Ergonomics Checklists: An Appraisal

An attempt is made to clearly define the utility of the checklist technique in relation to the necessary skills of the ergonomics practitioner. It is pointed out that it ia a technique, not a methodology, and as such is a valuable job aid to many forms of ergonomic analysis, task description, job specification, etc. Its limitations, it is suggested, are that it is at best an analytical tool, not one for synthesizing a new phase of development, and that its use in practice is limited by its inherent verbal characteristics. A good checklist, it is considered, should be brief, pungent and should elucidate as much numerical data as possible.