| human factors | Approach that uses knowledge of human capabilities and limitations to design systems, organizations, jobs, machines, tools, and consumer products for safe, efficient, and comfortable human use; synonymous with human factors engineering or human factors psychology.
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| ergonomics | The study of the physical demands of work such as reaching, stretching, lifting, and carrying.
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| user friendliness | Positive characteristic of machines, tools, and consumer products that are designed to be comfortable, easy to use, and compatible with human capacities and limitations.
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| input component | Component that provides information to a human or computer.
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| output component | Component that receives information from a human or computer and converts that information to action.
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| display | Device such as a computer screen that provides an individual with information.
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| control | Device such as a keyboard or mouse that permits an individual to take actions.
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| musculoskeletal disorders | Disorders of the lower back and upper extremities (arm, shoulder, wrist) which are the most commonly studied injuries related to workplace safety.
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| human-computer interface (HCI) | The interaction between a human and a computer.
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| automation | A method of completing work through the use of mechanical or electrical devices rather than through direct human action.
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| human error | The view that if humans can be taken out of the system, the threat of accidents will be greatly reduced; often used as an explanation for a catastrophic accident.
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| user-centered design | Approach to human-computer interaction research that focuses on the user during system development.
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| usability engineering | Approach that involves an iterative process in which a basic system is designed and then redesigned with input from users.
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| participatory design | Design adopted in usability engineering that is stated in user-directed terms.
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| ethnographically informed design | Type of user-centered design that takes into account power relationships, tacit knowledge of the organization and its procedures, and organizational climate and culture.
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| shift work | The scheduling of work into temporal shifts; common in particular occupational groups such as nurses, blue-collar workers, and public safety personnel.
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| circadian cycle | The 24-hour physiological cycle in which humans tend to be active during hours of light and inactive (e.g., sleeping or resting) during hours of darkness.
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| fixed shift | Workers are permanently assigned to a particular shift.
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| rotating shift | Workers are moved from shift to shift over a certain period of time.
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| flextime | Schedule in which individual workers are given discretion over the time they report to work and the time they leave work on a given day.
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| compressed workweek | Schedule that permits an employee to work for longer than eight hours a day and fewer than five days a week; most common is the 4/10 plan, which permits the worker to accumulate the 40 hours of the workweek in four days.
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| motivational approach to work design | Approach that assumes that a worker is capable of behaving safely, but may choose not to, so the worker must be motivated to behave safely.
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| mechanistic approach | Approach to work design and redesign that is used to increase productive efficiency through the modification of tasks or equipment.
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| perceptual-motor approach | Approach to work design and redesign that is used to reduce errors or accidents through knowledge of perceptual motor skills and abilities.
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| biological approach | Approach to work design and redesign used to reduce injuries and increase the physical comfort of the workers through the reduction of fatigue and discomfort.
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| Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 | Federal legislation that requires employers to give applicants and employees with disabilities the same consideration as other applicants and employees, and to make certain adaptations in the work environment to accommodate disabilities. Applies to a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities (e.g., sitting, standing, or sleeping).
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| accommodation | Adjustments or modifications to the work environment provided by an employer to enable people with disabilities to have equal employment opportunities. A reasonable accommodation must be provided if a person with a disability needs one in order to apply for a job, perform a job, or enjoy benefits equal to those offered to other employees.
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| Occupational Safety and Health Act | Federal law passed in 1970 to ensure, as far as possible, that every working man and woman in the nation has safe and healthful working conditions.
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| Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) | One of two federal agencies established to maintain and enforce the Occupational Safety and Health Act; plays a regulatory role in terms of establishing and enforcing health and safety standards.
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| National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) | One of two federal agencies established to maintain and enforce the Occupational Safety and Health Act; responsible for conducting research on safety and work stress.
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| engineering approach to safety | Approach that assumes an individual will engage in an action that might lead to injury unless the environment prevents that action.
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| safeguard | Part of the engineering approach to safety; acknowledges that although a hazard cannot be designed out of an environment, guards can be put in place that will eliminate the possibility of an injury.
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| cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) | A common form of workplace injury involving the upper extremities (arm, shoulder, wrist).
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| carpal tunnel syndrome | Injury of the hand and wrist caused by stress from various tools, keyboards, and computer "mice," resulting in inflammation, swelling, pain, and numbness.
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| accident proneness | The general notion that certain individuals are more likely to have accidents than others. Although accident proneness does not exist as a general syndrome, research indicates that certain individual difference characteristics may be associated with unsafe behavior.
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| personnel approach | Approach that emphasizes the selection of particular groups of individuals identified by individual difference characteristics, or that provides training to overcome potential risk factors prevalent in some individuals.
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| motivational approach to work place safety | Approach to work design and redesign that is used to increase worker satisfaction and reduce turnover through modification of motivational levels.
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| safety culture | Type of culture in an organization that can range along a continuum from a strong emphasis on safety to disregard for it.
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| microculture | Occurs when a work group develops its own view of a particular culture (e.g., safety) in an organization.
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| frustration-aggression hypothesis | Argues that frustration leads to aggression, a hypothesis which ultimately was found to be too broad when it became clear that aggression was only one possible response to frustration and that not everyone responded to frustration with aggression.
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| justice hypothesis of workplace violence | Hypothesis that proposes that some violent acts can be understood as reactions by an employee against perceived injustice.
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| bullying | Harassing, offending, socially excluding, or assigning humiliating tasks to a person of subordinate status repeatedly and over a long period of time.
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