ABSTRACT
Most countries in the world have a national Human Factors/Ergonomics Society, for example, The Ergonomics Society in Great Britain (phone/fax from the UK 01509 234904) and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in the USA (phone from the UK 00 1 213 394 1811). According to Oborne (1982) initial interest in human-factors-related interests was conceived around the early 1900s, particularly problems related to increases in the production of munitions at factories during the First World War. The discipline was officially born at a multidisciplinary meeting held at the Admiralty in the UK on human work problems. We have an accurate recording of the date of this meeting, as can be expected of the armed services, and hence the birth of the discipline can be dated as 12 July 1949. The discipline was named at a subsequent meeting on 16 February 1950. To quote Oborne, ‘The word ergonomics [cf. ‘human factors’] was coined from the Greek: ergon-work, and nomos-natural laws.’ (Oborne, 1982, p. 3.) The disciples of the discipline were initially concerned with human problems at work (on both sides of the Atlantic), in particular with the interaction between humans and machines and the resultant effect upon productivity. This focus has been broadened somewhat since then to include all aspects of the working environment. Figure 1.1 distinguishes human factors from psychology and engineering.
