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This paper presents an evaluation of the usability, functionality, and usefulness of the Warehouse Error Prevention (WEP) tool that consists of seven modules. The WEP tool is framed in a simple yes/no form, which can be used to identify human factors related to sources of pick errors in a warehouse. Thirty-three participants in 27 organisations from three different countries participated in a trial application and evaluation of the tool. The evaluation included a survey study and semi-structured interviews. Survey results show that participants agreed on the usability and functionality of the WEP tool. In the interviews, participants generally reported the WEP tool as being both accurate and functional with the potential to support engineers, ergonomists, and warehouse managers to improve order picking quality. Further quantitative field testing of the WEP tool's potential to identify costly warehouse errors is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between humans and robots in the workplace garners interest in recent years due to the introduction of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 frameworks. A scoping review was performed aimed at investigating the effect of robot design features on their human counterparts. In the analysis of the 32 identified articles, the robot design features used in the literature are shown along with the effects on the operators. Results showcased the many to many relationships between robot design features and effects on operators. Robot appearance, for example, and capabilities play a role in the operators' perception and expectations of their capabilities based on the task and subsequently perceived reliability and safety. Communication capabilities between operators and robots is an integral part for teamwork and performance as it can affect work processes. The paucity of papers empirically addressing human robot interaction as a system is consistent with results from previous literature, indicating the need for more research. The results of this investigation can prove useful in the form of advice to designers and practitioners, such as the operator's involvement in implementation, knowledge on robots' capabilities and training. Research gaps identified are discussed, as well as future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry 4.0 was presented more than a decade ago as the fourth industrial revolution, aiming to significantly raise the level of sophistication of interconnected technologies and thus increase manufacturing industries' profits. However, because the technology-driven narrow focus of Industry 4.0 on performance and profit fails to explain how to increase prosperity for all the stakeholders involved, the European Commission has introduced the concept of Industry 5.0. This vision overcomes the weaknesses of Industry 4.0 by paying explicit attention to outcomes for humans in the system and establishing an environment to create human-centric, resilient, and sustainable systems. Considering these developments, this position paper and editorial introducing the special issue of the International Journal of Production Research elaborates on the transition from Industry 4.0 to 5.0 through 10 papers focusing on the human-centric pillar of Industry 5.0 and its impacts on production and logistics system design and management. This work presents guidance for a more systemic approach needed in future research: to include empirically grounded works and data-driven multimethod approaches that consider diversity in system operators and human factors demands holistically in order to incorporate ethical implications missing from Industry 4.0 – in the pursuit of Industry 5.0 systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Order picking (OP) is a time- and labour-intensive operation in which human-system errors can lead to deficiencies in quality. This study aimed to identify human factors-related failure modes that cause human-system errors and quality deficits in OP. We conducted a systematic literature review and qualitative interviews with 38 order pickers employed by 14 different companies in four countries. The literature review found 46 papers that identified eight different failure modes related to OP system design: physical workload, physical fatigue, mental fatigue, complexity, memory demand, vision, hearing, and motivation. The interview results confirmed many of the same factors noted in the literature review but also identified communication and supervision failure modes that had not been addressed before. The results illustrate human factors-related failure modes linked to OP system design, operation, and management that ultimately increase quality deficits and pick errors. Further research on human factors and OP system design interaction is warranted, as no assessment tool has been found to support engineers and managers seeking to improve system designs to reduce pick errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many companies, despite there being opportunities for automation in production and logistics (P&L) systems, still rely on human workers due to their cognitive and motor skills. Taking Human Factor (HF) aspects into consideration when making P&L system design and management decisions is therefore important, an ignorance of HF potentially resulting in operator fatigue, discomfort, subsequent injuries and negative consequences for operator performance and the P&L system. A review of the literature shows that the majority of studies that take HF into consideration focus either on designing the workplace or on operation planning activities. There is also still a gap in the literature. Little has been published on P&L systems that incorporate HF and that combine different levels of short-term operational policy decisions (e.g. job allocation) and long-term system characteristic decisions (e.g. layout design). Current state-of-the-art frameworks that support the design and management of P&L systems and that take HF into consideration rarely consider different decision levels. This study proposes a new framework that incorporates HF into P&L systems by combining different levels of decisions to improve performance, quality, and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the relationship between missed nursing care and nurse workload, challenging the notion of a "culture of busyness" and emphasizing the measurable impact of care system design on nurse workload. It discusses the use of computer simulations to analyze the drivers of missed care, advocating for a shift in healthcare system design and improved workload management to address the issue effectively.

