Plenary Speakers
We bring to you distinguished experts in ergonomics and human factors field.
Professor Sidney W.A. Dekker
Australia
Topic: If we need incentives to speak up, engineering has already failed
As inflation, supply chain issues and global uncertainties persist through 2023, (human factors) engineers might be asked to do more with less; to shore up legacy systems and patch up accumulated technical debt; to compromise on design principles, tests, or even safety margins in order to achieve production or financial goals. Of course, as Petroski reminds us, an engineering design is always a compromise among fundamentally irreconcilable goals, but some have recently led to notorious disasters, such as the Boeing 737 MAX accidents and the 2021 Texas energy infrastructure failure (and earlier ones such as the 1980s Space Shuttle SRB design).
It is increasingly recognized that such compromises may inflict ‘moral injury’ on professionals, whose ethical framework gets violated by the dilemma it puts them in. Moral injury can be triggered by a self-accusation for something one did or failed to do, particularly something related to a professional role or expectation. In this talk, I want to highlight three aspects of engineering compromises and moral injury: (1) the reality of ‘unruly technology’ and need for resilience in addition to robustness and reliability; (2) professional guilt, self-blame and the role of outcome and hindsight; (3) and organizational betrayal—not only in asking engineers to either sacrifice their professional ethic or their career, but in the expectation of ‘cheap grace’ afterward, which does not entail an organizational commitment to live according to the lessons learned.
All three have deep implications for engineering management and leadership—demanding a poise of humility, an understanding of the impacts, needs and obligations that come from moral compromise or bad events, and forward-looking accountability. When calls for enhanced employee voice are made, and engineers need to rely on protections and moral inducements to ‘speak up,’ then the ethical essence of engineering—scepticism, testing, checking, and questioning—has already failed.
Sidney Dekker (PhD, The Ohio State University, USA, 1996) is Professor and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, and Professor in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University in the Netherlands.
Sidney has lived and worked in seven countries and won worldwide acclaim for his work in human factors and safety. He coined the term ‘Safety Differently’ in 2012, which encourages organizations to declutter their bureaucracy and provide people freedom-in-a-frame to make things go well—and to offer compassion, restoration and learning when they don’t.
An avid piano player and pilot, he has been flying the Boeing 737 for an airline on the side.
Sidney is bestselling author of, most recently: Foundations of Safety Science; The Safety Anarchist; The End of Heaven; Just Culture; Safety Differently; The Field Guide to Understanding ‘Human Error’; Second Victim; Drift into Failure; Patient Safety; Compliance Capitalism and Do Safety Differently. He has also co-directed several film documentaries. Stanford has ranked Sidney among the world’s top 2% most influential scientists: his work has well over to 16500 citations and an h-index of 56. More at sidneydekker.com
Professor David C. Caple
Australia
Topic: Sustainable ergonomics interventions to MSD risks in industries
Successful ergonomics interventions focus on optimizing human wellbeing and systems performance as described in the definition of ergonomics by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA). Sustainable interventions outlined by Zink (2012) provides a model based on economic, ecological, and social elements. Dul (2021) described the major driver for capital investment in ergonomics interventions was productivity improvements rather than wellbeing. Five case studies in this presentation will focus on sustainable interventions to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).
The “Green Star” or “WELL” program in office design focuses on re-usable materials and biodegradable products as well as minimal energy footprint in the design. One of the points in this program includes ergonomics assessments in the design stage prior to the selection of internal fittings, furniture, and joinery. In the paint manufacturing industry, all the major manufacturers in Australia used ergonomics methods to assess MSD risks with paint packaging for community use. As a result, they agreed to eliminate the 20 litre cans from their range and only offer 10 or 15 litre cans.
