Industrial Design Engineering

In the work with usability for the traffic environment, safety aspects are crucial, especially for the elderly population. This paper presents the use of a classical risk analysis method, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), when analysing usability aspects in two case studies regarding trams and ...

Evaluation methods of today often focus on cognitive ergonomics (such as mental workload or usability) or physical ergonomics (such as physical workload or body posture). This article describes an analytical methodology of a joint systematic search for potential deficiencies in the human-machine interaction; such as high physical and mental workload, use errors, usability problems, and physical ergonomic errors. The purpose with the joint search is to achieve a more holistic evaluation approach and make the evaluation cost more effective than when using separate evaluation methods for cognitive and physical ergonomic aspects. The methodology is task-based, which makes it possible to use both with focus on the device design, as in development projects; as well as with focus on the procedure, in the operative organization.

In health care, the use of technical equipment plays an integral part. To achieve a high level of patient safety, it is important to avoid use errors when handling equipment. Use errors can be mitigated by performing analyses of potential use errors during the design process. One proactive analytical method for use error analysis is Predictive Use Error Analysis (PUEA), which is a further development of the methods Action Error Analysis (AEA), Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA) and Predictive Human Error Analysis (PHEA). PUEA employs a detailed process for breaking down the user's tasks into steps and then identifying and investigating potential errors of use for each step. Compared with other methods, it is significant in its use of two question levels, greater inclusion of human cognition theory and that the results of the analysis are presented in matrixes. Relevance to industry: The PUEA method is useful to the industry for evaluating existing products or serving as an evaluation tool during the design process. For instance, the PUEA method has been used to evaluate user interface designs of home-care ventilators and dialysis machines. In addition, PUEA can be applied as a final risk assessment method assessment method in the product development process.

Equipment used for high-risk sports, such as kitesurfing, needs to be efficient for the intended use and the user, and thus meet the mechanical demands and provide sufficient safety. Accidents related to kitesurfing occur, and the consequences are sometimes catastrophic. One important factor is the equipment design, which can influence the type and number of injuries due to insufficient safety systems. The aim of this study was to investigate how the design of kitesurfing equipment can affect safety issues from a usability perspective in relation to the task of preparation. A focus group of 6 subjects analyzed the task of preparing kitesurfing equipment for riding, using the evaluation methods Enhanced Cognitive Walkthrough (ECW) and Predictive Use Error Analysis (PUEA). From the evaluation, a list of plausible usability problems was identified together with proposed design guidelines. The results showed that usability problems occur during preparation. In total 35 usability problems were found, of which 11 (4 from ECW and 7 from PUEA) have a great impact on safety. These 11 problems were hard to detect for the user and could result in serious consequences for the kitesurfers during riding. The analysis resulted in some general guidelines that are possible to implement on different types of kites. To conclude, education and improved design of the equipment are essential to increase the safety of the sport.

There is a need to develop adequate methods for use by the manufacturers of medical equipment when specifying requirements for their development and in order for hospitals to critically assess their usability qualities before purchase. A Human Factors approach was used to determine requirements for the redesign of an existing volumetric infusion pump. With these requirements as a starting point, a new user interface for an infusion pump was designed. Usability tests were carried out to verify whether the new interface had better usability than the existing interface or whether further improvements were needed. This paper has two aims: 1) to compare the nature of the requirements derived from a Human Factors approach and from usability tests and 2) to evaluate the use of usability tests on existing medical equipment as a basis for redesign and for evaluating the redesign. The user requirements derived from the Human Factors approach were compared with the user requirements derived fr...

Booster cushions are effective tools to protect children from injuries in car crashes, but there remains a large amount of misuse. The aim of this study was to assess potential misuse of booster cushions in an observational laboratory study, and to identify whether booster cushion design, age or clothing had any effect. 130 Swedish children from the ages of 4-12 years participated. Each child buckled up on an integrated and on an aftermarket booster cushion in the rear seat. The older children also buckled up with seat belt only. Interviews, observations and body measurements were performed. Time to buckle up and amount of belt slack were registered. Photographs were taken to document misuse. Results showed that 77% failed to perform correct belt routing on the aftermarket cushion, independent of age, although they were familiar with this system. The misuse rate for the integrated cushion was only 4%. No misuse was found for seat belt only. Few children tightened the belt. The belt ...

