Human Factors and Ergonomics
Instructor: Fadi Fathallah, Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering, College of Engineering
Description: This is an introduction to the areas of human factors and ergonomics as they relate to our daily lives. The course will give a historical perspective on how the fields of Human Factors and Ergonomics evolved after World War II due to the unexplained crashes of fighter planes. This will be followed by demonstrating the central concept of “fitting the job to the person,” and by presenting a survey of how the knowledge of human capabilities and limitations can be incorporated into the design of any human-machine system; from designing a car seat to a computer software. The class will draw upon many examples from our daily lives to demonstrate how the lack of consideration of the “human factor” in a given environment could lead to problems for people within that environment. We will conduct simple in-class experiments to emphasize the concepts presented; for example, we will discuss how our eyes are designed, and demonstrate how we can incorporate our visual characteristics into the design of a visual environment. Finally, we will tour laboratory facilities where we will demonstrate some of the devices that assess people’s physical capabilities. Hopefully, students will gain more appreciation of how our human body functions, and will be able to identify basic mismatches between our human capabilities and things we use.
Format: The class will meet for an hour during each of nine weeks. The time will be divided between formal lecture presentations, demonstrations, and student presentations. Some reading material will be provided; students will conduct brief literature searches to find other material. There is no text for the course. Once during the class; in pairs, class members will read background material on one of the above topics and prepare short presentations on the assigned topics. Grading: Each pair of students will prepare a short paper (3 to 5 pages) and then an oral presentation on a topic within those covered in the course, to be chosen in consultation with the instructor. The grade will be based on the quality of the paper (1/3), the oral presentation (1/3) and on the frequency and quality of participation in class discussion (1/3).
About the Instructor: Professor Fathallah is in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and is a member of the Biomedical Engineering and the Exercise Science graduate groups. His research is aimed at reducing injuries and improving the safety of agricultural workers. His research group has developed many simple and sophisticated tools to improve workers’ safety and productivity. He lectures at UC Davis and UC Berkeley on the topics of ergonomics, human factors, and biomechanics.