Human Factors Specialist, engineering design

How did you find about ergonomics?
I first found out about ergonomics whilst at university studying applied psychology, during modules related to occupational psychology. I found modules such as work design and personnel management very interesting but wasn’t too sure how could this knowledge could be applied to the workplace. The work design modules gave me an insight about how everyday things are designed for humans to enable them to be used easily, and how frustrating it can be for when they have not been designed with the user in mind.

Why a career in ergonomics?
When I left university I was unsure what job I wanted to do; most of my friends went onto do a PGCE to become teachers but that wasn’t for me. I knew I wanted to use my psychology degree on a daily basis as I find the study of people fascinating. I looked into many different career options in which psychology can be used, from management positions, marketing, educational psychology and even thought about joining the RAF as an Officer. I found that employers wanted more from me than a degree; they wanted life experience and additional skills. I ended up working as a Risk Assistant where I completed a course in health and safety - General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health. I started to realise how important human factors is in terms of safety, as I became interested in the things people do to make their job easier to save themselves time, even if this means sometimes putting themselves at risk, and how for example, good task design, staffing and procedures can reduce this.

What’s been the most interesting project you’ve worked on?
The most interesting project I have worked on is the Windscale Piles Decommissioning project for which we provided human factors support. The Windscale reactors are located in Windermere and operated until there was a fire in one of the reactors in 1957. For this project I provide ergonomics guidance on a number of issues as they arose in the design, for example, the design of a shift system, operation of remote handling tools and labelling of a waste container. I have also completed a task analysis of the process of waste separation, resulting in production of recommendations to the design team. This involved assessing training, procedures, user interfaces, communication systems and identifying the potential for human error and improved design. I enjoy travelling up to site and meeting the project team to discuss the design and operation of the equipment. The project team are really helpful and fun to work with.

What’s been the most challenging work you’ve done?
So far, all of it! By choosing to apply human factors within a high hazard industry, I’m faced with the challenge of applying my specialist knowledge to areas outside my technical discipline. I have to understand the engineering side of the designs and safety aspects of the project before I can identity any human factors issues. This creates challenges for other team members too, for example, physicists have to explain nuclear reactors to me, a psychology graduate.

What do you do on a typical day?
There is isn’t really a typical day as a consultant, I work on a variety of projects, sometimes more than one at a time, and this makes my work very challenging and interesting as no two projects are alike. My work involves going to a client’s site and conducting ergonomic walk downs of the facility or particular task, and talking to all levels of the project team from operators to project managers. My job is very varied, one day I could be looking at the control panel of an experimental reactor, the next, attending marketing meetings with associates. As well as technical work, I chair the monthly HF team meeting in which we discuss current project and issues. I also get involved with business development and marketing... and organise department nights out!

What do you find satisfying about your work?
I like the variety of my work, as a consultant I work for different clients so no job is the same, which means I never get bored. This also lets me work with a range of people, teams and visit different facilities over all the UK, and there are further opportunities to work farther afield. I’d say I am a people person so I enjoy chatting and meeting to new people. I enjoy working in human factors as the subject area is so extensive, there are so many different areas to specialise in, so I know there is still so much more to learn and experience. I am currently looking forward to returning to the second year of my masters in Ergonomics and Safety at Work at Cranfield University. This has allowed me to meet other ergonomists and learn what they do for a living too.