Designing sustainable work systems: the need for a systems approach

Sustainable system of systems at work: unravelling (some of) the complexity of farmers' transition to sustainability

To support sustainable development, several researchers in ergonomics propose a comprehensive approach to work situations or the systems in which they are embedded. This article empirically instantiates one of the proposed models - the Sustainable System of Systems (SSoS) model - in the case of the work of farmers engaged in agroecological transitions. It thus explores complexity regarding sustainability, and to highlight its contributions and limits. Based on a case study, our results illustrate how the macro, meso and micro levels of SSoS are finely articulated in workers' concerns, decisions, and trajectories to sustainability. We enrich this approach with a diachronic method to support the actors involved in such transitions as they navigate the complexities of sustainable transition.Practitioner summary: The research proposes insights into how farmers manage their transition to more sustainable practices, by revealing the various systems influencing that transition. It highlights: (1) farmers' development of a systemic and temporal approach to this transition, and the impacts that the different levels of the system have on one another; and (2) methodological issues related to the development of long-term ergonomic actions to support navigation and copying within the complexity of sustainable transition.

A retrospective analysis of the evolution of ergonomics for environmental sustainability (2011-2021)

Ergonomics for environmental sustainability has been rapidly gaining attention in the scientific community. So far, a large part of the literature has focussed on specific dimensions of ergonomics for environmental sustainability, such as green designs, green buildings, environmental education, and sustainability frameworks. However, there is a necessity for an integrated study that presents the summary of published literature supported by detailed bibliometric characteristics. To address this gap, this study examined 418 articles on ergonomics for environmental sustainability and analysed them through bibliometric and network analysis. Major findings reveal the publication trends in ergonomics for environmental sustainability starting from 2011 to the present, the most productive and influential authors, and the most influential articles. This study also identifies the co-citation structure, bibliographical couplings and keyword co-occurrences among these articles. Findings from this study also provide a summary of the current research and present a robust roadmap for future directions in ergonomics for environmental sustainability.Practitioner summary: This paper presents a bibliometric and network analysis of the academic literature in the domain of ergonomics for environmental sustainability. The study provides comprehensive insights into the relevant literature and identifies global research foci and future scopes. This study can guide practitioners in identifying the specific aspects of ergonomics for environmental sustainability to reduce global environmental impacts.

Contribution of ergonomics and human factors to sustainable development: a systematic literature review

Although a significant amount of research has already been published, the field of ergonomics/human factors and sustainability (E/HF-S) has not yet been systematically profiled based on recent studies. Conducting a systematic review of the literature, this article aims: (i) to identify the main emergent research themes in this subject area and (ii) to provide future directions for applied research and practice on E/HF-S. Six emergent research themes were identified in this literature allowing for a proposal to synthesise the main concepts related to E/HF-S. However, it was noted that there are still relatively few empirical papers which assess the models being developed or that apply E/HF principles to sustainability challenges. Thus, this paper identifies the opportunities for practical application related to E/HF-S. The last part of the paper explores the E/HF-S opportunities using an external framework; the United Nations' sustainable development goals.Practitioner summary: The field of ergonomics/human factors and sustainability (E/HF-S) has not yet been organised by recent studies. Conducting a systematic review of the literature, this article identifies the main emergent research themes in this subject area, and it provides future direction for applied research and practice on E/HF-S.Abbreviations: ACE: activity-centred ergonomics; E/HF: ergonomics/human factors; E/HFS: ergonomics/human factors and sustainability; IEA: International Ergonomics Association; PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses; SDG: Sustainable Development Goal.

Past, present, and future of E/HF for sustainability: A perspective from the HFSD Technical Committee

BACKGROUND: Sustainability is a highly important theme worldwide and currently is being tackled by almost all disciplines. Indeed, the future of humanity is dependent on the actions taken now and in the immediate future. The Ergonomics and Human Factors (E/HF) community has not been indifferent to this issue, and one of the concrete actions adopted by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) was the establishment of the “Human Factors for Sustainable Development” (HFSD) Technical Committee. OBJECTIVE: To identify future paths of action, this paper recognizes the trajectory of the HFSD Technical Committee, summarizes the contributions presented at IEA2021, the International Congress on Ergonomics held virtually in Vancouver in 2021, and reflects on key aspects that should be boosted by the Technical Committee. METHODS: This is a qualitative interpretative study that reflects on the contributions of members of the HFSD community working on E/HF for sustainability. RESULTS: Central topics and opportunities in E/HF and sustainability include complexity of systems, behaviors, and work; energy use and consumption; co-design, interconnectivity, territories, and the relationships with stakeholders. CONCLUSION: Although the contributions have been growing, there is still a lot of work needed, both theoretically and practically. Themes to be discussed include the concepts of sustainability and work. Considering the centrality of human beings (i.e., decision making for achieving the different dimensions of sustainability), the authors identify a set of values as core principles for leading the discussion.

Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) applications in responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned and considerations for methods

Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE), with the goal to support humans through system design, can contribute to responses to emergencies and crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we describe three cases presented at the 21st Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association to demonstrate how HFE has been applied during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely to (1) develop a mobile diagnostic testing system, (2) understand the changes within physiotherapy services, and (3) guide the transition of a perioperative pain program to telemedicine. We reflect on methodological choices and lessons learned from each case and discuss opportunities to expand the impact of HFE in responses to future emergencies. The HFE discipline should develop faster, less resource intensive but still rigorous, methods, increase available HFE expertise by growing the field, and proactively enhance individual and public perception of the importance of HFE in crisis response.

Collaboration Between Humans and Robots in Organizations: A Macroergonomic, Emotional, and Spiritual Approach

The new managerial challenges are related to finding solutions for complex problems, inside some more and more complex management systems, in a continuously changing organizational context. Competitivity and progress imply a continuous positive change and the need to accept, respond, and adapt to the organization’s internal and external environments changes. This brief research report aims to point out the organizational ergonomics’ contribution to employees’ wellbeing through a systemic, emotional, and spiritual approach to man’s interaction with technology, systems, and organizational environment. The research methods used were the multidisciplinary bibliographic study and the interview. Three semi-structured interviews were taken to explore today’s challenges and new 4.0 technologies’ impact, especially robots, on the company and on employees’ wellbeing and spiritual fulfillment. The novelty comes from the analysis of new technologies’ impact on the human factor from the spiritual point of view. Our main results have to do with the shaping of a model for human capital’s valorization and with suggesting a list for monitoring human capital valorization in the company. This article’s main conclusion shows that the organizations’ management must be prepared to manage future challenges by improving the employee’s abilities, adaptability to change, and collaboration with robots.

What Is Design for Social Sustainability? A Systematic Literature Review for Designers of Product-Service Systems

Social sustainability is concerned with the wellbeing and flourishing of societies now and in the future. Despite its importance, it has been largely overlooked compared with environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. Additionally, although there is a longstanding history of design being used to tackle social and sustainability problems, the concept of design for social sustainability is not well-understood. In light of this, the current study aims to conceptually develop design for social sustainability. It specifically focuses on how this concept can be developed for the design of product-service systems. A systematic literature review of social design and sustainable design literature is conducted to synthesise fragmented knowledge on design for social sustainability. A total of 69 articles are analysed with respect to terminology, context, methods, focus and key themes. In doing so, it helps to summarise current knowledge and identify several promising areas for further research. In particular, it calls for additional contextual and place-based perspectives; development of appropriate metrics, methods and tools; and research on the linkages between design for social sustainability and existing sustainable design approaches and methods. This article contributes to knowledge in three ways: (1) it integrates disparate knowledge on design for social sustainability within the domain of product-service systems, (2) it defines design for social sustainability and makes progress toward operationalising the concept by identifying its key dimensions, and (3) it identifies current gaps in the literature and highlights areas for further research. This study is important for designers of product-service systems because it sheds a light on what is desirable and achievable.

Human-centered design of work systems in the transition to industry 4.0

The introduction of Industry 4.0-enabling digital technologies in industrial work systems are creating various sociotechnical challenges affecting overall system performance and human well-being. In this paper, we propose a framework for (re)designing industrial work systems in the transition towards Industry 4.0. The framework combines human factors and ergonomics, work system modeling, and strategy design. It accommodates implementation challenges we have identified through ten retrospective case studies. In addition, we present the systematic approach applied to developing and testing the framework. Lastly, the framework was tested in a collaborative workshop in an industrial company, and the results indicated its applicability.

The Contribution of Peripheral Large Scientific Infrastructures to Sustainable Development from a Global and Territorial Perspective: The Case of IFMIF-DONES

Large scientific infrastructures are a major focus of progress. They have a big impact on the economic and social development of their surroundings. Departing from these well-known facts, it is not trivial to affirm whether the global contribution to Sustainable Development (SD) is higher when they are built in peripheral and not highly developed provinces instead of capitals and rich areas. Besides the economic impact on depressed areas, other SD-related parameters like the attachment of young and skilled people to their homeland, the avoidance of uncontrolled migrations from rural to dense urban zones, the growth of new focuses of knowledge independent from the lines of research established in the universities of the capitals, the indirect impact of auxiliary infrastructures and others must be analyzed. Concerning the next implementation of the “International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility—Demo Oriented Neutron Source” (IFMIF-DONES) project in Granada (Spain), one depressed and tourism-dependent zone, an analysis and comparison with similar infrastructures were done and presented.

