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FPE Hosts International Meeting

On January 24, 2025, the Foundation for Professional Ergonomics (FPE) held a meeting with several of the FPE International Advisory Committee attending, including: 

• Awad Aljuaid – Saudi Arabia
• Robert Bridger – United Kingdom
• Rauf Iqbal – India
• Riccardo Tartaglia – Italy
• Wei Zhang – China

While the FPE provided an update on their international activities, viz., the Impact Grants and the Dieter W. Jahns Student Award, the IAC provided summaries on the status of ergonomics in their countries.

• Saudi Arabia – Awad Aljuaid:  

  • There are challenges in Professional Ergonomics in Saudi Arabia.  There is a lack of standardization – no established occupational safety standards for ergonomists.  Ergonomics, in general, is not widely recognized or practiced.  There are few practitioners.   Research studies focus mainly on Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA).   There are only a few specialists in the field.  There is a gap between scholars and practitioners – a disconnect between academic research and real-world applications. 
  • The opportunities for Ergonomics in Saudi Arabia include (a) the Hajj Season – 2.3 million pilgrims speaking 47 languages in a 20 km² area; extreme temperatures reaching 53°C (128°F) pose ergonomic challenges; potential exists for human factors engineering to improve logistics and safety; (b) Saudi Giga and Mega Projects – $1 trillion investment across 7 major giga projects (e.g., NEOM, The Line, Red Sea Global – major, very large real estate development areas that offer housing, business, and tourism opportunities in a sustainable, regenerative environment); CEER – an electric car built in Saudi Arabia for the Middle East world; $50 billion dedicated to specific ergonomic-related developments; need for ergonomic design in workplaces, infrastructure, and smart cities; and (c) future growth in events and projects – expansion of vision-driven projects under Saudi Vision 2030; increasing demand for ergonomics in transportation, healthcare, and workplace design. 
  • Saudi Arabia presents significant ergonomic challenges due to climate, large-scale events, and a lack of standardization, but massive development projects and global events like Hajj offer major opportunities for growth in human factors engineering and ergonomics.

• United Kingdom – Robert Bridger:

  • It is a great time for ergonomics/human factors (E/HF) in the UK.  There is demand from all sectors:  aviation, rail, nuclear, etc.  All sectors are looking for mid-level and above career specialists.  The salaries are good, there is just not enough of them.  There is a bottleneck bringing new people into the profession.  There are not enough schools and courses to provide the education/training needed for human factors.  This limits the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) membership due to the shortage.  CIEHF has been innovative in developing Learning Pathways for various sectors, like, oil/gas, rail, healthcare, nuclear, etc. The companies work with institute to enable their employees to get an E/HF education.  Upon completion, they become Technical Member qualified to work in their sector, but not any other sector.  Industry is keen to invest in this type of training and are working with universities to develop these pathways.  This will drive the profession forward in the next few years
  • The CIEHF’s Professional Affairs Boad (PAB) has developed a new set of Professional Competencies.  It is the best Dr. Bridger has ever seen.  He worked on the IEA competencies framework about 20 years ago.  This is miles ahead.  The PAB are professional experts who work for large companies and review applications for membership.  The PAB knows what is needed in the marketplace.
  • Currently, the CIEHF has 2,100+ members.
  • Finally, Dr. Bridger is working on a new edition of his Introduction to Ergonomics.  He is being asked to include a chapter on all the recent technical innovations that impact E/HF, e.g., AI, exoskeleton, self-driving cars, collaborative robots, smart cities, etc.

• India – Rauf Iqbal: 

  • Professor Iqbal covered updates on ergonomics research, industry studies, and professional engagement, including (a) Conference participation and awards – Indian Institute of Management hosted the 4^th Asian Conference on Ergonomics and Design (ACED) in December 2023, 350+ attended; Rauf Iqbal received the IEA/Tsinghua Award (2022) and FPE 2023 Ergonomics Practitioner of the Year Award; (b) ergonomics study at GRP Ltd (manufacturer of reclaimed rubber from used tires) – there are issues in unloading and cracking operations - - spillage in cracking machines and safety risks in tying jumbo bags to pipe frames,  improved handling and containment strategies were proposed; (c) WTR Packing Process - current process challenges include manual stitching with bare hands and needle; workman must turn around repeatedly to get the thread and cutting thread with a blade is a safety hazard; the proposed solutions included manual industrial stapler, electronic bag stitching tool, and an electronic strapping tool for improved safety and efficiency. 
  • There is a new workplace improvement study at TVS Motors, ongoing research on logistics ergonomics with a focus on human factors in port, airport, and transportation operations. 
  • While there is an opportunity for collaboration between industry and academia for real-world ergonomic improvements, the challenges are a shortage of trained ergonomics professionals and implementation issues in industrial settings. 
• • Industry case studies need to focus on improving safety and efficiency in manufacturing and logistics.  There is a need for skilled ergonomists and stronger academia-industry collaboration for effective implementation.

