ABSTRACT
One of the components of both the SHEL (software, hardware, environment, liveware) and the user-centred design model is ‘environment’. In its narrowest sense, this covers the immediate environment of the user, i.e. the workspace, but can be extended to encompass a number of social and organisational issues, e.g. job design and management structure. Work environments defined here will be interpreted broadly to take into account physical, social, cultural and organisational factors, although this chapter will focus on physical parameters. It is correspondingly also possible to interpret ‘work’ very broadly in the sense that it ‘can be any form of meaningful activity-running a home, bringing up children, voluntary, sheltered or paid employment’ (Herbert, 2000:25). However, the main premise being suggested here is that it is impossible to consider Human Factors and ergonomic issues in isolation, e.g. the design of the human-machine interface alone. It has already been established in Chapter 3 that human-machine interactions will be influenced by a number of environmental and other factors. Therefore, we cannot consider workplace design, for example, without taking into account the attitude of the organisation to flexibility in catering for individual needs. Further, the design of work environments also
has important implications with regard to performance, comfort, safety and the reduction of hazards. These are covered in Chapter 6 on Occupational Health and Chapter 7 on Safety, where the legislation relating to the work environment is reviewed in the section on regulations.
