title: Fundamentals of systems ergonomics/human factors.
abstract: Ergonomics/human factors is, above anything else, a systems discipline and profession, applying a systems philosophy and systems approaches. Many things are labelled as system in today's world, and this paper specifies just what attributes and notions define ergonomics/human factors in systems terms. These are obviously a systems focus, but also concern for context, acknowledgement of interactions and complexity, a holistic approach, recognition of emergence and embedding of the professional effort involved within organization system. These six notions are illustrated with examples from a large body of work on rail human factors.
authors.affiliation: Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. Electronic address: john.wilson@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D006804:Ergonomics; D006801:Humans; D008328:Man-Machine Systems; D011890:Railroads; D013598:Systems Theory; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: Rail systems; Systems engineering; Systems ergonomics; Systems human factors