Human Factors and Ergonomics

02/19/2025: The California Janitor Workload Study: A Time Study and Physical Risk Assessment of Common Janitorial Tasks

About the webinar:

Janitorial work is labor-intensive. It involves a diverse range of tasks that expose workers to physical ergonomic risk factors like repetitive forceful hand exertions and moving heavy objects. Previous studies have reported on the high workloads and prevalence of work-related pain and injury among janitors. One component of workload is the time allowance for assigned cleaning tasks, which is commonly set using standard published worktimes.

Recent studies found that the accuracy of such time allocations varied for cleaning tasks performed in commercial office...

03/19/2025: Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing Applications in Injury Surveillance and Prevention

About the webinar:

This presentation will explore some of the machine learning and natural language processing approaches for analyzing noisy injury narratives collected from hospital emergency rooms and for identifying emerging product injuries from online data sources. Learners will also discuss how vision-based machine learning systems can be used for detection of personal protective equipment (PPE) compliance for safety glasses.

Become an Ergonomist with Meg Honan

Meg Honan is a consulting ergonomist for the UC Ergonomics Laboratory and course instructor. She was the Ergonomics Program Manager for Genentech’s South San Francisco site until 2018, where she engaged leadership at all levels, and interdisciplinary teams through participatory ergonomics.

ERG120 | 10/13 - 12/14/2025 | Physical Human Factors and Ergonomics

This 8-week, asynchronous online course teaches students how to identify the components of occupational tasks that can contribute to musculoskeletal injury and/or fatigue, quantify the risks associated with those components using the most relevant ergonomics assessment tools, and to integrate that information into conclusions regarding the acceptability of the risk. The course will use physical ergonomics as an example of evidence-based practice by not only covering the analysis tools, but also explaining their scientific basis and outlining their strengths and limitations for various work...

ERG110 | 10/12 - 12/13/2025 | Evidence-Based Human Factors and Ergonomics

This course is designed to prepare you to be a competent consumer of research by applying a thorough critique of various papers and applying conclusions from published research into ergonomic practice. You will read various research articles and identify the study objectives, aims, and hypotheses as well as critique the study methods for appropriate study design, generalizability, sources of bias, and threats to validity. You will also learn about observational studies (cross-sectional, prospective, retrospective, and case-control), intervention (parallel and multi-factorial randomized...

ERG140 | 03/24 - 05/18/2025 | Human-Centered Design

This 8-week, asynchronous online course will focus on the role of Human Factors & Ergonomics (HF/Ergo) in the design of occupational tasks and consumer products. The first two weeks will introduce you to the design cycle and the concepts of User Experience and Human-Computer Interaction. We will then define human characteristics and variability through a detailed examination of anthropometry, as this is essential for human-centered design. We will follow this with two weeks on the relevant factors to consider when designing manual materials handling tasks, patient lifting in healthcare...

12/18/2024: The Utility of Artificial Intelligence for Risk Reduction of Musculoskeletal Disorders

About the webinar:

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) continue to be a critical challenge for workplaces, even as advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and smart machines transform the nature of work. In response, the MSD Solutions Lab has released insights into how AI is addressing risk reduction of MSDs. This presentation will explore the report’s findings, highlighting AI’s transformative potential in workplace health and safety and the challenges that AI brings to MSD prevention.

ERG130 | 01/20 - 03/16/2025 | Cognitive Human Factors and Ergonomics

This course explores the essential topics of human information processing, controls and displays, sensory and cognitive contributions to systems, and implications for the design of systems in the workplace. The field of human factors and ergonomics is interdisciplinary, with applications wherever humans interact with equipment in a system's context. Examples will be drawn from a wide range of work contexts, including medicine, transportation, and computer tasks. Learners will differentiate cognitive ergonomics, and how it fits into design and analysis. Typical design problems will be...

11/20/2024: Ergonomics and Your Parents: Musculoskeletal Challenges of Home Healthcare for a Loved One from the Defense Centers for Public Health's Perspective

About the webinar:

This presentation will investigate ergonomics in the field of home healthcare. McCoskey and Pentikis will provide information on the characteristics of the average care giver based on their research. Using EMG data and assessment tools, they will also quantify the stresses placed on care givers, while offering some injury reduction strategies for maintaining proper health and safety in these occupational settings. Finally, they will review a few recommendations cited by literature for home healthcare ergonomics.

ERG100 | 08/11 - 10/05/2025 | Foundations for Cognitive, Macro and Physical Human Factors and Ergonomics

This course presents fundamental concepts from multiple disciplines that are essential to practicing ergonomics. The course begins with core topics from anatomy, kinesiology and the physiology of work as applied to human abilities and limitations. The class continues with an exploration of biomechanics, anthropometry, physical and psychosocial ergonomic risk factors and analytic methods to mitigate risk exposure. Finally, cognitive and macro ergonomics models are introduced along with considerations for the professional ergonomist. Learners will also evaluate different environments based...