Human Factors for Sustainability

Theoretical Perspectives and Global Applications

Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, Klaus Fischer, Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, Klaus Fischer

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351269667
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

This book deals with the central question of how human factors and ergonomics (HFE) might contribute to solutions for the more sustainable development of our world. The contents of the book are highly compatible with the recent political agenda for sustainable development as well as with sustainability research from other disciplines.The book aims to summarize and profile the various empirical and theoretical work arising from the field of "Human Factors and Sustainable Development" in the last decade. The book gives a systematic overview of relevant theoretical concepts, their underlying philosophies, as well as global application fields and case studies.

1	How Has HFE Responded to the Global Challenges of Sustainability?

Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, and Klaus Fischer

CONTENTS

Introduction

Global Sustainability Requirements

Changing World of Work

Historical Progress from HFE

Theoretical Approaches Within HFE to Address Sustainability

Human Factors and Sustainable Development

Green Ergonomics

Ergoecology

Sustainable Work Systems Concepts

Contributions From HFE to Design and Work Issues

Community Sustainability

Sustainable Organizations

Design of Tasks and Jobs

The Built Environment

Design of Products, Interfaces, and Systems

Organization of This Book

References

Introduction

Global Sustainability Requirements

Fundamental ecological, social, and economic transformations are influencing our health and well-being and are changing the way we work worldwide. The overall issue at stake is that of sustainability or the sustainable development of human welfare and prosperity that is inseparable from the state of our global ecosphere. As commonly known, the term “sustainable development” is attributed to the World Commission on Economic Development (WCED, 1987), which defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From this perspective, sustainable development is primarily a social justice project focusing on equitable development to meet human needs while still recognizing that the preservation of natural resources is necessary to fulfill these needs. A similar view emerges from the “traditional” objectives of human factors and ergonomics (HFE), which is by definition concerned with optimizing human well-being and overall system performance.

However, bearing in mind that we have entered the Anthropocene age (Crutzen, 2002; Steffen et al., 2011) – the geological period where human activity has had a measurable impact on geophysical and climate systems – it becomes evident that a separate focus on either ecological, social, or economic aspects does not fit with the complexity of our real world.

The Anthropocene poses great challenges to human existence, including climate change (Rosenzweig et al., 2008; Sobel et al., 2016; Steffen et al., 2018); pollution of our air (Landrigan et al., 2017; Montzka et al., 2018), freshwater (Lebreton et al., 2018), and oceans (Paerl, 1997; Vitousek et al., 1997); and unprecedented species extinction (Ceballos, Ehrlich, & Dirzo, 2017). These are threats not just to our environment but to human health and welfare at all levels. Climate change will result in rising sea levels that threaten coastal and island communities, droughts that will exacerbate food shortages (Hecht et al., 2012), and mass migration (Rigaud et al., 2018). These changes have also already had a significant impact on our health (Andersen, 2017; Landrigan et al., 2017; Lelieveld et al., 2015; Patz et al., 2014; World Health Organization, 2017) and well-being (Pimentel et al., 2007; Steentjes et al., 2017).

These inseparable links between environmental soundness, human well-being, and economic prosperity are also reflected in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of our current Agenda 2030 that was submitted by the global community of states in 2015. Besides its multidimensional target-frame – which may also lead to dilemmas and conflicts in the course of implementation – the SDGs are also draw on an integrated perspective between the Global North and Global South without neglecting specific requirements and responsibilities on the way to (more) sustainability. Under the SDGs’ umbrella, issues of “traditional” HFE concern (e.g., human health, education and lifelong learning, decent work, and economic prosperity) are as well represented as those introducing the newer discussion about HFE in the context of ecological sustainability.

The role of HFE with regards to these SDGs is addressed in Chapter 4 of this book. Johnston et al. (2007), however, have noted that the emphasis on sustainable development has meant that the focus has been on human development and not on the resource limitations and misuses that lead to inequalities in development opportunities. Johnston et al. (2007) argue that this has led to a proliferation of definitions and modifications to the original sustainable development definition. Similarly, Thatcher (2012) noted that similar definitional problems had plagued the early work in the HFE discipline.

Changing World of Work

Taking an international perspective and referring to the sustainability challenges mentioned above, the analyses of the International Labour Organization (ILO) are a valuable resource for identifying recent developments and megatrends that are changing our world of work (ILO, 2017).

First, there has been significant progress achieved with regards to several aspects, including (ILO, 2017, p. 1ff):

• Job creation has been positive, albeit slightly below the rate of population growth.
• There has been increased female labor market participation.
• Working poverty has declined.
• There have been gains in social protection.
• There have been improvements in occupational health and safety.
• Countries have improved their ratification of ILO conventions.
• Progress in fundamental principles and rights at work has occurred.

However, the ILO has also noted several negative aspects (ILO, 2017, p. 4ff):

• Unemployment levels remain high.
• Poor quality employment remains a key concern.
• There is a diversification in different forms of employment (increasing nonstandard forms of employment).
• Income inequality remains elevated in most countries.

Setting aside the international perspective for a moment and looking specifically at developments in advanced economies (i.e., developed labor markets), one realizes that there is a growing polarization of labor market opportunities between high- and low-skill jobs, unemployment and underemployment (especially among young people), stagnating incomes for a large proportion of households, and significant income inequality (Manyika, 2017).

If we look at the megatrends and the implications for the future of work, then “globalization” remains one of these trends (ILO, 2017, p. 8). In the past, the internalization of production work was foregrounded using specified framing conditions (e.g., tax reductions or disregarding national legislation) to create Export Processing Zones in the Global South, especially in areas with labor-intensive production processes (Zink, 2009). Since then, new communication and information technologies, particularly the internet, have combined with the idea of “hyper-specialization” (Malone et al., 2011) (i.e., dividing [knowledge] work into very small “chunks”). This has led to the digitization of knowledge work and emergent types of supply chains because an (unknown) global crowd has become the new partner for crowdsourcing (see Zink’s Chapter 5 in this book). In the past, the problem of creating “decent work” was mainly related to manual labor work, but it has now also become a problem for highly skilled knowledge work.

As mentioned above, globalization is now also related to technology. While technology, or technological change, is a major driver of growth and development, it is equally associated with a range of other ...