The aim of this paper is to enhance readers' understanding of research design strategies, past and present, for studying nursing workloads. Future research directions are also discussed. Nursing workloads are associated with nurse burnout and turnover. During our current global nursing shortage, researchers must identify ways to mitigate nurses' heavy workloads. Relevant, prior nursing workload research is presented with brief descriptions of designs, methods and findings. To illustrate the current complexity of nurses' work environments and the myriad factors that influence nurses' workloads, this paper features the ongoing nursing workload research of two Canadian research teams with different methodological approaches. These two teams are employing current research innovations, such as human factors multi-systems frameworks, design thinking, simulation modeling and integrated knowledge translation. With respect to future research implications, the teams are melding methods and tools to promote a more sophisticated way of understanding the complex linkages between patient needs, systems design and the management of nurses' workloads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous study, an unexpected u-shaped relationship was observed between load level and fatigue/recovery responses. Moderate load levels resulted in lower perceived discomfort, pain, and fatigue, and shorter recovery times compared to either low or high load levels. This phenomenon has been reported in other studies, but no article has examined the possible mechanisms that might explain this u-shaped relationship. In this paper, we re-examined the previously published data and found that the phenomenon does not appear to be due to the experimental artefact; the u-shape may be due to unexpectedly lower fatigue effects at moderate loads, and higher fatigue effects at lower loads. We then conducted a literature review and identified several possible physiological, perceptual, and biomechanical explanatory mechanisms. No single mechanism explains the entirety of the phenomenon. Further research is needed on the relationship between work exposures, fatigue, and recovery, and the mechanisms related to the u-shaped relationship. Practitioner summary: We examine a previously observed u-shaped relationship between load level and fatigue/recovery, where moderate force resulted in lower perceived fatigue and shorter recovery times. A u-shaped fatigue response suggests that simply minimising load levels might not be an optimal approach to reduce the risk of workplace injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the status of human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) metrics in the case context of product realisation in an electronics manufacturing company. Interactions with 100+ stakeholders over a five year period were thematically analysed for metrics-related views and content. A disconnect between engineering metrics and HF/E metrics was evident. Engineers and HF/E specialists expressed different understandings of the gap between the disciplines and how to generate HF/E metrics that would fit the organisation. Other emerging themes provided insight for metrics development including improving indicator relatability, considerations for communication of information, and barriers to implementation of metrics. The results led to seven recommendations to help guide practitioners in developing and refining HF/E metrics as part of an organisation's metrics system. This macroergonomic case study provides key points for consideration when developing HF/E focussed metrics to support organisations being more proactive with HF/E in work system design. Practitioner summary: Metrics' presence, stakeholder views on metrics, and metrics-related content in a case organisation were thematically analysed with a macroergonomics focus. Human factors and ergonomics metrics (HF/E) were disconnected from engineering metrics thus limiting the design team's ability to handle human factors in design. Factors influencing HF/E metrics creation and integration were identified, resulting in seven recommendations for developing HF/E metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates how technical assistive devices for manual materials handling were analysed in the literature in a warehousing context. Works that discuss the economic and/or human factors impact of assistive devices on the warehousing system or the people employed therein were identified in a systematic literature review. Building on a conceptual framework proposed in this paper, our evaluation of the literature shows which types of assistive devices were analysed in the past, and from which perspective these devices were examined. Some works studied the devices exclusively from an operator well-being or an efficiency perspective, while several works analysed the devices' performance in terms of both dimensions. Several works contained in our literature sample highlighted trade-offs between both ergonomic and economic measures and, within the first category, between alternative ergonomic indicators, which shows that assistive devices have to be evaluated carefully in light of their intended application. The paper further identifies research gaps and emphasises the need to understand the interactions between human- and system-related variables that can be supported by assistive devices in designing effective manual materials handling systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]