ABSTRACT
Ergonomists and human factors experts (I take them to be identical) have long claimed to be able to improve the efficiency of work, reduce errors and accidents, and ameliorate the working conditions of those who operate complex technical systems such as railways. In recent years indeed there has been a very great increase in the acceptance of ergonomics in the design and operation of such systems. It seems as though ergonomics has become accepted by the design and engineering community, by management and politicians, and even by lawyers, although the members of some of those categories have had to be dragged by main force into admitting the fact. We have seen ergonomists have major impacts on public inquiries in the nuclear industry, in accident investigations, in aviation, in the military and now finally even in the railways, long a privileged domain of civil and mechanical engineers. At the end of a career of in which I have spent many years working in the human factors of high technology systems this is gratifying. Furthermore it offers great promise for the next generation of ergonomists, and a chance to have a major impact on the well-being of society.
