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Ergonomics has so far been largely an American and Western European discipline. For that reason, present-day ergonomics is not robust enough to cope with the many large and important differences that one finds among the people of the earth. These differences are discussed under five major headings: anthropometry, language, physiology, psychology, and customs and practices. In each case, the differences are so great that they require substantial modifications in commonly accepted ergonomics principles and practices. In some cases, the technical design problems involved in adapting equipment to non-Western societies have required the development of new ergonomics principles. Failure to take account of national and cultural variables may nullify the gains that one might reasonably expect to follow from the application of ergonomics in many areas of the world.

The International Ergonomics Association (IEA)'s definition of HF/E includes the following:Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance … Organizational ergonomics is concerned with the optimization of sociotechnical systems, including their organizational structures, policies, and processes. (IEA Council, 2000)

This chapter explores the sustainability of the workforce in the Chilean logging sector, the factors that affect the sustainability of this critical element for the Chilean forestry sector and explores the reasons for each factor.

To achieve the aim of this research, an ergonomics approach was used, specifically an ergonomics questionnaire, to identify elements in the work system that affect forestry workers.

The initial results show that elements in the Chilean forestry sector that affect the sustainability of the workforce, both in terms of occupational health (OH) problems and lack of interest in working in this sector, include organizational factors, physical elements of the environment, economic issues, and physical aspects of the work. The study also showed workers in this sector have a low perception of the benefits of working in the sector, because they recognize the sector has a high degree of risk in terms of safety and health aspects.

It is expected that the result of this research will help to refocus policies towards solving OH problems and, at the same time, potentially improve the market attractions of working in this sector.

Only recently has physical space design become more widely recognized as playing a critical role in delivery of care, with an emerging body of literature on the application of human factors approaches to design and evaluation. This chapter describes the use of human factors approaches to develop and conduct an evaluation of a proposed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit redesign in a Midwestern children’s hospital. Methods included observations and knowledge elicitation from stakeholders to characterize their goals, challenges, and needs. This characterization is integral to informing the design of user-centered solutions, including physical space design. We also describe an approach to evaluating the proposed design that yielded actionable recommendations specific to hospital-driven design goals.

Briefly highlighting aspects of the evolution of ergonomics, this introduction to the present volume emphasizes the breadth of the field and acquaints the reader with the emergence of cultural ergonomics as a new sub-discipline. It interweaves in the account comments by the editor on the book’s twelve chapters and some notes relating to the new addition.

Constraints on human-machine systems’ performance are generally treated as due to anatomy, physiology, and cognitive or behavioral limits. It is assumed that research findings can be universally applied to the design of such systems. It is now clear that social and cultural constraints are equally important, even in simple work systems. Context and culture are at least as important as limits of cognitive ability, and in many situations social and cultural factors are the dominant constraints on performance. This is particularly true in the cross-cultural transfer of advanced technological systems. A particularly clear example is given by population stereotypes of stimulus-response relations.

Decision-making in human resources management is done at both the micro and macro level of organizations. Unfortunately, the decisions at each level are often executed without consideration of the other, and current theory reflects this issue. In response to a call for integration of micro- and macro-level processes by Huselid and Becker (2011), we review the extant literature on strategic human resources and high-performance work systems to provide recommendations for both research and practice. We aimed to contribute to the literature by proposing the incorporation of the situation awareness literature into the high-performance work systems framework to encourage the alignment of human resources efforts. In addition, we provide practical recommendations for integrating situation awareness and strategic decision-making. We discuss a process for the employment of situation awareness in organizations that might not only streamline human resources management but also result in more effective decisions. Additional considerations include implications for teams, boundary conditions (e.g., individual differences), and measurement.