What is a Human Factors Expert or Ergonomics Expert?

The field of human factors is defined as a multidisciplinary applied science aimed at optimizing the relationship between humans and technology. Human factors practitioners (also known as human factors engineers, human factors psychologists, or ergonomists, depending on the area of specialization) apply data about human behavior, abilities, limitations, and other characteristics to the design of technology, objects, facilities, and environments that people live and work in as well as their tasks and jobs in order to make them effective, productive, safe, and comfortable. Human factors experts typically have advanced education and knowledge of psychology (perception and cognition) and/or physiology, as well as strong experimental and statistical backgrounds. In short, they are practitioner/scientists that are well educated in human behavior and/or physiology, and some consider this the distinction between a human factors expert and a usability expert.

The hallmark of a human factors expert or ergonomics expert is user or task analysis. In general, task analysis is a broad array of techniques and methods aimed at identifying how users think, move, and behave. Task analysis can include activities such as interviews, observations, focus groups, usability testing, card sorting tasks, etc. The aim of task analysis is to understand the user and her tasks in order to aid design and identify flaws in a product or design. Sometimes, unfortunately, human factors experts must evaluate the causes of disasters, accidents, etc. in order to assess the error to be the fault of the human or the machine.