The Ergonomics Society of South Africa (ESSA) is a federated member of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA).
As a society, ESSA, aims to promote an awareness of ergonomics in South Africa and both the health and safety and productivity benefits that can be derived from the implementation of sound ergonomics principles.
Ergonomics is the science of work. Derived from the Greek words ergon (work) and nomos (laws).
The terms ‘ergonomics’ and ‘human factors’ can be used interchangeably, although ‘ergonomics’ is often used in relation to the physical aspects of the enviroment, such as workstations and control panels, while ‘human factors’ is often used in relation to wider systems in which people work.
The official International Ergonomics Association (IEA) definition of ergonomics (or human factors) is as follows: “Ergonomics (or Human Factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimise human well-being and overall system performance.
Ergonomists (or Human Factors Specialists) contribute to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people. Taken from http://iea.cc/
Practicing Ergonomists (or Human Factors Specialists) are likely to come from a number of diverse areas, but all will be concerned with the assessment of people in their working environments. Ergonomics (or Human Factors) in Industrially Developing Countries (IDCs) is a major focus for ESSA as we work at growing the discipline in Africa.
2023/08/11ESSA launches new membership platform
2023/07/31Newsletter
The upcoming calendar is currently empty.