The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

26.6. Human Factors Engineers as a Part of the Project Team: What Do They Do?

NOTE

HFE translates users' needs, standards, and guidelines into project-specific requirements and specifications.

The human factors engineering specialist needs to be an integral part of the product team. In the concept phase, the HFE professional works with the project team to perform studies and analyses to identify user needs. In the design phase, the HFE team member defines user requirements and specifications by applying scientific standards and guidelines that optimize the function of the product for human use. It is their responsibility to translate the users' needs, standards, and guidelines into project-specific specifications and requirements for the rest of the team (Chapanis, 1996). The HFE professional works closely with the safety engineer throughout the program to evaluate use errors for the likelihood of misuse, injury, or death. It is critical that the HF engineer be involved in the risk analysis, since much of the HFE information is helpful in assessing user-related hazards. As part of verification and validation, HFE tests the design against the user-related specifications and requirements using prototypes and the final production units.

There are a number of tools and techniques applicable to the identification and testing of user requirements. In addition to cost and schedule, the availability of equipment and users factor into the decision of what methods to employ.