SIDE · Safety in Design Ergonomics
FP7 — People (Marie Curie Actions)
- Duration
- 2012-03-26 → 2015-12-25
- EU contribution
- €75,000
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MC-IRG
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Results in brief
Safety in Design Ergonomics
The Fellowship research focused on Safety in Design. Safety in Design is also known as ‘prevention through design’ or ‘safe design’; it eliminates Occupational Health and Safety hazards, or minimises potential risks, by systematically involving end-users and decision makers across the full life-cycle of a designed product. The researcher undertook the fellowship from a user-centred perspective, and his approach was multidisciplinary by applying both human factors knowledge and structured risk management methods to the design process. The research developed the ‘Safety in Design Ergonomics’ (SiDE) process: a task-based, user-centred design approach (Horberry et al, 2015). It applied this process to three work domains: 1. Industrial Equipment design 2. Road Transport design (both highways and in-vehicle technologies) 3. Medical device design The Fellow successfully collected data in all three of these areas. The industrial equipment design research was performed in collaboration with another senior researcher at the host organisation and a leading UK manufacturer of industrial vehicles. The road transport design research was undertaken together with colleagues from a leading UK transport research institute and a Spanish University (the University of Granada). The medical device design research was performed at a leading UK teaching hospital linked to the host (Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust). There have been substantial academic outputs arising from the Fellowship. These include: one edited book, six journal papers (all with the Fellow as the first author), and eight book chapters/peer-reviewed conference papers. Other dissemination has included national and international conference presentations and the Fellow being a member of a medical device design working group at the UK hospital in which he conducted his research. In conclusion, the research undertaken has shown that using the SiDE process can be extremely beneficial. Focusing on end-users and their tasks, and applying an iterative human factors design process can help achieve safer designs for both equipment and work environments. The project has led to further research into safe design and ergonomics (including funding by a European manufacturer of industrial equipment, held by the Fellow and another research from the host), and the researcher is now a visiting research fellow with the host (University of Cambridge, UK).
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Safe design of equipment is of key importance in all hazardous work domains. This research will focus on safety in design from a user-centred perspective, and will apply human factors knowledge and structured risk management methods to the equipment design process. It will build on the applicant’s previous work in the industrial and transportation domains. In these domains, new technologies are too often designed and deployed without full consideration of the human element in equipment operation and maintenance, often with resultant safety issues.Firstly, a ‘Safety in Design Ergonomics’ (SIDE) technique will be developed and applied to mobile equipment in the industrial domain. This domain is proposed as it builds on the Applicant’s contacts where he currently works (Australia) plus his existing contacts in Europe (particularly the UK). In addition, the safe design of such industrial mobile equipment has long been a key issue in mining, manufacturing and construction.Second, the SIDE technique will be evaluated, adapted and applied to new equipment and technologies in another field, most likely in the transportation domain. Third, safety in design for older workers will be considered; considering their strengths and limitations, the SIDE technique will be extended to include this growing (and valuable) workforce sector. This will build on the existing contacts of both the host (such as, their inclusive design research) and the applicant (such as, his transportation work).The outcome of the research will be a robust SIDE technique that focuses specifically on the human element. The technique will be tailored to fit with existing design processes, so ensuring that it can be effectively used by designers. The results will be disseminated widely: not only in the academic literature, but also to those responsible for equipment design.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · CAMBRIDGECoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union