The purpose of this naturalistic study was to investigate the effect of booster seat design on the choice of children's seating positions during naturalistic riding. Data was collected through observations of children during in-vehicle riding by means of a film camera. The children were positioned in high back boosters in the rear seat while a parent drove the car. The study included two different booster designs: one with large head and torso side supports, and one with small head side supports and no torso side supports. Six children between three and six years of age participated in the study. Each child was observed in both boosters. The duration of the seating positions that each child assumed was quantified. The design with large side head supports resulted more often in seating positions without head and shoulder contact with the booster's back. There was shoulder-to-booster back contact during an average of 45% of riding time in the seat with the large head side supp...

Equipment used in sports is of great importance, especially when the equipment is in direct contact with the athlete or is important for safety. In the sport kitesurfing environmental factors and the equipment design are crucial for the comfort and safety. The participants' choice and opinion of equipment can show which factors are considered most important for the performance and to reduce risk for injury. This study has evaluated self-reported information from the participants about what equipment they use, comfort of the equipment and if the equipment has contributed to any injuries. The methods used were questionnaires (n=206) and interviews (n=17), which in combination allows to assess the problem both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results showed that supported leading edge kites are most frequently used, with a waist harness and foot straps to attach the feet. The choice of kite type was mainly based on the discipline of riding for the respondent. Some issues conce...

The task of handling reach trucks frequently involves poor working postures. The location of the steering wheel in most reach trucks is in front of the operator which requires the drivers to bend forward and stretch their hands for holding onto the steering wheel. To overcome visibility restrictions, this posture is aggravated by twisting and bending their torso sideways. This paper presents a usability study which was conducted to compare adoption of ergonomic features in a new reach truck cabin with the way they were intended to be employed for improving physical working conditions. Participants drove the reach truck on a test track performing tasks of varying complexity. Video recordings were utilized to facilitate the observations. The results indicate that improved ergonomics features of the reach truck are not used as intended. The test subjects instead adopted postures that they were accustomed to when driving common reach trucks. The possible contributing factors to this pos...

The aim of this paper is to make a review of studies concerning problems with alarm systems and to make a theoretical analysis of these problems. The aim is also to show some general design ideas to improve alarm presentation in process descriptions. Using research results from situation awareness and decision making a number of suggestions for further development of alarm systems are presented. Recommendations include providing operators of complex systems feedback that can support their mental models and situational awareness. Furthermore a recommendation is to design alarm systems that can learn from experience.

In a thermal power plant the operators' roles are to control and monitor the process to achieve efficient and safe production. To achieve this, the human-machine interfaces have a central part. The interfaces need to be updated and upgraded together with the technical functionality to maintain optimal operation. One way of achieving relevant updates is to study other domains and see how they have solved similar issues in their design solutions. The purpose of this paper is to present how interface design solution ideas can be transferred from domains with operator control to thermal power plants. In the study 15 domains were compared using a model for categorisation of human-machine systems. The result from the domain comparison showed that nuclear power, refinery and ship engine control were most similar to thermal power control. From the findings a basic interface structure and three specific display solutions were proposed for thermal power control: process parameter overview...

Human factors engineering methodology is important for design of complex systems, such as control rooms and distributed control systems. Available methodologies are however seldom adapted to industrial needs, which limits the use of the existing human factors engineering research base. In this paper we argue that human factors engineering methods have to be developed and adapted to the engineer working under industrial project constraints. Otherwise human factors engineering is unlikely to achieve a broad industrial impact. The paper suggests how the industrial viability of methods can be improved by applying a use centered approach to method development.

Do extreme sports contribute to higher biomechanical stress compared to other sports? Kite surfing is one of the upcoming popular extreme sports, where very few have studied the mechanical forces that act on the body. There are several factors that contribute to mechanical stress, and for preventing injuries it is of interest to investigate how these forces affect the body and how we can develop the equipment and prepare the athletes for making it as safe as possible. This project will study injury prevalence, motion analysis and mapping of forces and pressure during kite surfing. The outcome will be a better understanding of biomechanics of kite surfing and a construction for testing and training.