The Ergonomist: A Full Design Actor Example of an Ergonomic Action

AbstractActivity-centered ergonomics has developed an approach to provide support for design projects which comprises ergonomics work analysis, participatory design and simulation of work. This approach leads us to appreciate the reality of work in order to design systems which are adapted to human's abilities and also to the tasks to be performed. However, beyond the technical recommendations, ergonomists may take part in project management. In fact, for some years now, they are no longer satisfied with merely providing the information and advice they have discovered through work analysis. In order to take into account functional requirements of work situations, they now try to influence the very way in which projects are managed and thus influence the design process itself. This perspective sheds a new light on the ergonomist's positioning as a full design actor or as a co-designer. This type of contribution is possible from the early phases of feasibility until the installation start-up. We will try to illustrate this perspective through the results of an ergonomic intervention in an industrial design project