Human Factors & Ergonomics (HFE) Hub

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA)

These podcasts are a series of educational podcasts from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA). These podcasts focus on the connection between human capabilities and good design. Their aim is to promote the field of Human Factors and Ergonomics and provide guidance and professional development.

  1. FEB 12

    Roger Lewis - Ensuring Safe Work for Volunteers

    Sharon Todd discusses volunteers and provision of safe work with Roger Lewis a qualified engineer and safety specialist, with extensive experience in the application of engineering and human factors principles, product design, failure analysis and risk control. Having over 25 year’s experience in automotive engineering and vehicle architecture with a strong focus on the safety of vehicle occupants and pedestrians Roger brings a wealth of knowledge to improve safety. Roger routinely advises businesses across a broad range of the industries including transport logistics manufacturing construction and retail, safe systems, ergonomic improvements, injury prevention, as well as compliance with relevant legislation and codes of practice. This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    45 min
  2. FEB 1

    Professor Andrew Thatcher - Green Buildings, Sustainability, HFE Education and the IEA

    David Caple from the HFESA chats with Professor Andrew Thatcher about Green Buildings and the Human. Andrew Thatcher is a professor and chair of industrial/organisational psychology at the Un diversity of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, where he obtained his PhD in 2003. Andrew is currently the President in the International Ergonomics and Human Factors Association and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ergonomics. His research interests focus on integrating sustainability concepts into human factors and ergonomics. He has received numerous awards for this work including the national 2003 NSTF-South32 Green Economy Award and the 2025 Hal Hendrick Distinguished International Colleague award from the HFES.   This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    34 min
  3. JAN 1

    Alison Heller-Ono and her Personal Journey in HFE Consulting

    Sharon Todd is chatting with Alison Heller-Ono, PT, MSPT, CPE, President and CEO of Worksite International, Inc.  Alison is passionate about how people work! As an entrepreneur, pioneer, and bold industry leader in the ergonomics marketplace since 1993, Alison helps small- to mid-size multinational and global employers keep employees healthy so they can work to their full potential. Alison is a trusted advisor and consultant to clients who desire a safe, comfortable, and productive workforce.  She is also a coach and mentor to professionals desiring to learn about occupational ergonomics. Alison has presented her high-impact work on ergonomics to global audiences on four continents. Ms. Heller-Ono is a veteran Physical Therapist with dual credentials as a Certified Industrial Ergonomist (CIE) and Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE), as well as a Certified Disability Analyst. Her sought-after expertise is in preventing and managing work-related musculoskeletal disorders while finding reasonable solutions to drive change within organizations. Worksite International helps employers to save thousands of dollars while boosting morale and productivity through the science of ergonomics. WI’s focus is on office, home, remote, lab, and industrial ergonomics.  Under Alison’s guidance, Worksite International launched the Worksite International Ergonomics Training Academy in 2018, featuring online classes targeted for employers and employees to learn about ergonomics at work. The Academy also offers professional courses to become certified ergonomics specialists (CASp, COESp, CRESp) using the Worksite International System of Ergonomics Evaluation (WISEE)® and the Worksite International Ergonomics Process (WIEP)®.   She recently launched Worksite International’s first cloud-based software solutions. The Ergo-Case Tracker for individual ergonomic case management and ergonomics process metrics tracking. The Chair Assessment System (CAS) is a chair asset management software used to determine the quality and competency of chair assets in the workplace.     This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    52 min
  4. 11/03/2025

    Ken Catchpole - Imparting Systems Thinking to Healthcare

    Sharon Todd chats to Dr Ken Catchpole one of the HFESA's keynote speakers for the annual conference in Tasmania Australia in December. So who is he, what does he do and what can we expect?  Dr Ken Catchpole is a cognitive scientist and human factors practitioner who seeks to understand and improve human performance in complex systems. After leading a nationwide project developing human abilities in weapon detection at UK airports, he began research in healthcare in 2003 at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, examining the mechanisms of teamwork and safety in surgery. He now works with clinicians to develop and scientifically evaluate interventions to improve performance, while taking a semi-ethnographic approach to understanding the complex nature of safety, quality and human error in healthcare. In the past he has contributed to healthcare research and improvement at hospitals in the UK, Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand; and has assisted a number of UK groups, including Royal Colleges of Anaesthetists and Surgeons, in the establishment of human factors principles in healthcare. His work with the Ferrari racing team on handovers from surgery to intensive care was short-listed for the Times Research Project of the Year in 2007, was adopted internationally by a variety of hospitals and quality improvement organisations, and was exhibited in the Science Museum in London. After working at the University of Oxford for nearly 6 years, he was invited to join Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles to embark on new projects in trauma, handovers, teamwork, and systems redesign. Subsequently, he moved to the Medical University of South Carolina, where he has lead major grants in medication safety, surgical technology, instrument reprocessing, and retained foreign objects, with a large number of smaller projects. Through popular and scientific articles, keynote addresses, and media coverage, he has sought to engage a worldwide audience in the evaluation and improvement of safety in healthcare from a human factors perspective. This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    34 min
  5. 10/20/2025

