Public Comments Sought on HFES Standard
HFES 400-2021: Human Readiness Level Scale
in the System Development Process
Due to a recent ANSI audit, HFES is making limited substantive changes to one of its approved American National Standards available for public review. The changes are to HFES 400-2021: Human Readiness Level Scale in the System Development Process and the underlined text below is available for public comment.
You can access the changes and the public review forms on the standards development page of HFES.org. The deadline to comment is Monday, January 22, 2024. Send comments to: HFES400@hfes.org
HFES is a member of and approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as an ANSI-accredited standards developer.
Because the HRL scale focuses on readiness for human use, the role of human users at each level becomes a much more relevant consideration as compared to the TRL scale. As stated in Table 4-2, HRL 5 is the latest level to begin engaging representative users during demonstration and testing. While it is desirable to incorporate representative users whenever possible, human systems experts may consult and collect data from any types of users who are available at any time throughout the process. Samples of convenience (e.g., college students, members of the design team, and retired operators) may be a practical option to facilitate data collection in the early phases of design and development. If representative users are available to participate, they can and should be used at any HRL level. For instance, representative users of legacy systems might be interviewed at HRL 1 and HRL 2 to understand key human-technology interactions, potential sources of human error and misuse, and potential human performance issues and risks. By HRL 5, however, it is no longer acceptable to continue using samples of convenience. Representative users must be involved at HRL 5 and above.