04.02.2013 Views

Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>Regional</strong> <strong>Basic</strong> <strong>Professional</strong> <strong>Tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>Course</strong> (BPTC) on Nuclear Safety<br />

hav<strong>in</strong>g separate orig<strong>in</strong>s on either side of the Atlantic Ocean but cover<strong>in</strong>g the same<br />

technical areas. In general, a human factor is a physical or cognitive property of an<br />

<strong>in</strong>dividual or social behavior which is specific to humans and <strong>in</strong>fluences function<strong>in</strong>g of<br />

technological systems as well as human‐environment equilibriums. The recognition and<br />

study of human factors is important for safety because they can be the cause of serious<br />

human errors on the levels of physical behavior and socio‐cognitive decision‐mak<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

Human factors <strong>in</strong>volves the study of all aspects of the way humans relate to the world<br />

around them, with the aim of improv<strong>in</strong>g operational performance, safety, through life<br />

costs and/or adoption through improvement <strong>in</strong> the experience of the end user. The terms<br />

human factors and ergonomics have only been widely used <strong>in</strong> recent times; the field's<br />

orig<strong>in</strong> is <strong>in</strong> the design and use of aircraft dur<strong>in</strong>g World War II to improve aviation safety.<br />

It was <strong>in</strong> reference to the psychologists and physiologists work<strong>in</strong>g at that time and the<br />

work that they were do<strong>in</strong>g that the terms "applied psychology" and “ergonomics” were<br />

first co<strong>in</strong>ed.<br />

Specializations with<strong>in</strong> this “human factors” field <strong>in</strong>clude cognitive ergonomics, usability,<br />

human computer/human mach<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>teraction, and user experience eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g. New<br />

terms are be<strong>in</strong>g generated all the time. For <strong>in</strong>stance, “user trial eng<strong>in</strong>eer” may refer to a<br />

human factors professional who specializes <strong>in</strong> user trials. Although the names change,<br />

human factors professionals share an underly<strong>in</strong>g vision that through application of an<br />

understand<strong>in</strong>g of human factors the design of equipment, systems and work<strong>in</strong>g methods<br />

will be improved, directly affect<strong>in</strong>g people’s lives for the better.<br />

Human factors practitioners come from a variety of backgrounds, though predom<strong>in</strong>antly<br />

they are psychologists (eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, cognitive, perceptual, and experimental) and<br />

physiologists. Designers (<strong>in</strong>dustrial, <strong>in</strong>teraction, and graphic), anthropologists, technical<br />

communication scholars and computer scientists also contribute. Though some<br />

practitioners enter the field of human factors from other discipl<strong>in</strong>es, both M.S. and Ph.D.<br />

❙ 702 ❙

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!