Air Canada jetAfter a second crash involving the Boeing 737 in less than five months, Air Canada has grounded the planes until July.

Human factor a crucial consideration in machine design: researcher

Although it is too early to pinpoint what exactly happened to cause pilots to lose control of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 or Lion Air Flight 610 before they crashed, we do know that both planes were equipped with the same anti-stall system.

UWindsor kinesiology professor Francesco Biondi says that placing humans and not machines at the centre of the design process can help reduce accidents.

“Human factors is the study of how humans use machines, and how machines and systems should be designed to make them usable and safe for humans,” Dr. Biondi writes in an article published Tuesday in the Conversation, which shares news and views from the academic and research community.

“If you ignore the human in human-machine interaction, problems will soon arise.”

He notes that machines can make work more efficient and safer: “However, if cognitive science taught us one thing it is that, as humans, our processing capacity is limited.”

Read Biondi’s entire piece, “Human-centred design can help reduce accidents like the recent Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crash,” in the Conversation.

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