 |  HUMAN FACTORS DEFINED
For several decades now, the fields of human factors, often called ergonomics, has taken on increasing importance in the understanding of a variety of everyday events, such as the elegant functioning of well-designed systems, as well as accidents and related failures in numerous settings. Human factors is really a blend of two, separate fields. One of these, human performance, is the study of human capabilities and limitations to 'do things' such as typing, throwing footballs, or driving a car; these are often called 'skills.' The other field, engineering, is typically the design of 'machines,' broadly defined, such as kitchens, nuclear power plants, or automobiles--that is, man-made 'products.' In those many situations where humans use products, scientists have realized that the effective use of the human-machine system depends on the ways in which the human's capabilities and limitations are blended with the physical design of the machine or product. Human factors has become an important way to analyze the effectiveness of products, and the extent to which certain products may be defective in some way.
In the area of accident analysis and reconstruction, a chief goal is to understand how a particular accident or failure occurred in the use of some product. A moment's reflection will reveal that the human's capabilities and limitations--i.e., human performance and human factors--are key features in many, of not all, of the steps involved in the development of products. How a product is conceptualized, designed, built, tested, critiqued, advertised, demonstrated, repaired, or ultimately used depends on the ways in which the features of some environment interact with those of the human. If the human and the environment in which he or she is functioning do not match well, there can be failures in any one of the links in the development of a product, with the result that the product will not serve its purpose well, and it may even be unreasonably dangerous.
Driving is certainly an important skill in our world, and vehicle accidents are costly in many ways. As was shown several years ago, nearly 85% of all automobile accidents could be traced to human failures, and very few of the causes were related to equipment (e.g., tire failures) or the environment (e.g., high winds or ice). Indeed, as we might suspect, most of the accidents were caused by lapses in judgment, perception of the environment, failures in movement control and vehicle handling, and the like.
VSI Human Factors methods of analysis can include, review of police documented evidence, photographic evidence, consideration of witness testimony, human subject testing to evaluate human responses to their environment, and interpretation and analysis of scientific literature about processes in human functioning. The VSI Human Factors staff have decades of experience in providing our clients with timely technical analysis and the ability to present their findings with exceptional oral and visual presentation.
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