• Italy – Riccardo Tartaglia: 

  • Dr. Tartaglia explored hot issues, opportunities, and challenges in professional ergonomics within clinical risk management, such as, (a) the European Union Synthesis Report on Healthcare highlighted three areas - - [i] a need for mental health reforms - greater focus is needed on de-stigmatization, prevention, treatment, and reintegration; [ii] there are healthcare equity concerns - there are regional disparities in access to quality care both across and within countries and [iii] investments towards resilient and accessible health systems need continuity, underpinned by robust data collection mechanisms; (b) the Italian health data system is broken – poor interoperability between regions and hospitals; lack of interoperable systems, hospitals in the north often cannot access patient records, resulting in repeated diagnostic tests and delayed care; in 2022, Italy spent €1.8 billion on digital health care, a 7% increase from the previous year, but it remains unclear whether these funds have been fully utilized and how they were spent, particularly in relation to electronic health records (EHRs); public distrust in the government exacerbates the issue, with over 90,000 Italians refusing to share their health data due to privacy concerns—a sentiment amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic; (c) healthcare ergonomics and patient safety issues – limited patient care time - Doctors spend only ~37% of their time on direct patient care, while nurses spend ~27% — the rest is spent on data entry and professional communication; healthcare digitization challenges; poor EHR interoperability between Italian regions leads to duplicated tests and delayed care; public distrust in data privacy hinders EHR adoption; (d) ergonomics and AI in healthcare – AI in self-care - 82% of healthcare leaders believe AI will transform self-care, 92% brands expect increased self-service healthcare options, 67% of organizations plan to implement AI-driven virtual assistants; AI in diagnostics - deep learning models for lung nodule detection showed higher sensitivity than human radiologists, detecting 78% of metastases missed by radiologists, AI has strong potential in medical imaging but needs ergonomic integration to ensure usability and accuracy; and (e) human-centered care emphasizing patient experience, safety, and clinical outcomes alongside cost-effectiveness, integration of ergonomics in medical device design - - moving beyond robotic surgery to include all medical tools and workflows; AI & automation in healthcare can reduce workload, but requires careful design to avoid errors and reliance issues.
  • Italy’s healthcare ergonomics needs improvement in digital systems, workflow efficiency, and AI integration; AI is revolutionizing diagnostics and self-care, but challenges in data privacy, interoperability, and human oversight remain; ergonomists should play a key role in designing patient-centered, AI-enhanced healthcare environments.

• China – Wei Zhang:  

  • China held its first international conference on Human Factors Engineering (HFE) and Interactions with AI Systems in 2024 where eight Chinese Academy of Sciences (or Engineering) members attended.  The National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF) major project on human-AI was discussed.  It focuses on machine behavior, human-computer collaboration, and decision-making models.
  • There are opportunities and challenges in Chinese HFE:
    • Opportunities include: 

1. Membership in the Chinese Ergonomics Society (CES) is growing, from 200+ in 2012 to 3,500-4,000 in 2023. 
2. AI is driving expansion of HFE applications (e.g., intelligent vehicle cockpits, application development). 
3. More young scholars, engineers from more diversified background are realizing the importance of HFE and joining the CES. HFE related journals are publishing more papers from China.
   • • Challenges are:

1. There is an Academia-Industry Gap.  The universities lag behind industry in applied HFE developments. 
2. There is a loss of influence.  Non-HFE specialists achieving similar results through rapid iteration can diminish the role of HFE professionals.  There is a need to promote HFE to more people and also actively join their product development process.
   • There is a growing importance of HFE in AI-driven industries. There is the need for stronger academic-industry collaboration and the necessity for HFE specialists to actively engage in real-world product development to maintain their relevance.