factors PhD researcher at the University of Nottingham. Email: michelle.nolan-mcsweeney@networkrail.co.uk Acknowledgements
The author would like to give special thanks to Dr Brendan Ryan of the University of Nottingham for his valuable support to the PhD research, and to Network Rail for their continued support and encouragement to undertake this research programme.
Healthcare / 17
Improving patient recovery Researcher Antonia Burt describes how a simple human factors method can be used to understand and describe the complexities of moving hospital patients from one area to another.
IMAGE: ISTOCK
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patient has spent some time in intensive care but they have now recovered enough to be moved to a ward where they continue to be cared for. A dedicated team is assigned to monitor or ‘follow up’ the patient to aid their move. However, the differences in the two environments could put the patient at risk if their condition deteriorates. There are differences between the intensive care unit (ICU) and the ward in the amount of workspace available around the patient; the technology, tools and equipment available; and the number of competing tasks for staff, as well as the culture and management style. The lack of continuous monitoring of
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these ‘complex patients’ once they are on the ward, means it can be a challenge to bring together all the information needed to identify the early signs of decline. A research project was carried out by researchers from Oxford University to design a device to assimilate and display patient information. The aim was to help staff identify, prioritise (through the use of a risk score) and get timely care to patients in order to improve patient outcomes, increase patient safety and reduce costs associated with delayed intervention. Hierarchical task analysis (HTA) was one of the human factors methods chosen to assist in designing the user interface of the device, the means by which the device can display information and the person using it can interact with it. HTA is quick and simple to use and is ideal for
visualising and understanding the details of tasks as well as any variability. The researchers observed nurses at three hospitals as they followed up patients discharged from intensive care. The nurses then took part in semistructured interviews. The researchers identified five main subtasks: 1) Organise day, 2) Prioritise patients, 3) Visit patient, 4) Review patient list to see which patient is next, 5) Update patient database. HTAs were drawn up to provide a visual representation of the variability in follow up tasks. The tasks that showed the most variability included: b Th e method of prioritising post ICU patients b Th e number of competing tasks b Th e method of recording vital signs (digitally or hand-written) b Th e number of first day post-ICU patients seen b Th e use of significance indicators (yellow stars) on electronic records The design requirements for the device based on the findings of the research included: bT o allow flexibility in ranking according to different criteria bT o be able to easily switch between available displays bT o show a patient’s risk score without the need for calculations by staff bT o display the number of days a patient is post-ICU bT o allow customisation of the significance indicator icon Many more design requirements were identified using other human factors tools during this project. Hierarchical task analysis is a useful tool in a case such as this where complex tasks are carried out over multiple sites by multiple people. The method highlighted both the inter-site and intra-site differences between the three hospitals. It allowed task variability to be identified and transformed into design requirements. • Antonia Burt is a Human Factors Research Assistant at Oxford
University based in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Her main focus is on designing user-centric computer interfaces.
Nov-Dec 2016 | The Ergonomist
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Ergonomist Bringing human factors to life
The Ergonomist is the official magazine of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, to get access to the full magazine please join the institute to enjoy all the member benefits including The Ergonomist print edition, access to full range of academic journals, member rates on events and much more. www.ergonomics.org.uk/membership/ ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP STARTS AT ÂŁ95PA Or subscribe to the print issue of The Ergonomist for ÂŁ90pa. Please contact julie.ryder@redactive.co.uk