ABSTRACT
Walking seems like such a simple, natural task that the body performs nearly without thinking. However, this is far from the truth. Breaking down biomechanical processes has shown that walking is actually a series of imbalances. Studies of perceptual and cognitive issues show pedestrians gather information about the walking environment using the processes of the human information model. These processes interact and determine how the individual gets from one point to another in a given environment. In general, pedestrians believe that walking surfaces are flat and uniform, unless they notice a particular discrepancy. Any unnoticed or unexpected variation in the pedestrian’s path can easily lead to a fall and potential injury. Oftentimes, the injury is severe enough to warrant filing a lawsuit to try to recover damages from a party deemed responsible for the dangerous condition. In this case, a human factors/ ergonomic (HF/E) professional can be used to render an opinion as to whether a situation is unsafe and, if so, if it led to the incident in question.