    Sidney Irwin - Trash Talk and Fatigue in Esports

    Sidney Irwin is an early career researcher and lecturer at the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences at Central Queensland University. She received her doctorate from the same university. Her focus is on the normative rules of trash talk in esports and is expanding her expertise towards esport psychology, human factors and user experiences.  Currently, Sidney is focused on investigating the impact of jet lag on professional player performance. She has a qualitative research background and has grown her field of research towards rail, forestry and shiftwork sectors. This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    36 min
  6. 09/10/2025

    Samantha Jackson and Gemma Read - Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) safety

    Gemma Read from the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems (UniSC) chats to Samantha Jackson about Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) safety.   Samantha Jackson is a registered psychologist, human factors professional, and PhD candidate. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology)(Honours), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Safety and Accident Investigation.    She served in the Australian Army for 24 years, holding both generalist and specialist officer roles across full-time and part-time service. Her career spanned multiple domains, including communications and information systems, aviation, health, and policy. In her final role, she served within Army Aviation’s Psychology and Human Factors team, where she provided specialist advice on system safety, human performance, role suitability, occupational selection, task and systems analysis, incident investigation, and fatigue risk management.   She is currently pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her research aims to enhance the safety performance of Australia’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) by applying systems thinking through a many-models approach. Specifically, she aims to identify key leverage points within the sociotechnical safety management system to optimise its overall effectiveness.   Associate Professor Gemma Read and Professor Paul Salmon are supervising Samantha’s research. Gemma and Samantha discuss her recent study which analysed 14 RPAS incident investigation reports. The article is available open access here:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687025000043  This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    30 min
  7. 08/25/2025

    Mary Patterson - Florida Simulation Projects in Health

    Mary Patterson MD, MEd is a pediatric emergency medicine physician and the Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and the Lou Oberndorf Professor of Healthcare Technology at the University of Florida where she has directed the Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation since 2018.  She is past- president of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and has served on the BOD for the Society of Simulation in Healthcare and the International Pediatric Simulation Society. In addition, she is the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Resilient Healthcare Society.  She was the founding medical director of the Cincinnati Children’s Center for Simulation, Education and Research.  In addition, she was the Associate Vice Chair Medical Education and Executive Director of Simulation at Children’s National Medical Center.  Mary has served as the Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Florida since 2021.  Mary has been a federally funded investigator in simulation, team performance and patient safety and publishes in the areas of patient safety, team performance, human factors and Resilience Engineering.  She is a past chair of the Healthcare Safety and Quality Improvement Research Study Section of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  She was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of the Society of Simulation in Healthcare in 2018 This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    42 min
  8. 08/11/2025

    Craig Fletcher - Using VR to Reduce Suicide & other HFE projects

    Craig Fletcher and Sharon Todd explore the world of designing HFE into projects including some recent work on the use of VR to reduce suicide on the rail network. Craig has 25 years experience in the area of ergonomics and human factors, both in Australia and the UK. He is experienced in conducting human factors assessments for a broad range of industry and application. Craig is focussed on delivering practical solutions to human factors problems and is experienced in managing a wide range of human factors projects. This podcast is brought to you by the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society of Australia. If you like this podcast please make us your favourite on your podcast app. If you want to find out more about Human Factors and Ergonomics or if you have a question about this podcast please go to the HFESA website ergonomics.org.au and make your request via our contact page. DISCLAIMER Please find our full disclaimer at: www.ergonomics.org.au/term-conditions/ This content is for informational purposes only, does not constitute advice and should not be considered as a replacement for professional judgment in clinical, research, academic, or other expert fields. Views expressed by speakers and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of HFESA. HFESA makes no guarantees and accepts no liability in connection with the accuracy and currency of this content and does not endorse any specific service, publication or entity mentioned. Unauthorised reproduction, distribution, duplication, modification, or exploitation of this podcast content is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from recording, copying, or storing content for commercial purposes, using automated processes to extract or collect content, creating derivative works from the content, or using content for artific...

    37 min

About

These podcasts are a series of educational podcasts from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA). These podcasts focus on the connection between human capabilities and good design. Their aim is to promote the field of Human Factors and Ergonomics and provide guidance and professional development.