Defining the meaning of "sustainable work" from activity-centered ergonomics and psychodynamics of Work's perspectives

INTRODUCTION

Work-related issues are already part of the theoretical framework and the historical rationale that underpin corporate sustainability. However, the relationship between work and sustainability is still little known in company practices. Based on the concepts of activity-centered ergonomics (ACE) and psychodynamics of work (PDW), this paper investigates the meaning of "sustainable work" in Brazilian companies. Thus, two research questions guided this study: How the concept of "sustainable work" can be defined in the perception of companies based on the perspective of ACE and PDW? How the concepts provided by these approaches can help companies in developing practices towards sustainable work?

METHOD

Case studies conducted in ten Brazilian companies engaged in corporate sustainability practices involving document analysis, interviews, and content analysis.

RESULTS

Companies recognize the importance of human action in organizational processes, by considering people as the cornerstone for ensuring corporate sustainability, and seeking to build a work with meaning and significance. However, i) Improvement actions are usually mitigatory or compensatory, acting on the effects while the root causes remain untouched; ii) Sustainability initiatives focus on individual issues, in most cases on the leader (individual), narrowing its scope and neglecting broader, important topics such as work organization and work content; iii) Both work overload and work for sustainability agenda are usually disregarded; iv) A comprehensive view of health should not be limited to the workplace.

CONCLUSIONS

According to companies' perceptions, sustainable work includes but is not limited to integrating work to corporate sustainability guidelines, respecting labor laws and human rights, developing synergy between areas/departments towards sustainability, providing possibilities for constructing health in its multidimensionality with the worker as protagonist, and creating work that is meaningful, pleasurable and leads to happiness and recognition. ACE and PDW offer valuable concepts to support companies in bridging the gap between their corporate sustainability vision and practices, i.e., transforming guidelines into actions towards sustainable work. In this sense, sustainable work is believed to be that which improves the organization's performance and promotes professional development as well as workers' health broadly and positively (not limited to the absence of illness, but in the sense of building health) and well-being. Thus, it fosters respect for and the development of intelligence and creativity (as opposed to alienating work) by performing work that has meaning and significance, understanding the profound importance of physical, cognitive and organizational issues, and above all, the importance of work to the development of culture (Bolis et al., 2014).

Novel Ergonomic Triad Model to Calculate a Sustainable Work Index for the Manufacturing Industry

The human factor is becoming increasingly relevant for its role in industrial development; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the machine–man–environment system in an integrated and not isolated way, as is commonly done, for evaluating the sustainability performance of manufacturing practices. For this reason, in this paper, an ergonomic triad model is proposed for calculating a novel Sustainable Work Index, (SWI), made up of the factors: human work, workstation design, organizational environment and sustainable environmental conditions. The methodology consists of defining the productive time, interviewing the workers, taking anthropometric measurements, assessing the environmental conditions, obtaining the indicators for each factor, calculating the index and interpreting the results to define improvement actions. The model was applied to a manufacturing industry obtaining a regular status with an index of 63.6%. Improvement actions were implemented, and it was possible to increase the index to 73.9%, which represents a good commitment of the company towards occupational health. The development of the new triad model to calculate the SWI will allow industries to visualize indicators of the interaction of the ergonomic triad, identify its current condition and propose actions to physically, organizationally and environmentally improve human well-being and system performance.

The centrality of workers to sustainability based on values: Exploring ergonomics to introduce new rationalities into decision-making processes

This article presents the results of an academic research project connecting the discipline of ergonomics (and work-related issues) with the theme of sustainability. Despite the stated aim of creating value for stakeholders, including employees, companies face difficulties in introducing effective sustainability policies. The research question addressed in this article is the following: How can companies improve their decision-making processes to increase workers' wellbeing using policies integrating issues related to corporate sustainability and ergonomics? Currently, corporate sustainability is focused mainly on the triple bottom line (TBL) concept. In this context, the integration of ergonomics is fragmented and arguably separate from strategic human-resource functions (which have largely been the primary promoter of the internal-social component of corporate sustainability). This research argues that corporate sustainability requires a new step, improving the decision-making process, with the inclusion of more types of rationalities and the recognition of the centrality of workers in the process of creating sustainable action. When corporate sustainability policies focus on worker centrality, they open space for the integration of ergonomics as a pillar of an organization's corporate sustainability strategy. Based on a complex view of work systems, ergonomics can introduce values aligned with sustainability and promote cooperation in organizations. Different stakeholders working at companies can make use of different concepts proposed by ergonomics and other work sciences to support changes in their decision-making processes. In view of broader sustainability objectives, integrating different work-related considerations can help improve performance, including productivity, quality and health.

Development of Sustainability Indicators for Employee-Activity Based Production Process Using Fuzzy Delphi Method

Production process sustainability refers to a manufacturing system in which manufacturing industries produce products in a sustainable way. In recent years, sustainability has become a major concern and challenge for manufacturing systems because of growing consciousness of the effects of their activities on the environment, society, and economy. Different organizational reports and the academic literature have proposed indicators of sustainable manufacturing that help to measure product and process sustainability. However, little of the previous research is related to employee-activity based indicators for production process sustainability. To bridge the gap, this study identified a set of indicators of production process sustainability based on direct and indirect impacts of manufacturing activities on employees, who are key resources in the entire production process, for efficiently applying a sustainability perspective. In addition, the paper provides an evaluation model for selecting relatively important indicators based on expert opinions. A fuzzy Delphi method was applied for the screening process of the decision makers (experts). A Delphi questionnaire prepared with a nine-point linguistic scale corresponding to respective linguistic variables was utilized to assess expert opinions on the importance of each indicator. These expert opinions were aggregated for each indicator by using an adopted algorithm that considers the degree of importance allocated to the decision makers, and the similarity and distance among decision maker opinions. Lastly, the key employee-activity based indicators were chosen based on the threshold value set.

Unshrouding the Sphere from the Clouds: Towards a Comprehensive Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Employability

Sustainable employability refers to individuals’ long-term abilities to work and remain employed. Despite its societal importance in the light of aging populations and rapidly changing skill demands, sustainable employability still requires further definition and conceptualization. As such, the present paper aims to define and conceptualize sustainable employability comprehensively by reviewing existing studies on the concept. Additionally, the paper discusses and integrates sustainable employment, sustainable work, and sustainable work ability into our broad framework of sustainable employability. The resulting conceptual framework positions sustainable employability as an inherently longitudinal multidimensional individual characteristic that is the outcome of complex interactions between individual-, work- and work environmental characteristics. This framework enables researchers to identify the employment characteristics that promote sustainable employability and thereby comprise sustainable employment. Finally, the framework links to notions of person-environment fit, and job- and organizational design to create a basis for future research on sustainable employability.

Sustainable HRM as a Driver for Innovative Work Behaviour: Do Respect, Openness, and Continuity Matter? The Case of Lithuania

There is a widespread consensus in prior literature that innovative work behaviour is a crucial factor in enabling organisations to adapt to rapid changes, to gain a competitive advantage, and create a sustainable organisation. Despite its importance, knowledge about potential drivers of this behaviour is fragmented and inconsistent. As such, organisations may be restricted in their ability to innovate because they do not know how to induce the employees in a way that will encourage them to explore, generate, champion, and finally implement the ideas. Recently, human resource management (HRM) has been explored among potential drivers, considering it as primary means by which organisations can influence and shape the behaviours of employees. Despite the notion that HRM predicts innovative work behaviour, there is a lack in the literature of insights into the ways the organisations can stimulate behaviour by offering sustainability-focused HRM. Sustainable HRM refers to a new approach to people management with the focus on external business environment (openness), respect for the employee (respect), and balanced interests of employer and employee (continuity). Relying on the notion that organisations are gradually introducing sustainable HRM and trying to close the gap in the literature, the paper is designed to link a new approach to people management with innovative work behaviour. The aim of the paper is an initial assessment of whether sustainable HRM is a driver for innovative work behaviour. Disentangling four dimensions of innovative work behaviour makes it possible to determine whether sustainable HRM can stimulate different behaviour types linked to idea exploration, idea generation, idea championing, and idea implementation. The results of a preparatory survey of 306 employees working in Lithuanian companies showed that respect-oriented HRM and continuity-oriented HRM were positively related to innovative work behaviour and the appropriate dimensions (except for idea exploration in case of continuity-oriented HRM); meanwhile, there was no support for the relationship between openness-oriented HRM and innovative work behaviour. Overall, sustainable HRM was found to be a driver for enhancing innovative work behaviour and its dimensions.

Musculoskeletal Risks: RULA Bibliometric Review

The objective of this study was to reveal RULA method applications in terms of the knowledge, country, year and journal categories. The search was performed using the "Web of Science Core Collection". The period from 1993 to April 2019 was selected. Eight hundred nine results were obtained, of which 226 were used. The largest number of publications was determined to be in the fields of industry and health and social assistance, which coincides with the OWAS and Standardized Nordic Questionnaire methods. By country, the USA stands out for its greater number of research studies and categories that are encompassed. By date, 2016 was the year when more studies were carried out, again coinciding with the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire. By journal, "Work-A Journal of Prevention Assessment and Rehabilitation" is highlighted, as it is for the REBA method as well. It was concluded that RULA can be applied to workers in different fields, usually in combination with other methods, while technological advancement provides benefits for its application.

Work, resilience and sustainable futures

Purpose

This paper examines the relationship between work, resilience and sustainable futures for organisations and communities by considering the nature of work-related problems (WRPs) and the work-based research designed to investigate them. The authors explore the axis of work environment > work-related problem > resilience > sustainable futures as it might be impacted by work-based research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper introduces two current real-world examples, one in Australia and one in Asia, of work-based research projects associated with higher education aimed at promoting resilience and sustainability, and discusses the research problems, questions, designs, methods, resilience markers and sustainability markers used by these projects.

Findings

Work-based research, when conducted rigorously using mixed methods, may contribute to increased resilience of organisations and communities and thereby seeks to promote more sustainable organisational and social futures.

Practical implications

Work-based research conducted in higher education seeks to investigate, address and solve WRP, even when such problems occur in unstable, changing, complex and messy environments.

Social implications

Resilience and sustainable futures are ambiguous and disputed terms, but if work-based research can be brought to bear on them, organisations and communities might better adapt and recover from challenging situations, thus reducing their susceptibility to shock and adversity.

Originality/value

While resilience and sustainability are commonly referred to in the research literature, their association to work, and specifically problems associated with work, have yet to be examined. This paper goes some of the way to addressing this need.

A structural framework for sustainable processes in ergonomics

Considering today's globalised world, new concepts that assist ergonomics are needed to provide human well-being. Accordingly, the sustainability concept is used in this study to satisfy the needs of stakeholders, put environmentally-friendly and cost-effective interventions into practice and provide ergonomically well-designed and easily managed processes that are more flexible, adaptable and human-sensitive. To achieve this, a practical and easily adaptable framework, which integrates ergonomics and sustainability by presenting the relations between fundamental elements of ergonomics and sustainability dimensions (SDs), is proposed. Within this base framework, ergonomic indicators (EIs) and sub-dimensions proposed for the classification of EIs are structured for ergonomics under a sustainability point-of-view. The sub-dimensions proposed in this study, which have direct or indirect relations to humans, are 'Loss', 'Investment', 'Conditions', 'Contribution', 'Self-Development', and 'Satisfaction'. This structural framework, which can be easily used by ergonomists or managers, ensures a good starting point for providing sustainable processes in ergonomics. Practitioner summary: This study proposes a structural framework to present the relations between ergonomics and sustainability. In the context of ergonomics, fundamental elements of ergonomics are chosen, while three dimensions of sustainability and proposed sub-dimensions are used in the context of sustainability. The adapted ergonomic indicators are also classified within these sub-dimensions.Abbreviations: SDs: sustainability dimensions; SIs: sustainability indicators; EIs: ergonomic indicators.

Design for Social Sustainability: Using Digital Fabrication in the Humanitarian and Development Sector

The demand for humanitarian and development aid has risen to an unprecedented level in recent years. With a pressing need for new solutions, designers have started using digital fabrication (3D printing, CNC milling and laser cutting) to produce life-saving items. However, many organisations are failing to create the impacts they desire, and the social aspect of sustainability has been largely overlooked. This paper addresses this gap in knowledge by investigating guidelines for Design for Social Sustainability, specifically looking at digital fabrication for humanitarian and development projects. Building on existing literature and conducting three in-depth case studies of healthcare related products, the research develops a framework for Design for Social Sustainability. It provides useful guidelines to help plan and evaluate digital fabrication projects in the humanitarian and development sector. The findings show how design can trigger social sustainability at product, process and paradigm levels. Specifically, the case studies reveal the potential for digital fabrication to lead to more systems-focused, radical social sustainability. The paper concludes that an iterative and holistic approach to Design for Sustainability is needed, that begins by examining the social dimension first.

Designing Sustainable HRM: The Core Characteristics of Emerging Field

The common agreement in human resource management (HRM) literature suggests that organizations willing to attract and retain human resources for running business in the future must change the prevailing situation where human resources are rather consumed than developed. In doing this, sustainable HRM has been introduced recently as a response to changes on societal level, labor market, and employment relations. Sustainable HRM is seen as an extension of strategic HRM and presents a new approach to people management with the focus on long-term human resource development, regeneration, and renewal. However, the attributes of sustainable HRM, as compared to mainstream HRM, are not clear. The paper aims at closing this gap by proposing and revealing the characteristics of sustainable HRM, namely: Long-term orientation, care of employees, care of environment, profitability, employee participation and social dialogue, employee development, external partnership, flexibility, compliance beyond labour regulations, employee cooperation, fairness, and equality. This is a theoretical paper.

Raising the Curtain in People Management by Exploring How Sustainable HRM Translates to Practice: The Case of Lithuanian Organizations

Arguing for the necessity to re-think human resource management (HRM), as human resources are becoming scarce, HRM practices themselves can be even harmful for employees, and the mainstream HRM is more interested not in the employee well-being, but in the search for the link between HRM and performance, the paper introduces sustainable HRM as an alternative approach to people management. Sustainable HRM is seen as a design option, which allows one to maintain, renew and restore human resources. Although previous works have broadened the understanding of the meaning given to sustainable HRM and its core characteristics, research into how sustainable HRM translates into practice is still lacking. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to reveal the practices through which 11 characteristics of sustainable HRM are expressed in real people management in organizations. In doing this, qualitative data were collected from Lithuanian organizations using semi-structured interviews with 19 human resource (HR) managers. The research indicated a variety of applied practices, which differ by maturity. Care of employees, profitability, external partnership, fairness and equality, and employee development were revealed as the characteristics of sustainable HRM most explicitly expressed through HRM practices. Nonetheless, the organizations need more heterogeneous HRM activities, which simultaneously consider the economy, environment, society, and human aspects.

Behavioural modification framework to address wastage in household electricity consumption

Household electricity wastage poses a sustainability issue. Ergonomic interventions that prevent wastage through technological innovations are expensive and complex, making consumers unwilling to adopt them. The study aimed to investigate the motivations and impediments in avoiding electricity wastage. Thirteen Repertory Grid interviews were conducted on household electricity users relating to the behaviour of those living with them. The key motivational themes found were altruistic and egoistic reasons while the impediments were perceived behavioural control, hedonism and self-efficacy. Based on the research findings, a behavioural modification framework was developed to encourage consumers to adopt a higher level of responsible electricity practice through the following suggested interventions - (1) reframing sustainability from 'future-for-others' to 'present-for-us', (2) clarifying responsible consumption and (3) performance feedback. The research identified the key motivations and impediments of being a responsible household electricity user and provided a framework to encourage a higher responsibility level. Practitioner Summary: Household electricity wastage poses sustainability issue: excess CO₂ & high costs. We developed a mindset changing behavioural modification framework. We investigated HFE issues: motivations & impediments of avoiding the wastage, i.e. altruistic, egoistic, behavioural control, hedonism & self-efficacy. The framework provides governments insights into strategies to address the wastage.

State of Science: ergonomics and global issues

In his 1993 IEA keynote address, Neville Moray urged the ergonomics discipline to face up to the global problems facing humanity and consider how ergonomics might help find some of the solutions. In this State of Science article we critically evaluate what the ergonomics discipline has achieved in the last two and a half decades to help create a secure future for humanity. Moray's challenges for ergonomics included deriving a value structure that moves us beyond a Westernised view of worker-organisation-technology fit, taking a multidisciplinary approach which engages with other social and biological sciences, considering the gross cross-cultural factors that determine how different societies function, paying more attention to mindful consumption, and embracing the complexity of our interconnected world. This article takes a socio-historical approach by considering the factors that influence what has been achieved since Moray's keynote address. We conclude with our own set of predictions for the future and priorities for addressing the challenges that we are likely to face. Practitioner Summary: We critically reflect on what has been achieved by the ergonomics profession in addressing the global challenges raised by Moray's 1993 keynote address to the International Ergonomics Association. Apart from healthcare, the response has largely been weak and disorganised. We make suggestions for priority research and practice that is required to facilitate a sustainable future for humanity.

Musculoskeletal disorders: OWAS review

The prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) is very important in the world. Governments and companies are the most interested. The objective of the present work is to review the literature on the applications of the OWAS method in the diverse sectors or fields of knowledge and countries from its publication to March 2017. The use of OWAS method has been classified by categories of knowledge, by country and by year. The search was made by selecting only the main collection of the Web of Science. This was selected by the option "Advanced search" using the term OWAS (ts=OWAS) for the time period of 1900 to 2017. A total of 166 results were found, consisting of conference papers and articles in scientific journals. In conclusion, the OWAS has been applied mainly in two sectors: "Manufacturing industries" and "Healthcare and Social assistance activities". This method needs to be complemented with other indirect or direct methods. Also, whenever the OWAS has been used, whether individually or together with other methods, musculoskeletal disorders risks have been detected, this perhaps being an indicator to review the evaluation parameters because overestimating the risk.

