The unique discipline of Human Factors is an established science that effectively describes the interactions between the worker, the task and the environment.   It uses many fields such as anatomy, physiology, ergonomics, psychology, technology and biomechanics to examine the human-system interactions with the goal of improving productivity, efficiency, and safety.  Human Factors principles are also applied during product design phases.  In fact, the term Human Factors and ergonomics are used synonymously.

World War I

Human Factors originated in aviation.  The term “human factors” informal use has been recorded in British Royal Air Force accident investigation reports in the 1940s.  It was formally used in 1957 to describe the modern practice (Edwards, 1988) and was generally associated with fields of psychology and physiology.  During World War I, military commanders quickly realized the benefit of converting battle-field observation aircrafts into war-machines fitted with bombs.  As military requirements rapidly evolved and this role change occurred, a new realization was envisioned. British Royal Flying Corps recorded that, of every 100 aviators killed while flying, two demised due to the enemy’s action, eight died due to mechanical failures and 90 met their death as a result of their own individual deficiencies (Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal 37, 2006) (Adams D., 2006). Based on these facts, it was realized that human performance varies greatly among individuals regardless of experience and training.

As a result, the emphasis shifted to reducing the number of aircrafts and aircrew being lost due to these so-called “individual deficiencies”.  Additionally, most of these “individual deficiencies” were attributed to a lack of training.  Hence, as aircrafts improved to their modern forms, training became a primary focus to improve or decrease the human performance variability.  However, as research progressed, it was quickly realized that pilot training and selection is just one piece of the puzzle.  Human error and related aviation accidents were also intimately related to human physiology and psychology i.e. judgement, decision making, cognition and sensory perception.

World War II

The improvement is science and technologies led to a major overhaul and particularly aircrafts became a major interest in the civilian sector.  The first civilian airlines, cargo and air mail services were introduced in the twenties.  During this time, major improvements were also seen in the field of psychology, and as these fields robustly continued to develop, an American named Edwin Albert Link, introduced the first flight trainer (a simulator) known as the “Link Trainer” (Hancock, 1999).  Link Trainer was specifically designed to safely train pilots in instrument flying (a highly dangerous activity during those times).  Unfortunately, U.S. Army Air Corps didn’t realize the value of this patented device when it was first offered.  And, the device was used for amusement as an arcade game.  Ironically, Imperial Japanese Navy was the first military service to purchase and train their flyers in the art of instrument flying in 1935.  During World War II, Link Trainer was used for selection and instrument training by 35 countries. 

One can argue that both the aforementioned historical eras seeded the Human Factors (although not yet formally titled) as a field of study, leading to major improvements in commercial and military aviation.

RACE TO THE MOON

World War II onwards led to an explosive growth in the aviation industry as well as scientific and research initiatives in the fields of physiology, psychology and engineering.  In fact, University of Illinois was the first in the world to expand the scope of Human Factors, which established Institute of Aviation in 1946.  Research included spatial disorientation, fatigue and also included better pilot selection techniques stringent medical and psychological standards.

In 1949-50, “Applied Experimental Psychology, Human Factors in Engineering Design” was published.  In 1957, Human Engineering Society (now Human Factors & Ergonomics Society) was founded.  And, in 1958, first issue of Human Factors Journal was published.  The research at this point in time, was still heavily focused on engineering, training and pilot selection.  The Department of Defense (DoD) Human Factors Technical Advisory Group was founded in 1976.

It wasn’t until the 1970s, that a series of high profile accidents led to the broadening of Human factors research to accident investigation and safety.  On 29 December 1972, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar flown under the banner of United States Eastern Airlines crashed in the Everglades killing 101 passengers and aircrew as it approached Miami International Airport, FL.  The entire flight crew became so engrossed in trying to diagnose the landing gear warning light malfunction that none of them heard a warning tone that indicated the aircraft was descending below its safe altitude.  The US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) investigation report stated that, ‘the failure of the crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final four minutes of flight led to the crash.’ (NTSB report AAR 73-14). 

This mishap to include others such as the deadly Tenerife disaster with two 747s colliding on the runway in 1977 and United Airlines Flight 173 crash due to fuel starvation in Portland, OR in 1978 led to the development of “Cockpit Resource Management”. The training program was developed by Professor Robert Helmreich, at the University of Texas and initially looked at task management skills and delegation authorities of the captain to include communication between the crew.  The ever-broadening concept is now known as “Crew Resource Management” coined by the NASA psychologist John Lauberin in aviation in 1979.  Concurrently, the infamous partial nuclear meltdown at the Three-mile island, Pennsylvania in March 1979, led to further research of Human Factors in organizations and industries other than aviation.

A decade later, on 28 January 1986, NASA’s space shuttle “Challenger” and its crew perished, when a rubber O-ring in one of the solid rocket boosters failed within a minute and 12 seconds after lift-off, causing an explosion.  According to investigation reports, NASA management was warned of the conditions that can lead to a catastrophic failure on multiple occasions.  However, despite the manufacturer and NASA’s engineers repeated warnings, NASA management and mission control head went ahead with the launch.  This was a first-ever accident that highlighted organizational factors as the cause of the accident.  In fact, the presidential commission report of 1986 concluded that, ‘there was a serious flaw in the decision making process leading up to the launch of flight 51-L.  A well-structured and managed system emphasizing safety would have flagged the rising doubts about the solid rocket booster joint seal.’

The concept of ‘organizational accidents’ was brought to the forefront of Human Factors research by Professor James Reason of Manchester University in 1997.  The “Reason Model” also commonly referred to as the “Swiss Cheese Model” helps people understand how organizational accidents occur.  This model not only looked at the individuals, but also at the organizational leadership, communication and resources to decipher the causal and contributory factors to a mishap. 

Currently, Crew Resource Management is in its fifth generation and has been credited with reducing mishaps and saving lives.  The field of Human Factors is robustly charging ahead and deals with much broader topics of human science and performance to include organization environments in which the human creates, decides, maintains and operate complex systems.

REFERENCES

Adam, D. (2006). A Layman’s Guide to Human Factors in Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation. Australian Transport Safety Bureau Information Paper. Retrieved 1 April 2021 from https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/32882/b20060094.pdf

Edwards, E. (1988). Introductory Overview. In E.L. Wiener & D.C. Nagel (Eds), Human Factors in Aviation (pp. 3-25). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Royal Air Force Historical Society (2006). Journal 37, retrieved 3 April 2021 from https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-37-Seminar-Flight%20Safety.pdf

Hancock Cameron, Rebecca (1999). Training to Fly: Military Flight Training, 1907–1945 (PDF). Air Force History and Museums Program. Retrieved 3 November 2019.

The 1942 Model C-3 Link Trainer retrieved 4 April 2021 from https://www.wmof.com/c3link.html

Chapanis, A., Garner, W. R., & Morgan, C. T. (1949). Applied experimental psychology: uman Factors in engineering design. [Abstract]. doi:10.1037/11152-000

Morehouse, L. E. (1958). A Human Factors Philosophy. Human Factors, 1(1), 1–1. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872085800100101

U.S. Presidential Commission (1986), Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Retrieved 4 April 2021, from https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/table-of-contents.html