Busting Myths About International Ergonomics Standards

Keywords Human Factors Engineering of Computer Workstations HFES International Ergonomics Standards
Standards groups

Our sub-TAGs have been operating gamely for some time with very small numbers. All the sub-TAGs, however, could benefit from additional members and more U.S. expert participation in their working groups. The need for sub-TAG members is perhaps greatest in SC5 (Ergonomics of Physical Environments). This area concerns all aspects of the physical environment (e.g., noise, air
quality, thermal conditions, lighting). In addition, several documents
being developed within SC5 relate to noise and thermal conditions in vehicular environments, for which we would especially welcome more subject matter expertise. Please contact Sherry Chappell (sherry.chappell satechnologies.com) regarding opportunities that are available in SC5. In the ISO process, unless a country has nominated an expert for a working group, it will receive little or no information about what is going on in that group, other than being notified of upcoming meetings and receiving the documents that are distributed to
the sub-TAG for vote. Thus, an important goal for me, as the U.S.

TAG chair, is to solicit at least one expert to serve in each TC 159 working group so we will never be in the dark about what is going on in ergonomics standards work in any area. Right now, we have U.S. experts in many working groups but by no means all of them, and, as noted previously, we are permitted to have multiple experts. So, if you are interested in joining any working group, please contact the relevant sub-TAG chair for more information. Finally, we have an opening for a vice-chair of SC5. Ideally, this should be someone who has expertise in at least one of the subject matter areas covered by the working group. The responsibilities of the vice-chair are to serve on the sub-TAG as a member, to fill in for the chair during periods when she may be traveling or otherwise unavailable, and to document comments and votes that are due to be collected and compiled. Again, if interested, contact Sherry Chappell.

Metadata
Document identifier
ISO TC 159
Date published
2008-01
Document type
bulletin
Pages
8
Defines standard
Replaced/Superseded by document(s)
Cancelled by
Amended by
File MIME type Size (KB) Language Download
0108bulletin.pdf application/pdf   336.09 KB English DOWNLOAD!
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Cover images
Introduction

Globalization was a recurring theme at the 2007 HFES Annual
Meeting in Baltimore. Achieving worldwide attention for human
factors/ergonomics will be increasingly important for HFES in
the coming years. International standards work is an activity that
can enhance our worldwide reputation in the field. HFES is responsible for the U.S. mirror group (otherwise known as a Technical Advisory Group [TAG]) to the International Standards Organization Technical Committee for Ergonomics (ISO TC 159). This means that the TAG is responsible for determining the U.S. position on draft standards developed within TC 159 to ensure that the resulting standards are of high technical quality and in the best interests of the United States.

Author(s)
Daryle Gardner-Bonneau,
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