Since the early 1980s, HFES has participated in the development of American national standards and has worked to establish U.S. positions for international standards. In 1988, HFES published ANSI/HFS 100-1988, American National Standard for Human Factors Engineering of Visual Display Terminal Workstations. This groundbreaking standard established voluntary specifications for the ergonomic design of computer workstations for the seated operator. In the 1990s, the Society refined and consolidated its standards activities and embarked on a revision of ANSI/HFS 100-1988. The current version was released in 2007, and work is well under way for a new update.
HFES continues to participate as a member of the American National Standards Institute and as an ANSI-accredited standards developer.
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ANSI/HFES 100-2007 Human Factors Engineering of Computer Workstations
ANSI/HFES 100-2007 is no longer maintained as an American National Standard. Redevelopment of this standard is to commence in 2025 with the goal to have a new approved standard by the end of the year. HFES can be contacted for additional details.
Editor: HFES 100 Committee
Year Published: 2007
In November 2007, the American National Standards Institute approved ANSI/HFES 100-2007, Human Factors Engineering of Computer Workstations as an American National Standard. This document replaces BSR/HFES 100-2002 and ANSI/HFES 100-1988. It provides specific guidance for the design and installation of computer workstations, including displays, input devices, and furniture that will accommodate a wide variety of users.
Contents:
- Foreword
- Purpose
- General Scope
- Conformance Policy
- Cited Standards
- Installed Systems
- Input Devices
- Visual Displays
- Furniture
Order a copy in print or PDF from Accuris. Additionally, HFES standards are available for purchase from ANSI.
108 pages, 38 figures, 5 tables, 8.5 x 11", PDF on CD-ROM & paperback
ANSI/HFES 400-2021, Human Readiness Level Scale in the System Development Process
Editor: HFES 400 Committee
Year Published: 2021
In September 2021, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) formally approved a newly developed standard: ANSI/HFES 400-2021, Human Readiness Level Scale in the System Development Process. This standard defines the nine levels of the Human Readiness Level (HRL) scale and provides guidance for their application in the context of systems engineering and human systems integration processes. The HRL scale complements and supplements the existing Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale in order to evaluate, track, and communicate the readiness of a technology or system for safe and effective human use.
Contents
- Definitions
- Foreword
- Purpose and Background
- Scope
- Related Standards and Documents
- Human Readiness Level Scale
- Relationship Between HRL and TRL Scales
- Mapping the HRL Scale to Acquisition Frameworks
- Applying the Human Readiness Level Scale
- References
- Appendix A: DOD Budget Activities
- Appendix B: HRL-AAF Mapping
- Appendix C: HRL Guidance
- Appendix D: Application Examples
- Appendix E: Process Considerations
116 pages, 12 figures, 14 tables, downloadable electronic PDF file. Download the complimentary PDF here.
ISO Standards
The ANSI-Accredited U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and its associated subcommittee TAGs are responsible for establishing U.S. positions on all standards, technical reports, work items, and specifications developed within ISO TC 159 - Ergonomics.
We have created a graphic depicting the TAG, its subcommittee TAGs, and the Working Groups (WGs) organized under each. The graphic also contains e-mail contact information for the chairs of the ISO TAG 159 and subcommittee TAGs. Click on the links below for additional detailed information about the ISO/TC 159 subcommittees:
U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 159/SC1
U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 159/SC3
U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 159/SC4
U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 159/SC5
Membership in the individual TAGs is open to any organization or individual (e.g., consultant) whose work, services, or products have the potential to be materially affected by the standards produced by the TAG. To request TAG membership, contact the relevant TAG chair.
HFES also invites members to apply for appointments as U.S. experts to ISO TC 159 Working Groups. U.S. experts are expected to attend Working Group meetings once or twice per year and participate actively in the document development occurring in the Working Group. To apply for an appointment as a U.S. expert to a Working Group, contact the relevant U.S. TAG chair, and include a copy of your curriculum vitae.
Virtual Fit Multivariate Anthropometric Tool
A new tool developed for HFES simplifies analysis of multivariate anthropometric accommodation. A common design problem when using anthropometric data to specify product dimensions is to estimate what percentage of users a given combination of dimensions will fit. For example, what percentage of the user population will a chair seat fit if it is 381 mm (15 inches) wide, 305 mm (12 inches) deep, and adjusts in height between 382 mm and 559 mm (15 to 22 inches)? A multivariate analysis is required to provide an answer, but performing such an analysis can be challenging.
A new anthropometric spreadsheet developed for HFES by Drs. Matt Parkinson and Matt Reed greatly simplifies that analysis for designers or others interested in knowing what percent of the North American users will be accommodated by a given set of measurements. The new tool is known as the Virtual Fit Tool (VFT).
The population data were created by reweighting detailed US civilian measurements from the CAESAR anthropometric dataset and a recent University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) study to match overall distributions of stature, body weight, and Body Mass Index (BMI) by gender in National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey (NHANES) 2011-2014. Virtual Fit Testing is the process of evaluating a design using each member of a relevant population.
The Virtual Fit Test is conducted by comparing the dimensions of a workstation design to pertinent anthropometric variables. The percentage of the male and female population who meet the specified one- or two-tailed accommodation criteria are calculated for each variable, and the overall accommodation is computed across all variables using the specified gender mix.
To use the VFT, the user enters prospective measurements for a given anthropometric dimension, for example, seat height, into the corresponding spreadsheet cell or cells. Depending on how the data are entered, the spreadsheet returns an estimate of the percent of users greater than, less than, or the percent of users whose measurements are in the specified range for that particular variable. If dimensions are entered for two or more variables, the spreadsheet estimates the percent of users concurrently accommodated on all the variables. percent accommodation for each variable as well as for each individual variable.
The VFT provides product designers and consumers a user-friendly tool with which to evaluate the anthropometric fit between intended users and the physical dimension of products.
Download the Virtual Fit Tool
Instructions for Using the Virtual Fit Tool
Instructional Materials on Standards
Most HFES members are practitioners, and for them, it is important to connect research to practice. Beyond that, HFES Strategic Goal is to translate the science of HF/E into practice. For that reason, it is important that HFES publications link to regulations, standards, guidelines, and best practices, of which standards are a subset. Those connections could be accepted definitions, data collection methods, design requirements, or other types of information that practitioners could use.
However, many publications are written by faculty and students who are generally unfamiliar with standards. Accordingly, information for them and others is provided. There are 2 reports that provide introductions to standards and how to find them, plus a series of PPTs that identify the standards from particular organizations (the Society of Automotive Engineers) or on specific topics (e.g., Human-Computers Interaction). Feel free to use those PPTs as is or include them in presentations of your own design. For each PPT there is a YouTube (linked) for you to use. Finally, in addition, there are a number of papers from the HFES Annual Meeting that concern this topic.
For additional information, contact the Standards Division Chair,
Paul Green, University of Michigan.
Technical Reports:
Powerpoints:
Standards Video Playlists: