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Human Factors Analytical Tool

Project Manager:

Dr Chris Bearman (UniSA)

Sponsor Organisations:

Partner Research Organisations:

Staff Members:

Objectives

The scope of the project is broadly defined by the key milestones for each of the three stages. The first key milestone seeks to develop a comprehensive list of unintended consequences, the second key milestone seeks to identify a set of common indicators and the third key milestone seeks to develop a number of methods that can assess human factors issues. Complete lists for any of these key milestones are beyond the scope of the project but it will be possible to be "comprehensive" in Stage 1 and to produce a useful and workable set in Stages 2 and 3. Thus, the scope of the project will be limited to a defined set of issues that emerge from the analysis at Stages 2 and 3 to ensure that depth is not sacrificed for breadth.

Background

A large part of human factors as a disciple is dedicated to improving interactions between machines and humans. Much of this research has focused on the way in which bad design causes the potential for both human harm and human error (Wickens et al., 1997). From this research a number of principles of good design have emerged, such as: convenience of location for frequently used items, collocation of items that should be performed together or are functionally related, and collocation and consistency of labelling for components having the same function (Wickens et al. 1997). It is expected that to a large extent the designers of the new technologies examined in this study will have followed the principles of good human factors design since these principles are now embedded in many design procedures. Despite this expectation tools based on the literature on good design will be examined in stage 3 so that poorly designed technologies do not contribute to human factors issues in the in-cab and train control environments.

Outcomes

  • Document of Unintended Consequences in the Rail Industry
  • Database of Key Indicators of Unintended Consequences
  • Toolkit of methods for evaluating the human factors issues of new technologies. The toolkit of methods will form the key intellectual property developed from this project. This toolkit has considerable commercialisation potential both within the rail industry and the field of transportation more broadly.