Human Factors and Occupational Health Psychology

Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology by Ronald E. Riggio

Human Factors

Human factors is a specialty area of I/O psychology concerned with designing tools, machines, work systems, and workplaces to fit workers.Human factors also has a goal of training

workers to use machines and systems and to protect worker safety and comfort.

The earliest roots of human factors lie with Frederick Taylor, but human factors focuses more on the worker than the work task.

Human Factors

The operator-machine system is the interaction between workers and tools or devices used to perform a task.The human factors psychologist

views the operator and machine as engaged in two-way interaction.

A job analysis is the first step in designing an operator-machine system.

Human Factors

Machines communicate to human operators through displays.Displays can be visual, auditory, or

tactile.Visual displays include mechanical

displays that give qualities or quantities, and LED and LCD displays that give digital readouts.

Auditory displays include buzzers, horns, bells, and other sounds designed to get the operator’s attention.

Human Factors

Once a machine communicates to the operator, he/she processes the information and makes a decision about next actions.

Trained operators can easily read machine displays.

Operators rely on memory and training in deciding on a course of action.

When a decision is made, the operator communicates it to the machine by manipulating machine controls, mechanical devices that an operator uses to control machine functions.

Human Factors

Advanced controls include:Teleoperators, sophisticated control

systems that act as an extension of the human operator.

Voice control, machine controls that respond to the spoken words of humans.

Human Factors

Workspace design is the design and arrangement of equipment, space, and machinery within a work environment. Engineering anthropometry is the

measurement of physical characteristics of the human body and development of equipment to fit those characteristics.

Workspaces should be designed not just for functional efficiency, but for the physical and psychological comfort of the worker (including adequate space, lighting, and privacy).

Occupational Health Psychology

Occupational health psychology (OHP) is the area of psychology concerned with creating healthy and safe work.Three important topics in the area are:

• Work safety and disease prevention. • Health promotion in the workplace.• Promotion of work-family balance.

Occupational Health Psychology: Work Safety Each year over three million U.S.

workers are injured on the job, and thousands are killed or permanently disabled.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency that administers and enforces health and safety standards for work organizations.

Occupational Health Psychology: Work Safety Sources of workplace dangers

include:Conditions of the work environment:

• Extreme temperatures.• Noisy or poorly lit environments.• Workplace pollution.• Lack of maintenance.• Work procedures that involve repetitive

motion, unnatural positions, or heavy lifting.

Occupational Health Psychology: Work Safety Sources of workplace dangers

include:Errors in operator-machine system

design:• Poorly designed displays.• Lack of or poorly designed safety control

devices.

Occupational Health Psychology: Work Safety Sources of workplace dangers include:

Dangerous worker behaviors:• Inattention, fatigue, and stress.• Poor training and lack of job-related experience.• Accident proneness (personality characteristics

believed to predispose a person to work accidents).

• Safety climate refers to positive attitudes that workers hold toward promoting safe work behaviors.

Occupational Health Psychology: Work Safety Programs to increase work safety may

involve: Emphasizing safety procedures. Employee training and education on safety

and proper equipment use. Organizational behavior modification and

goal-setting principles.• Rewarding employees for engaging in safe work

behaviors or developing new safety strategies. Safety task forces or committees. Stress inoculation training.

OHP: Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Health promotion programs involve a variety

of methods for improving the health and well-being of workers, including: The prevention of spread of infectious

illnesses and diseases on the job, including AIDS.

Seminars in healthy living (e.g., proper nutrition, smoking cessation).

Exercise/fitness sessions. Workplace violence prevention. Stress reduction programs.

OHP: Work-Family Balance

Organizations that have “family-friendly” policies may outperform those that do not (Cascio and Young, 2005). Flexible work hours/work weeks Telecommuting On-site childcare Government actions (changes in weekly

work hours, protecting benefits of part-time workers, government-subsidized childcare, employee leave to care for sick relatives)