In the banking industry all the major banks agreed to reduce the size and weight of coin bags to reduce MSD injuries to staff and customers. The domestic waste collection industry previously had teams walk behind trucks and tip the contents of household bins into the back of the truck. This resulted in fatalities from falling off the rear of the truck as well as MSD injuries. This system was not sustainable due to low productivity, injuries to the staff as well as spills from the bins. A new style of domestic waste bin was introduced that could be lifted by a mechanical arm on the side of the truck activated by the truck driver to improve productivity, reduce spillage and eliminate injuries.
One of the largest supermarket companies conducted ergonomics assessments of the fresh vegetables supply chain. Every time the vegetable was handled there was increased quality damage as well as injury risks for the workers. A system was developed to use the same container in the fields to collect the vegetables, store them on a pallet for transporting to the cool rooms and to display the vegetables on the supermarket shelves. These studies indicate that the three primary elements for sustainable ergonomics interventions were productivity, safety, and product quality improvements.
David Caple (MSc, Loughborough, UK) is an Adjunct Professor at Latrobe University in Australia in the Ergonomics and Health and Safety programs. He has led an ergonomics practitioner company in Australia since 1985 conducting Work Health and Safety research and practice projects for Governments and industry groups.
Having completed his science studies in Australia and ergonomics at Loughborough University, UK, David has been a guest researcher in Sweden and USA. He is a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) in Australia, UK, and USA.
David Caple was the 16th President of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) 2006-2009 and represented the IEA at conferences and meetings in 30 countries.
He has published research papers in several areas of ergonomics, and work health and safety, including the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). He was involved in the development of legislation relating to the prevention of MSD for the Australian government and led multiple industry-based MSD prevention projects. He participated in the USA Government Hearings on the prevention of repetition MSD injuries and has provided technical advice on MSD prevention in the UK, USA, Singapore, Sweden, and Hong Kong.
David was an independent member of Government OHS Advisory Committees for 15 years appointed by the Government Ministers and provides independent advice to the Australian Government through Safe Work Australia.
Dr. Sarita Dara
New Zealand
Topic: Healthcare lands safely : Transposition of aerospace human factors lessons to improve healthcare systems and patient safety
Dr Sarita Dara (PhD, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) is dually qualified and experienced in Medicine and Engineering and has an MD in Aerospace Medicine and PhD in Human Factors Engineering. She is also trained in Occupational Medicine and Public Health.
She has worked as a physician, educator and researcher in India, USA, Singapore and New Zealand for over two decades. She currently works as Senior Medical Officer, Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand and as a Space Medicine and Human Factors Consultant and Occupational Medicine Physician with Humane Factors Exponential Limited.
Prior to working in New Zealand, she was the Head of Aerospace Physiology and Human Factors at Singapore Aeromedical Centre and was involved in simulator-based training in Aerospace Medicine, Human Factors and Occupational Health while also practicing clinical Aviation Medicine for military and civil sectors.
She is a certified Human Factors Engineer with the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of New Zealand (HFESNZ) and an Assessor, HFESNZ Professional Assessment Board. She is a peer reviewer for Applied Ergonomics journal.
David Caple (MSc, Loughborough, UK) is an Adjunct Professor at Latrobe University in Australia in the Ergonomics and Health and Safety programs. He has led an ergonomics practitioner company in Australia since 1985 conducting Work Health and Safety research and practice projects for Governments and industry groups.
Having completed his science studies in Australia and ergonomics at Loughborough University, UK, David has been a guest researcher in Sweden and USA. He is a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) in Australia, UK, and USA.
David Caple was the 16th President of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) 2006-2009 and represented the IEA at conferences and meetings in 30 countries.
He has published research papers in several areas of ergonomics, and work health and safety, including the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). He was involved in the development of legislation relating to the prevention of MSD for the Australian government and led multiple industry-based MSD prevention projects. He participated in the USA Government Hearings on the prevention of repetition MSD injuries and has provided technical advice on MSD prevention in the UK, USA, Singapore, Sweden, and Hong Kong.
David was an independent member of Government OHS Advisory Committees for 15 years appointed by the Government Ministers and provides independent advice to the Australian Government through Safe Work Australia.
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