ORI has established a certification program that has been accepted as the standard measure of the qualifications and competence of professional persons in most technical fields, which is that obtained by the judgment of peers in that particular field and the quality of technical products produced by the professional. Given this and the need for evidence of qualification in Ergonomics/Human Factors, the Oxford Research Institute has established a process for certification based upon a controlled peer review process.
Certification Program
The Oxford Research Institute invites application for certification in one of two professional areas: Certified Industrial Ergonomist (CIE), and Certified Human Factors Engineering Professional (CHFEP). Additionally, the designation as a Certified Associate Ergonomist (CAE) and is offered to those who do not quite meet the requirements of the CIE or CHFEP designations. There is another certification level, Certified Assistant Ergonomist (CAsE) for those who do not meet the CAE level requirements. For more information about Certification and an Application package
Ergonomics as a discipline is considered by some professionals to be equivalent to, or a direct subset of Human Factors Engineering, focusing primarily on human injury and risk reduction through the design and configuration of equipment to be congruent with the anthropometrics of human body and articulating joints. Ergonomist focus on the design of equipment and the specific tasks performed by people to make certain that the task, equipment and body anthropometrics are all compatible in a focused attempt to decrease the probability of repetitive motion injury, carpel tunnel syndrome and a host of other job related injuries and illness
Core competencies within the field of ergonomics include physiological psychology, physiology, sensory psychology, anthropometrics, statistics, engineering psychology, experimental design, human factors engineering, human reliability analysis, industrial safety , human behavior analysis, and other related disciplines. In particular all Ergonomists should know how to perform a detailed tasks analysis and apply MILSTD 1472-D and other relevant OSHA, ANSI, NIOSH as well as other guidelines and standards. Collateral disciplines such as Bio-mechanics, systems engineering, anatomy, physics, motion analysis, and kinesthethics all have a direct applicability to ergonomics.
Some additional core competencies or areas of study might involve: Human Memory, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Cognition, Design for ease of Maintainability, Workload assessment , and Systems Safety. There is also the area of Macro-Ergonomics which includes Organizational Design and Behavior, Total Quality Management and the development of Safety Behavior and Culture.
Proposed Core Competency Courses
The following courses have been suggested as the type which may eventually be approved for the certification program.
Dynamic Mechanical Systems Systems Engineering Mathematics/Statistics, 6 units* Engineering psychology, 3 units* Experimental design, 8 units* Physics, 4 units Human Factors Engineering, 3 units*
Engineering Psychology or Ergonomics Human Learning /memory 3 units Research Design, 4 units Industrial Safety, 2 units Anatomy/Biology, 8 units* Human Behavior Analysis 3 units* Economics Personnel Selection 3 units* Other related disciplines, such as Cognition, Cognitive Sciences Bio Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, Systems Safety Architectural Engineering, and Human Development - all contain elements related directly to Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics.
Specialty Certification Areas In Ergonomics / Human Factors Engineering:
1. Sensory Performance &Evaluation
1.1 Human Visual Performance Specialist 1.2 Human Auditory Perfom. Specialist
2. Bio Mechanical Modeling Specialist 3. Industrial Organizations Evaluation Specialist
3.1 Training Development & Evaluation Specialist 3.2 Procedures Develop. & Evaluation Specialist 3.3 Personnel Selection & ,Eval. Specialist
1. Utilities & Nuclear Power Systems 2. Commercial Aircraft Systems 3. Military Systems 4. Medical Systems 5. Commercial Transportation Systems 6. Industrial Manufacturing Systems 7. Office Computing Systems 8. Telecommunication Systems 9. Agriculture & Mining Systems Other___________________________