Work for sustainability: Case studies of Brazilian companies

The introduction of strategic corporate sustainability policies is expected to result in the improvement of several issues in companies. One of these issues is work, which should involve greater well-being for workers. Within the context of production engineering, this research connects sustainability and work-related issues, the latter seen in light of the discipline of ergonomics. Based on case studies conducted at four companies considered sustainability benchmarks, we examined how the introduction of the theme of sustainability has influenced work-related issues. The elements analyzed here were the corporate sustainability strategy, organizational practices for deploying the strategy, and the work design phase. The last element is the moment in which work is prescribed in the organization. The results show that, despite the announcement of the inclusion of changes in work, there is not any explicit evidence confirming that such changes are considered as a requirement for corporate sustainability projects.

Human factors for a sustainable future

Current human activities are seriously eroding the ability of natural and social systems to cope. Clearly we cannot continue along our current path without seriously damaging our own ability to survive as a species. This problem is usually framed as one of sustainability. As concerned professionals, citizens, and humans there is a strong collective will to address what we see as a failure to protect the natural and social environments that supports us. While acknowledging that we cannot do this alone, human factors and ergonomics needs to apply its relevant skills and knowledge to assist where it can in addressing the commonly identified problem areas. These problems include pollution, climate change, renewable energy, land transformation, and social unrest amongst numerous other emerging global problems. The issue of sustainability raises two fundamental questions for human factors and ergonomics: which system requires sustaining and what length of time is considered sustainable? In this paper we apply Wilson (2014) parent-sibling-child model to understanding what is required of an HFE sustainability response. This model is used to frame the papers that appear in this Special Issue.

A comprehensive approach to environmental and human factors into product/service design and development. A review from an ergoecological perspective

This article presents the results of a documentary-exploratory review of design methods and concepts associated with human and environmental factors, based on a qualitative-quantitative analysis of coincidences with the fundamentals of ergoecology and in line with sustainable dynamics, with a view to putting the principles of ergoecology into practice in product/service design and development. 61.6% of 696 documents found represent work on conceptual developments, while the remaining 38.4% refer to design methods. Searches were refined using Nvivo-10 software, and 101 documents were obtained about theoretical aspects while 17 focused on the application of methods, and these formed the analysis universe. The results show how little concern there is for working comprehensively on human and environmental aspects, and a trend toward segmentation of human and environmental aspects in the field of product/service design and development can be seen, at both concept and application/methodology levels. It was concluded from the above that comprehensive, simultaneous work is needed on human and environmental aspects, clarity and conceptual unity, in order to achieve sustainability in practical matters and ensure that ergoecology-compatible design methods are applied.

Towards a new paradigm: Activity level balanced sustainability reporting

Technoeconomic paradigms based economic growth theories suggest that waves of technological innovations drove the economic growth of advanced economies. Widespread economic degradation and pollution is an unintended consequence of such growth. Tackling environmental and social issues at firm levels would help us to overcome such issues at macro-levels. Consequently, the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting approach promotes firm level economic, environmental and social performances. Incorporating Zink's (2014) 3-pillar presentation model, this paper indicates that economic, social and environmental performances tend to be reported at firm level. All three pillars are not covered evenly at the activity levels. Thus, a loophole is identified whereby excellent environmental performance at activity levels could potentially leave poor social performance undisclosed. A refinement of the TBL paradigm, whereby all three pillars are covered at the activity level, is suggested, to enhance sustainability reporting.

Global drivers, sustainable manufacturing and systems ergonomics

This paper briefly explores the expected impact of the 'Global Drivers' (such as population demographics, food security; energy security; community security and safety), and the role of sustainability engineering in mitigating the potential effects of these Global Drivers. The message of the paper is that sustainability requires a significant input from Ergonomics/Human Factors, but the profession needs some expansion in its thinking in order to make this contribution. Creating a future sustainable world in which people experience an acceptable way of life will not happen without a large input from manufacturing industry into all the Global Drivers, both in delivering products that meet sustainability criteria (such as durability, reliability, minimised material requirement and low energy consumption), and in developing sustainable processes to deliver products for sustainability (such as minimum waste, minimum emissions and low energy consumption). Appropriate changes are already being implemented in manufacturing industry, including new business models, new jobs and new skills. Considerable high-level planning around the world is in progress and is bringing about these changes; for example, there is the US 'Advanced Manufacturing National Program' (AMNP)', the German 'Industrie 4.0' plan, the French plan 'la nouvelle France industrielle' and the UK Foresight publications on the 'Future of Manufacturing'. All of these activities recognise the central part that humans will continue to play in the new manufacturing paradigms; however, they do not discuss many of the issues that systems ergonomics professionals acknowledge. This paper discusses a number of these issues, highlighting the need for some new thinking and knowledge capture by systems ergonomics professionals. Among these are ethical issues, job content and skills issues. Towards the end, there is a summary of knowledge extensions considered necessary in order that systems ergonomists can be fully effective in this new environment, together with suggestions for the means to acquire and disseminate the knowledge extensions.

