Misconceptions of human factors concepts

Like many scientific topics, Human Factors, and Ergonomics concepts are susceptible to being misunderstood by people unfamiliar with the subject matter. Most of the time these misunderstandings are harmless, like when a safety poster within a work setting encourages employees to 'overcome complacency'. This misunderstanding of complacency suggests it is a motivational aspect of human behaviour correctable with encouragement, whereas the human factors approach to overcoming complacency would be to evaluate how task design could diminish the destructive consequences of unexpected changes within a routine setting. No harm comes from the message within the safety poster, other than some wasted ink and paper, but misconceptions among particular audiences can eventually result in dire consequences for the human operator. This paper presents recent evidence that the concepts are being misapplied by casual consumers of human factors, particularly in the aftermath of accidents within complex systems, in ways detrimental to the core mission of improving the well-being of the human operator. Later, because this special issue presents new ways to demonstrate value via return on investment, practical efforts we can take to overcome such misconceptions are suggested.