ABSTRACT
Attaining physical fitness through exercise is well understood to provide long-term health and performance benefits. Considerable attention has been paid to improving the effectiveness of fitness services; however, the safety of exercise participants while they are engaged in the pursuit of fitness has been less well catered for. This shortcoming has resulted in costly personal injury litigation. Although the adverse effect on human safety of a deficient interface between human capabilities and task demands is well known in the occupational ergonomics domain, the primary emphasis in the sports and fitness domain appears to be on performance and/or long-term health outcomes rather than on the immediate safety of the participant.
