Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomists

Core Tasks

1. Collect data through direct observation of work activities or witnessing the conduct of tests.
2. Conduct interviews or surveys of users or customers to collect information on topics, such as requirements, needs, fatigue, ergonomics, or interfaces.
3. Advocate for end users in collaboration with other professionals, including engineers, designers, managers, or customers.
4. Inspect work sites to identify physical hazards.
5. Prepare reports or presentations summarizing results or conclusions of human factors engineering or ergonomics activities, such as testing, investigation, or validation.
6. Recommend workplace changes to improve health and safety, using knowledge of potentially harmful factors, such as heavy loads or repetitive motions.
7. Perform functional, task, or anthropometric analysis, using tools, such as checklists, surveys, videotaping, or force measurement.
8. Provide technical support to clients through activities, such as rearranging workplace fixtures to reduce physical hazards or discomfort or modifying task sequences to reduce cycle time.
9. Assess the user-interface or usability characteristics of products.
10. Establish system operating or training requirements to ensure optimized human-machine interfaces.
11. Integrate human factors requirements into operational hardware.
12. Review health, safety, accident, or worker compensation records to evaluate safety program effectiveness or to identify jobs with high incidence of injury.
13. Design or evaluate human work systems, using human factors engineering and ergonomic principles to optimize usability, cost, quality, safety, or performance.
14. Write, review, or comment on documents, such as proposals, test plans, or procedures.
15. Train users in task techniques or ergonomic principles.
16. Conduct research to evaluate potential solutions related to changes in equipment design, procedures, manpower, personnel, or training.
17. Provide human factors technical expertise on topics, such as advanced user-interface technology development or the role of human users in automated or autonomous sub-systems in advanced vehicle systems.
18. Develop or implement human performance research, investigation, or analysis protocols.
19. Develop or implement research methodologies or statistical analysis plans to test and evaluate developmental prototypes used in new products or processes, such as cockpit designs, user workstations, or computerized human models.
20. Estimate time or resource requirements for ergonomic or human factors research or development projects.
21. Design cognitive aids, such as procedural storyboards or decision support systems.
22. Analyze complex systems to determine potential for further development, production, interoperability, compatibility, or usefulness in a particular area, such as aviation.
23. Investigate theoretical or conceptual issues, such as the human design considerations of lunar landers or habitats.
24. Operate testing equipment, such as heat stress meters, octave band analyzers, motion analysis equipment, inclinometers, light meters, thermoanemometers, sling psychrometers, or colorimetric detection tubes.
25. Perform statistical analyses, such as social network pattern analysis, network modeling, discrete event simulation, agent-based modeling, statistical natural language processing, computational sociology, mathematical optimization, or systems dynamics.
26. Apply modeling or quantitative analysis to forecast events, such as human decisions or behaviors, the structure or processes of organizations, or the attitudes or actions of human groups.

Technology & Tools

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