Human Factors and Occupational Health Psychology

1. Human Factors and Occupational Health Psychology Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology by Ronald E. Riggio

2. 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.

3. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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).

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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)