Expectations of safety: realising ergonomics and safety in product design

This research considers the role of ergonomics in consumer safety. The aim was to encourage and improve the input of ergonomics, and thus safety, into the design process. The research has resulted in a series of publications targeted specifically at designers and producers of consumer goods, with the aim of encouraging their adoption of ergonomics principles, data and methods. These publications have been produced and distributed to industry by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Consumer Safety Unit: CHILDATA: The Handbook of Child Measurement and Capabilties - Data for Design Safety Designing Safety into Products: Making ergonomics evaluation a part of the design process (presented as an appendix to this thesis). The background to the research is a review of the influences on consumer safety, and the exploration of a role for ergonomics. European consumer legislation states that to be safe a product must meet the expectations of the user, hence the title of this thesis. This user-centred premise indicates the importance of product design and ergonomics in consumer safety, within the context of the other influences on safety such as safe-guarding, mitigation of accidents and education. Theoretically this places ergonomics as a central influence on safety. A review of the existing contributors to safety, such as governance, standards and education was undertaken and again design was found to be central. With the potential contribution of ergonomics to safety demonstrated, evidence of a formal relationship between ergonomics and the design process was sought from the literature. Despite many years of calls for improvements in the input of ergonomics to design, little evidence was found in the ergonomics literature of support or guidance for designers of consumer products on either of these aspects. Two main routes to improving this input of ergonomics to design were identified: the use of ergonomics data and guidelines, and the use of ergonomics evaluation methods. This research focuses on these two routes to product design safety with the hypothesis that these inputs could be improved, eventually allowing better design safety to be realised. The aims of the research were therefore to investigate and improve these inputs. The first stage of the research considered the use of ergonomics data and guidelines in design. The limitations of ergonomics data and the barriers to effective knowledge transfer were identified. Work was undertaken to address these problems, in the first instance specifically for designers of children's products. This resulted in the production of "Childata”, a handbook of ergonomics data on children, and its production and content are described. Four thousand copies of this handbook have been published and distributed free of charge to industry by the DTI. The success of Childata has resulted in sibling publications on adults (now published) and the elderly (in preparation). The next stage of the research was to consider the use of ergonomics evaluation methods by designers. A review of the literature on ergonomics methods and on guidance for their use found that there was a dearth of practical advice for designers. Also, that most guidance on evaluation methods concentrates on usability with very little reference specifically to safety. The feasibility of producing guidance for designers to encourage their use of evaluation was therefore considered. A series of four product safety evaluations were undertaken, presented here as case studies, and these form the major experimental part of the research. The aim of the case studies was to investigate the most useful and common methods for evaluating product safety and to generalise these into guidance for designers ,as well as producing formal reports and recommendations for improvements in the safety of the individual products. The products investigated were swimming pool covers, carbonated drinks bottles, all terrain bicycles and stepladders. The case studies showed however that a diversity of methods were needed to carry out the evaluations, many of which were novel methods or which drew on a mixture of ergonomics, technical and market research expertise T he only commonality found was in the sequence of stages that each evaluation followed, namely the identification of the products' users and hazards, the setting of performance criteria and selection of measurement variables, and the subsequent choice of methods. T he initial concept behind the fundamental research to producing prescriptive advice on methods was therefore rejected. Instead a framework for a generic evaluation process was developed, based on the findings from the case studies and with reference to the literature. This framework formed the basis of a guidance document for designers: ‘Designing Safety Into Products'. This was also published and distributed to industry by the DTI. The publication establishes and encourages a generic evaluation process, but also concentrates on embedding ergonomics principles into the design process by exploring the relationship between evaluation and safety and stressing the need to move past the use of ergonomics data, as well as providing methodological guidance. The research reported in this thesis has shown that the problems with the transfer of knowledge and methods from the ergonomics discipline are long standing. The reasons for this are discussed and recommendations are made to improve the link between design and ergonomics, including furthering this pragmatic approach to empowering designers by the production of similar design tools. The research programme has been a pragmatic approach to improving ergonomics and safety in design: improving the accessibility of ergonomics data for designers and promoting ergonomics evaluation methods during the product development process. The publications that have resulted from the research represent pragmatic steps which it is hoped may make some contribution to the realisation of safety

