Welcome to the World of European Ergonomics!

Preface

Some thoughts and some examples!

• Last December 21^st. a Sojoez TMA-3 M missile was launched from Baikanoer to International Space Station / ISS with a crew of 3 persons. One of them was André Kuipers, a Dutchman. The nation was watching the successful launch and could see how the crew in the first moments after the launch – “folded-up” in an extremely narrow closure – had to execute various operational tasks. However we all could also see that the distance for André Kuipers to reach those pushbuttons was too great due to the length of his arms. Therefore he had to make use of an “aid”: a simple stick to be able to reach the pushbuttons in order to execute the required operation !
  Who would say that attention to ergonomics/human factors in society at present is no longer needed.......................?!

• In the February-issue of “De Ingenieur” (Vol. 124, nr.3, 2012) an overview of disasters in Europe with ferry-boats and cruise ships was presented on the 25th anniversary of the disaster with the “Herald of Free Enterprise”, close to Zeebrugge. All disasters combined had a fatality record of more than 1200 victims.
  A major part of those accidents was closely related to human error, and therefore, arguable caused by an absence of ergonomics.
  That is apparently still the case if we look to the recent accident with the “Costa Concordia” , the cruise ship that apparently could be navigated too close to the coastline of Isola del Giglio without an absolute warning to the operator.
  Who would say that attention to ergonomics/human factors in society at present is no longer needed.......................?!

• As a former railwayman I travel often by train. It is remarkable that – at least in my country – even today it seems impossible to improve the public address system announcements at the station-platforms in the sense that important information to the public like train delays, changes of platforms and cancelling of trains, do not coincide with the noise caused by running trains. The inevitable result is that the message can not be properly heard by the public due to the interference of the background noise! Who would say that attention to ergonomics/human factors in society at present is no longer needed......................?!

These are three very different cases; each with the same final remark. And all of us as ergonomists could easily give many more examples that demonstrate that ergonomics/human factors is still needed. May be more than ever!
There is enough to do for each of us; for FEES!

Pieter Rookmaaker, President of FEES

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