About the Book
This book provides a great collection of work design testimonies with transferable lessons across many industry sectors and domains. It discusses physiological and cognitive parameters, teamwork, social aspects, organizational, and broader factors that influence work design initiatives.
It is important to learn from practitioner stories and real-world conditions that affect the theoretical applications of work design. Readers will benefit from understanding the struggles and successes of the authors. The chapters cover a wide spectrum of human factors and user needs, including decision making in (ab)normal and safety-critical situations, physical ergonomics, design-in-use modifications, and tailored training. The text examines holistic approaches that lead to improved work methods, worker engagement, and effective system-wide interventions.
Ergonomic Insights: Successes and Failures of Work Design is primarily written for professionals and graduate students in the fields of ergonomics, human factors, and occupational health and safety. Educators will also benefit from using these case studies in class lessons.
Table of Contents:
1. Human impacts on work design. 2. The underestimated value of less-than-ideal and proactive ergonomic solutions. 3. Return-to-work and 24/7 warehouse operations. 4. Designing a visually comfortable workplace. 5. Opportunities and challenges for designing quality work in residential aged care. 6. When success is not success, and we strive to do better. 7. Reshaping lifestyle changes in a heavy weight world. 8. Indian farm tractor seat design assessment for driver's comfort. 9. Off-The-Road tyre management: the good, the bad and the ugly. 10: The Human Factors practitioner in engineering contractor managed investment projects. 11. Deciphering the knowledge used by front-line workers in abnormal situations. 12. The tyranny of misusing documented rules and procedures. 13. Creating ownership and dealing with design and work system flaws. 14. Stuck in a holding pattern: human factors training development for sports and recreational aviation. 15. Undertrained workforce and poor system designs. 16. The ergonomics consultants lot is not an easy one. 17. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams: Reflections on a poorly designed tram driver-cab. 18. Creating conditions for successful design-in-use. 19. New scientific methods and old school models in ergonomic system development. 20. It’s only a reporting form. 21. SAfER way to design work.
About the Author :
Dr Nektarios Karanikas is Associate Professor of Health, Safety and Environment at the School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health, QUT. He was awarded his doctorate in Safety and Quality Management from Middlesex University (UK) and his MSc in Human Factors & Safety Assessment in Aeronautics from Cranfield University (UK). He holds engineering, health & safety, human factors and project management professional credentials and has been an active member of various prestigious international and regional associations.
Dr Karanikas graduated from the Hellenic Air Force Academy as an aeronautical engineer and worked as an officer in the Hellenic Air Force for more than 18 years before he resigned at the rank of Lt. Colonel in 2014. Whilst in the Air Force, he served in various positions related to maintenance and quality management and accident prevention and investigations, and he was lecturer and instructor for safety and human factors courses. After his resignation, he started his full-time academic career as Assoc. Prof. of Safety & Human Factors in the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences between 2014-2019.
Dr Karanikas has published numerous academic journal articles, including papers in top-tier journals, peer-reviewed conference papers and book chapters and has been invited to speak at several international and regional summits and workshops. In 2020, he published a co-edited book titled ‘Safety Insights: Success and Failure Stories of Practitioners’. He is associate editor for Safety Science and a member of editorial boards and a regular reviewer of safety and human factors-related journals. He also volunteers in various activities of professional bodies in Australia and internationally.
Dr Sara Pazell is a work design strategist and the managing director for ViVA health at work (work design specialty consultancy), working across all industries. This has operated for more than 17 years in Australia, helping clients solve real-world challenges and design "good work". Sara was awarded her doctorate in human factors & ergonomics from the University of Queensland through the Sustainable Minerals Institute, her Master of Business Administration with a major in international business development from the University of La Verne, California, and her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy from the University of South Australia. Sara has managed business development projects in Australia, Southeast Asia, and the United States, including assuming roles as an administrator and executive director of health care organisations.
Sara holds affiliations with five Australian universities, including that as an Industry Fellow with the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland. Sara provides teaching and research support in organisational science, business management, human factors, ergonomics, health and wellness, safety, and allied health. Sara is part of the international advisory committee for the WELL Movement concept v2 and an expert faculty member for Australia’s only certified Wellness WiseTM Practitioner training program. Sara was the committee chair for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia’s Good Work Design position paper and supporting resources. Her other passions include instructing yoga, sports, and strength & conditioning.
Review :
"Ergonomic Insights is an erudite, timely, and important contribution on the pathways to success and failure when applying ergonomics theory, principles, and methods in work design. Karanikas and Pazell have assembled a stellar cast of contributors who cover all manner of ergonomic work design issues, ranging from equipment and workspace design, training, and procedures, to workplace safety, incident reporting, and abnormal operations. The book will be an excellent resource for ergonomics researchers and practitioners who wish to help understand and optimise sociotechnical work systems. Buy it now, and the work systems of the future will benefit".
- Professor Paul Salmon, Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems, University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia)
"Ergonomic Insights edited by Dr Nektarios Karanikas and Dr Sara Pazell is an excellent addition to the literature as its chapters genuinely reveal each author’s work, who wrote from the trenches. Each contributor reflects on the lessons learned through success and failures in addressing the issues at hand, and the writing style is lucid and very much practitioner-oriented. I am confident that any reader who wants to understand the journey of what it takes to implement good work design will immensely benefit from this easy-to-read collection."
- Dr Rammohan Maikala, Subject Matter Expert at the National Safety Council (United States) and Editor for Ergonomics in Design & the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics.
"It is surprisingly rare in Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) to read about the messy reality of real practice, including practitioners' experiences, embedded as they are in diverse organisational, social, economic, technological, regulatory, and legal contexts. While diverse, these contexts and experiences are quite different to those of researchers embedded in academic contexts, who produce the overwhelming majority of written works on HFE. In this edited book, Nektarios Karanikas and Sara Pazell - who themselves have decades of experience in the world of practice - have brought together a diverse range of authors to cover ergonomics in a various sectors, in primary, secondary and tertiary industries. In the 21 chapters, the authors give honest and straightforward accounts real practice, via case studies and reflections. The book will be of great interest and value to practitioners, students, educators, and researchers who wish to understand the practice of HFE in the many contexts and constraints in which practice is embedded".
- Dr Steven Shorrock, Senior Specialist Safety & Human Factors at Eurocontrol (Europe) and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Sunshine Coast (Australia).
"What a great idea, a book that focusses on real world experiences of applying human factors and ergonomics principles. The examples cover a wide variety of industries from office environments through health, manufacturing, mining, construction and rail; and the authors all bring a wealth of experience to share. This is a thought-provoking book for student and practitioner alike."
- Robin Burgess-Limerick, PhD CPE FHFESA, Professor of Human Factors, Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane Qld 4072 Australia