A sustainable system of systems approach: a new HFE paradigm

Sustainability issues such as natural resource depletion, pollution and poor working conditions have no geographical boundaries in our interconnected world. To address these issues requires a paradigm shift within human factors and ergonomics (HFE), to think beyond a bounded, linear model understanding towards a broader systems framework. For this reason, we introduce a sustainable system of systems model that integrates the current hierarchical conceptualisation of possible interventions (i.e., micro-, meso- and macro-ergonomics) with important concepts from the sustainability literature, including the triple bottom line approach and the notion of time frames. Two practical examples from the HFE literature are presented to illustrate the model. The implications of this paradigm shift for HFE researchers and practitioners are discussed and include the long-term sustainability of the HFE community and comprehensive solutions to problems that consider the emergent issues that arise from this interconnected world.

PRACTITIONER SUMMARY

A sustainable world requires a broader systems thinking than that which currently exists in ergonomics. This study proposes a sustainable system of systems model that incorporates ideas from the ecological sciences, notably a nested hierarchy of systems and a hierarchical time dimension. The implications for sustainable design and the sustainability of the HFE community are considered.

A benchmark-based method for sustainable product design

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective approach to decide design details using benchmarking to capture the existing practice in sustainable design.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper reports a systematic method for sustainable product design. The method uses benchmarks as references searching for design details to achieve sustainable solutions. Quality function deployment is used to guide the search process for competitive products using benchmarking to meet quantitative targets of product and to increase knowledge for sustainable design.

Findings

– The proposed method can meet both functional and sustainable requirements of product design. 18.55 percent reduction in carbon equivalent emissions is achieved compared to benchmarks in wheelchair design. The research reveals that when weight, material and number of components used in product decrease, environmental footprints and cost of the product improve.

Originality/value

– The research improves the existing method of sustainable product design. Both sustainable requirements and functional demands of product are identified from qualitative criteria to quantitative metrics using benchmarking and the life cycle assessment.

Ergonomics and sustainable development in the past two decades (1992-2011): Research trends and how ergonomics can contribute to sustainable development

The need for sustainable development has been widely recognized and sustainable development has become a hot topic of various disciplines even though the role of ergonomics in it is seldom reported or considered. This study conducts a systematic survey of research publications in the fields of ergonomics and sustainable development over the past two decades (1992-2011), in order to identify their research trends and convergent areas where ergonomics can play an important role in sustainable development. The results show that 'methods and techniques', 'human characteristics', 'work design and organization', 'health and safety' and 'workplace and equipment design' are the top five frequently researched areas in ergonomics. Ergonomics has an opportunity to contribute its knowledge especially to 'industrial and product design', 'architecture', 'health and safety' and 'HCI' (especially for energy reduction issues) categories of sustainable development. Typical methodologies and general guidance on how to contribute the expertise of ergonomist to sustainable development are also discussed.

Systematic engineering tools for describing and improving medication administration processes at rural healthcare facilities

This study demonstrates a series of systematic methods for mapping medication administration processes and for elaborating violations of work standards at two rural hospitals. Thirty-four observational periods were conducted to capture the details of clinical activities, and hierarchical task analysis (HTA) was used to demonstrate the current medication administration process. Facility nurse managers in five units across the two facilities participated in focus group discussions to validate the observational data and to generate a reliable context-appropriate medication administration process. The potential errors or misconduct when passing the drugs were identified, such as unsafe storage and transportation of drugs from room to room. Those hazards would cause drug contamination, loss, or access by unauthorized individuals. Hospitals without 24-hour pharmacy coverage and other interruptions would hinder the medication administration process. Preparing drugs for more than one patient at a time would increase the risk of passing the drugs to the wrong patient. This study shows the use of observation and focus groups to describe and identify violations in the medication administration process. A clear road map for continuous clinical process improvement obtained from the current study could be used to help future health information technology implementation.

Towards a sustainable world through human factors and ergonomics: it is all about values

In this paper, we analyse two approaches that attempt to address how a human factors and ergonomics (HFE) perspective can contribute to the sustainability of the human race. We outline the principles, purposes and fields of application of ergoecology and green ergonomics, and thereafter deal with their context of emergence, and the overlaps in purpose, and principles. Shared values are deduced and related to socio-technical principles for systems' design. Social responsibility and environmental/ecospheric responsibility are the leading threads of ergoecology and green ergonomics, giving rise to the values of: respect for human rights, respect for the Earth, respect for ethical decision-making, appreciation of complexity, respect for transparency and openness, and respect for diversity. We discuss the consequences of considering these values in HFE theory and practice.