Indicator Tools and Methods

Analyzing and evaluating complex human interactions can be difficult, but various traditional tools and methodologies are available to allow scientific investigation of systems and designs from an ergonomic point of view, and indicate how these systems and designs can be improved or enhanced. In the Human Factors Lab at Ryerson, we are both evaluating existing tools and developing new ones for the ergonomic analysis of systems and designs.Tools may be very simple paper checklists for designers, or more sophisticated models and modelling approaches suitable for analyzing complex system issues.  The HFE lab aims to support a full range of design decisions – from high level tools that quantify the level of HF integration of the whole organisation, to detailed layout tools that can help optimize a workstation for minimum workload with reliable assembly times.

Apart from these traditional tools, there is also a growing array of computer-based virtual simulation and modelling methodologies and tools.