Human Factors Engineering, Workplace Safety, and Productivity Improvement in Industrial Environments

Abstract

Human factors engineering (HFE) is an important area of the cross between ergonomics, cognitive psychology, systems design, and industrial safety science and has a significant impact on the safety of the workplace and the productivity of the operation in manufacturing environments. The objective of this study was to explore how the principles of HFE are applied, understood and experienced in the industry and to investigate the connection between ergonomic practices, quality of HM interaction, the safety culture in an organization and measurable productivity outcomes. The study adopted a qualitative research design, informed by an interpretivist paradigm, and involved a purposive sampling of 23 participants: Industrial workers, production supervisors, a safety manager and a HFE consultant from some manufacturing units of the four industries in the study – automotive, chemical, pharmaceutical, heavy engineering, and construction. A semi-structured, indepth interview was conducted supplemented with structured workplace observations and a systematic review of the organizational safety reports and policy documentation. These themes were identified through a thematic analysis of the resulting data, which produced four main themes: ergonomic environment quality, human-machine interaction dynamics, safety behaviour and culture, and productivity linkages. It was discovered that poor ergonomic design of the workstation geometry, repetitive motion hazards, noise exposure and lighting inadequacy, are the major sources of occupational injury risk and productivity losses in the observed industrial work areas. HFE integration scores were found to be significantly lower for organizations with a low score compared to those with a high score, with the latter scoring 17 percentage points higher in terms of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and 72% lower in terms of lost-time injury rates. It is concluded that the integration of HFE is not just a compliance requirement, but a very important investment in productivity, and recommendations for industrial practitioners, safety practitioners and policy makers are provided to help put the concepts of HFE into practice and demonstrate how to achieve better operational levels.