Expectations of safety: realising ergonomics and safety in product design

This research considers the role of ergonomics in consumer safety. The aim was to encourage and improve the input of ergonomics, and thus safety, into the design process. The research has resulted in a series of publications targeted specifically at designers and producers of consumer goods, with the aim of encouraging their adoption of ergonomics principles, data and methods. These publications have been produced and distributed to industry by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Consumer Safety Unit: CHILDATA: The Handbook of Child Measurement and Capabilties - Data for Design Safety Designing Safety into Products: Making ergonomics evaluation a part of the design process (presented as an appendix to this thesis). The background to the research is a review of the influences on consumer safety, and the exploration of a role for ergonomics. European consumer legislation states that to be safe a product must meet the expectations of the user, hence the title of this thesis. This user-centred premise indicates the importance of product design and ergonomics in consumer safety, within the context of the other influences on safety such as safe-guarding, mitigation of accidents and education. Theoretically this places ergonomics as a central influence on safety. A review of the existing contributors to safety, such as governance, standards and education was undertaken and again design was found to be central. With the potential contribution of ergonomics to safety demonstrated, evidence of a formal relationship between ergonomics and the design process was sought from the literature. Despite many years of calls for improvements in the input of ergonomics to design, little evidence was found in the ergonomics literature of support or guidance for designers of consumer products on either of these aspects. Two main routes to improving this input of ergonomics to design were identified: the use of ergonomics data and guidelines, and the use of ergonomics evaluation methods. This research focuses on these two routes to product design safety with the hypothesis that these inputs could be improved, eventually allowing better design safety to be realised. The aims of the research were therefore to investigate and improve these inputs. The first stage of the research considered the use of ergonomics data and guidelines in design. The limitations of ergonomics data and the barriers to effective knowledge transfer were identified. Work was undertaken to address these problems, in the first instance specifically for designers of children's products. This resulted in the production of "Childata”, a handbook of ergonomics data on children, and its production and content are described. Four thousand copies of this handbook have been published and distributed free of charge to industry by the DTI. The success of Childata has resulted in sibling publications on adults (now published) and the elderly (in preparation). The next stage of the research was to consider the use of ergonomics evaluation methods by designers. A review of the literature on ergonomics methods and on guidance for their use found that there was a dearth of practical advice for designers. Also, that most guidance on evaluation methods concentrates on usability with very little reference specifically to safety. The feasibility of producing guidance for designers to encourage their use of evaluation was therefore considered. A series of four product safety evaluations were undertaken, presented here as case studies, and these form the major experimental part of the research. The aim of the case studies was to investigate the most useful and common methods for evaluating product safety and to generalise these into guidance for designers ,as well as producing formal reports and recommendations for improvements in the safety of the individual products. The products investigated were swimming pool covers, carbonated drinks bottles, all terrain bicycles and stepladders. The case studies showed however that a diversity of methods were needed to carry out the evaluations, many of which were novel methods or which drew on a mixture of ergonomics, technical and market research expertise T he only commonality found was in the sequence of stages that each evaluation followed, namely the identification of the products' users and hazards, the setting of performance criteria and selection of measurement variables, and the subsequent choice of methods. T he initial concept behind the fundamental research to producing prescriptive advice on methods was therefore rejected. Instead a framework for a generic evaluation process was developed, based on the findings from the case studies and with reference to the literature. This framework formed the basis of a guidance document for designers: ‘Designing Safety Into Products'. This was also published and distributed to industry by the DTI. The publication establishes and encourages a generic evaluation process, but also concentrates on embedding ergonomics principles into the design process by exploring the relationship between evaluation and safety and stressing the need to move past the use of ergonomics data, as well as providing methodological guidance. The research reported in this thesis has shown that the problems with the transfer of knowledge and methods from the ergonomics discipline are long standing. The reasons for this are discussed and recommendations are made to improve the link between design and ergonomics, including furthering this pragmatic approach to empowering designers by the production of similar design tools. The research programme has been a pragmatic approach to improving ergonomics and safety in design: improving the accessibility of ergonomics data for designers and promoting ergonomics evaluation methods during the product development process. The publications that have resulted from the research represent pragmatic steps which it is hoped may make some contribution to the realisation of safety

MATCH: a new industry-focused approach to medical device development

MATCH (Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare) is a new collaboration in the UK that aims to support the healthcare sector by creating methods to assess the value of medical devices from concept through to mature product. A major aim of MATCH is to encourage the inclusion of the user throughout the product lifecycle in order to achieve devices that truly meet the requirements of their users. A review of the published literature indicates that user requirements are mainly collected during the design and evaluation stage of the product lifecycle whilst other areas, including the concept stage, have less user involvement. Complementing the literature review is an in-depth consultation with the medical device industry, which has identified a number of barriers encountered by companies when attempting to capture user requirements. These will be addressed by a number of case study projects, performed in collaboration with our industrial partners, that will examine the application and utility of different approaches to collecting and analysing data on user requirements. MATCH is focused on providing advice to device developers on how to select and apply methods that have maximum theoretical strength, practical application, cost-effectiveness and likelihood of wide sector acceptance. Feedback will be sought in order to ensure that the needs of the diverse medical device sector are met

Capturing user requirements in medical device development: the role of ergonomics

Czerniak, L. / SS. Cyril & Methodius Grad. Clas

The Role of Patient Identification in Patient Safety

Matching the right patient with the right care is at the heart of safe healthcare. Patient wristbands form a vital link between the patient, local information systems, care delivery and the wider healthcare system. At present there is no standardisation across the NHS for wristband design. Colour coded wristbands have been introduced by some organisations as a barrier to patient safety incidents but there is disparity in the coding systems used between, and sometimes within, healthcare settings. This paper presents some of the human factors issues surrounding patient identification, a survey of current practice across the NHS in England and Wales and steps towards standardisation of wristbands

