Standards

Report on Ergonomics Standardization Activities at ISO

     This article summarizes discussions and activities at the International Standards Organization Technical Committee 159 (ISO TC 159) Plenary meeting and recent working group meetings.

ISO TC 159

     ISO TC 159 held a recent plenary meeting on October 21-22 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Much of the discussion on the first day involved increased collaboration between the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) and ISO TC 159. Ralph Bruder, a representative from IEA, participated in this discussion.

     As a point of resolution, ISO subcommittee chairs made a commitment to keeping all IEA technical groups informed about upcoming standardization activities in which they might be interested in participating. Likewise, IEA will provide relevant information to ISO TC 159 about its activities. It was noted that a recent article in the ISO Focus magazine (September 2010) about IEA and ISO TC 159 increased the visibility of both organizations' activities and should also serve as an appropriate foundation for increasing collaboration. In addition, the next IEA Congress will be held in Recife, Brazil, in February 2012, and ISO TC 159 has been invited to participate and to hold standardization meetings in conjunction with the Congress.

     Another topic of discussion was the status of process standards in ISO TC 159 and the need for one or more accessibility-related process standards. In a recent survey conducted by the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies, members who were asked to specify the types of content they wanted to see in future standardization efforts cited process information as number one. An ad hoc TC 159 task force centered on this topic will continue to review the feasibility and requirements of process standards within ISO TC 159.

     Accessibility was a prominent topic at this particular plenary, partly because the consumers' group within ISO-COPOLCO-proposed a revision to ISO/IEC Guide 71 - "Guidelines for standards developers to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities." The ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) approved the proposal, and, assuming that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) also approves it, the question remains as to who will do the actual revision. ISO TC 159 would like to have a major role in this process, as some of its working groups have significant experience (both good and bad) using the current version of the guide. The ISO TMB, which will hold the secretariat for the working group that revises this document, has been informed of ISO TC 159's interest.

     Also on the agenda was the upcoming ISO workshop on accessibility in Geneva, November 3-5, 2010, with a meeting of standards developers following on November 5. A number of experts from ISO TC 159 were involved in this workshop, including Luke Kowalski and Judy Brewer (United States), Gerhard Fuchs and Klaus-Peter Wegge (Germany), and Ken Sagawa and Kenji Kurakata (Japan). The workshop focused on three topical areas: accessibility of everyday products, building accessibility, and e-accessibility.

     Stephen Kennedy noted that TC 159's recommendation to ISO for a change in the New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) form had not been implemented. The change requested was to inquire about the consideration of accessibility in the development of the NWIP. It was recommended that this issue be raised again at the meeting of standards developers following the Geneva workshop.

     Finally, with respect to accessibility, there was a discussion of the recent proposal from the U.S. member body of ISO/IEC JTC1 to establish a new working group on accessibility. This proposal was submitted despite a unanimous vote of the JTC1 Special Working Group on Accessibility (SWG-A) not to establish such a working group. There is much concern about this proposal, especially considering that several established working groups within ISO and IEC are already dealing with accessibility issues. However, it will be up to the JTC1 member bodies to consider this proposal, so there were no actions to be taken by ISO TC 159.

     Each of the ISO subcommittee chairs gave his or her report with, perhaps, the most notable item coming from Subcommittee 5 - Ergonomics of the physical environment. The U.S. group had submitted a preliminary NWIP on the accessibility of interior and exterior walkways/walking surfaces. Questions arose as to whether or not the item fell within the scope of SC 5 work and if it might overlap with the work of some other ISO technical committees. The U.S. group was advised to move ahead with the development of the NWIP and submit it to ISO TC 159 for consideration. If you are a specialist in this topical area and are interested in working on the proposal, please contact me at JDNBonneau@charter.net.

     The topic of expanding the scope of SC 5 work, generally, was discussed and may be addressed at this subcommittee's next plenary meeting.

     Christoph Preusse, chair of ISO TC 199 - Safety of Machinery, gave his liaison report. Two ISO guides, on safety and safety of machinery, are being revised. TC 199 has also prepared a bridging Technical Report (TR) that explains the relationship between the Machinery Directive, ISO 12100, and the CEN/TC 122 and ISO TC 159 ergonomics standards. The TR took the process currently laid out in ISO 12100 and "overlaid" the ergonomics process on the basic accepted process for ensuring the safety of machinery.

ISO TC 159/WG 2 and AGAD

     ISO TC 159/WG 2 (Ergonomics for People With Special Requirements) and the ISO TC 159 Advisory Group on Accessible Design (AGAD) met in Tel Aviv, Israel, on September 13-16. ISO TC 159/WG 2 continued its revision of ISO/TR 22411 - "Ergonomics Data and Guidelines for the Applications of ISO/IEC Guide 71 to Products and Services to Address the Needs of Older Persons and Persons With Disabilities." The new revision should be completed and ready for balloting after the working group's next meeting in Paderborn, Germany, March 14-18, 2011.

     The AGAD spent much of its meeting discussing various outreach activities, including the ISO accessibility workshop in Geneva (see previous discussion under the TC 159 plenary). Among the recommendations resulting from its meeting were the following:

• ISO TC 159 will ask ISO to consider addressing accessibility issues in the business plans of each Technical Committee.
• AGAD will develop an activity report that compiles information on current accessibility work in ISO TCs, SCs, and WGs.
• The TC 159 convener, Georg Kramer, will report to the ISO TMB about ISO TC 159's willingness to play an active role in the revision of ISO/IEC Guide 71.

ISO TC 159/SC 5/WG 4 and WG 5

     Meetings of Working Groups 4 and 5 of ISO TC 159/SC 5 (Ergonomics of the Physical Environment) were held in Mainz, Germany, on October 18-20. Several work items in both groups are undergoing final balloting to become international standards including these:

• ISO 28803 - Accessible Design - Application of International Standards for People with Special Requirements. Comments were resolved at this meeting in preparation for FDIS (final) balloting
• ISO 28802 - Integrated Environments - Assessment by Means of an Environmental Survey Involving Physical Measurement of the Environment and Subject Responses of People. Comments were resolved at this meeting in preparation for FDIS balloting.
• ISO 24500 - Accessible Design - Auditory Signals for Consumer Products. This has been approved as an International Standard.
• ISO 24501 - Accessible Design - Sound Pressure Levels of Auditory Signals for Consumer Products. This is undergoing its FDIS ballot.
• ISO 24502 - Accessible Design - Guidelines for Specification of Age-Related Luminance Contrast in Visual Signs and Displays. This is also undergoing its FDIS ballot.

     In addition to the resolution of comments on the afore-mentioned documents, SC 5/WG 5 began work on the draft for a New Work Item on sound pressure levels of spoken announcements for products and public address systems.

     The U.S. group presented a Preliminary Work Item Proposal on the accessibility of interior and exterior walkways/working surfaces, which was discussed in some detail. The group was advised to continue work on the proposal and to submit it to ISO when completed.

     The next formal meetings of these working groups will be in Sapporo, Japan, in conjunction with the TC 159/SC 5 plenary and the 4th International Conference on Human-Environment Systems in October 2011. WG 5 will also hold an ad hoc meeting in Paderborn, Germany, in conjunction with the ISO TC 159/WG 2 meeting there in March 2011, to do additional development of the Work Item on spoken announcements.

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