The History Of Human Factors And Ergonomics

The author of this essay is trying to create a conceptual structure for human factors and ergonomics, and he believes that it is important to do so because of the technological civilization that we live in. He also believes that human factors and ergonomics are unique in that they have a strong connection to technology.

Human factors/ergonomics (HFE) as a discipline has grown by accretions rather than having been developed systematically and deliberately. Therefore, this book's goal creates a formal conceptual structure for HFE. It is intended as a contribution to cultural history because (a) ours is a technological civilization, and (b) one cannot understand technology outside of the various disciplines that make up that technology. A disciplinary history is highly specialized, but the author maintains that HFE is distinctive in being the only discipline that relates humans to technology. Other behavioral disciplines like anthropology have little connection with technology, and this is what makes HFE important in the present historical era.