“A Friend in the Corner”: Supporting people at home in the last year of life via telephone and video consultation – an evaluation

YesObjective: To evaluate a 24/7, nurse led telephone and video-consultation support service for patients thought to be in the last year of life in Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven. Method: Activity and other data recorded at the time of calls were analysed. Interviews with 13 participants captured patients and carers perspectives. Results: Between April 1st 2014 and March 31st 2015, 4648 patients were registered on the Gold Line. 42% had a non-cancer diagnosis and 46% were not known to specialist palliative care services. The median time on the caseload was 49 days (range 1-504 days). 4533 telephone calls and 573 video consultations were received from 1813 individuals. 39% of the 5106 calls were resolved by Gold Line team without referral to other services. 69% of calls were made outside normal working hours. Interviews with patients and carers reported experiences of support and reassurance and the importance of practical advice. Conclusion: A nurse led, 24/7 telephone and video consultation service can provide valuable support for patients identified to be in the last year of life and their cares. The line enabled them to feel supported and remain in their place of residence, reducing avoidable hospital admissions and use of other services. Providing this service may encourage health care professionals to identify patients approaching the last year of life, widening support offered to this group of patients beyond those known to specialist palliative care services.Health Foundation adn Shared Purpos

Medical Device Development: the challenge for ergonomics

High quality, well designed medical devices are necessary to provide safe and effective clinical care for patients as well as to ensure the health and safety of professional and lay device users. Capturing the user requirements of users and incorporating these into design is an essential component of this. The field of ergonomics has an opportunity to assist, not only with this area, but also to encourage a more general consideration of the user during medical device development. A review of the literature on methods for assessing user requirements in engineering and ergonomics found that little published work exists on the ergonomics aspects of medical device development. In particular there is little advice available to developers on which issues to consider during design and development or recommendations for good practice in terms of the methods and approaches needed to capture the full range of user requirements. The Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare (MATCH) is a research collaboration that is working in conjunction with industrial collaborators to apply ergonomics methods to real case study projects with the ultimate aim of producing an industry-focused guide to applying ergonomics principles in medical device development

Capturing User Requirements in Medical Device Development: The Role of Ergonomics

Measuring and fulfilling user requirements during medical device development will result in successful products that improve patient safety, improve device effectiveness and reduce product recalls and modifications. Medical device users are an extremely heterogeneous group and for any one device the users may include patients, their carers as well as various healthcare professionals. There are a number of factors that make capturing user requirements for medical device development challenging including the ethical and research governance involved with studying users as well as the inevitable time and financial constraints. Most ergonomics research methods have been developed in response to such practical constraints and a number of these have potential for medical device development. Some are suitable for specific points in the device cycle such as contextual inquiry and ethnography, others, such as usability tests and focus groups may be used throughout development. When designing user research there are a number of factors that may affect the quality of data collected including the sample of users studied, the use of proxies instead of real end-users and the context in which the research is performed. As different methods are effective in identifying different types of data, ideally more than one method should be used at each point in development, however financial and time factors may often constrain this

Psychosocial stress and strategies for managing adversity: measuring population resilience in New South Wales, Australia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Populations around the world are facing an increasing number of adversities such as the global financial crisis, terrorism, conflict, and climate change. The aim of this paper was to investigate self-reported strategies and sources of support used to get through "tough times" in an Australian context and to identify patterns of response in the general population and differences in potentially vulnerable subgroups.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of the New South Wales population in Australia. The final sample consisted of 3,995 New South Wales residents aged 16 years and above who responded to the question: "What are the things that get you through tough times?"</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Respondents provided brief comments that were coded into 14 main subject-area categories. The most frequently reported responses were family and self (52%); friends and neighbors (21%); use of positive emotional and philosophical strategies (17%), such as sense of humor, determination, and the belief that things would get better; and religious beliefs (11%). The responses of four population subgroups were compared, based on gender, household income, level of psychological distress, and whether a language other than English was spoken at home. Women reported greater use of friends and neighbors and religious or spiritual beliefs for support, whereas men reported greater use of drinking/smoking and financial supports. Those with lower incomes reported greater reliance on positive emotional and philosophical strategies and on religious or spiritual beliefs. Those with high levels of psychological distress reported greater use of leisure interests and hobbies, drinking/smoking, and less use of positive lifestyle strategies, such as adequate sleep, relaxation, or work/life balance. Those who spoke a language other than English at home were less likely to report relying on self or others (family/friends) or positive emotional and philosophical strategies to get through tough times.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Understanding strategies and sources of support used by the population to get through adversity is the first step toward identifying the best approaches to build and support strengths and reduce vulnerabilities. It is also possible to reflect on how large-scale threats such as pandemics, disasters, conflict, bereavement, and loss could impact individual and population resilience.</p