Robert S Bridger

• Ph.D
• Managing Director at Knowledge Sharing Events

Linking public guidance on physical activity with issues of home and hybrid working

This short book on human factors in accident investigation is now available for university libraries and e-libraries via Kortext. The book is intended for students wishing to learn more about human factors and to apply some of the basic principles and for lecturers wishing to run new courses on human factors and accident investigation. The book is...

Generic and sea=specific health hazards

Review of Book on Introduction to Accident Investigation

This is a short book for busy people who want to know more about human factors and accident investigation. No prior knowledge of Human Factors is needed. The book will appeal to readers with an interest in safety. All the competencies of Human Factors are covered at a basic level, so the book also serves as an introduction to Human Factors, with th...

Brief review of the requirements for active working

Is sitting really the new smoking as some have suggested and do we really need to sit less at work to be healthy? If we do, is standing any better? In this guide, I have reviewed research on standing and sitting going back almost 100 years to find some answers to these questions. What is certain is that the physical demands of much of daily life no...

Introduction UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy and strategy recommend the use of a ‘Defence MODified’ version of the Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool to help managers identify risks of work-related stress among Defence personnel. The Defence MODified Tool (‘Stress Indicator Survey’) asks personnel to rate their perc...

In this seminar, Dr Bridger will answer the question: What are the key user requirements for the successful introduction of sit-stand workstations and how can we best meet them? Is it better to sit at work, to stand or a combination of the two? What are the pros and cons of sit-stand working? How can my company get the best out of modern sit-stand...

Twelve Royal Marines participated in a laboratory study of a passive lower limb exoskeleton. Participants stood for 5 min in a semi-squatting posture in the laboratory while performing the Sustained Attention to Response Test (SART), repeated on separate days while wearing and without the exoskeleton. Performance on the SART was degraded when the s...

Now available from CRC Press. Introduction to Human Factors and Ergonomics 4th Edition. Completely updated and revised with new material on: System stability and sustainability Ergonomics, ageing and obesity – design for a changing workforce Interaction in the internet The evolution of standing – which is better standing versus sitting at work? Ma...

Abstract. Twelve Royal Marines participated in a pilot trial of a passive lower limb exoskeleton. Participants stood for 5 minutes in a knee-straining posture in the laboratory while performing a cognitive task. The task was repeated on separate days with and without the exoskeleton. Performance was degraded when the knee straining posture was adop...

Background Overweight and obesity are a major concern that may influence the operational capacity of the UK Naval Service (NS). This study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of trialling and implementing a modified web-based weight loss programme for overweight and obese NS personnel. Methods The feasibility of a web-based weight loss progr...

Background: The Ministry of Defence is evaluating methods of mitigating exposure to vibration and shock in users of high speed craft. Exoskeletons fitted to the lower limbs are a potential alternative to suspension seats when users cannot sit. Their efficacy is unknown. Objectives: To assess the efficacy of an exoskeleton under laboratory condition...

How to test whether people who respond to surveys think differently from those who don't thereby causing bias and distorting the findings

Background: Non-response bias in surveys occurs when non-respondents differ from respondents. Methods of dealing with this include measuring 'response propensity'. We propose that response propensity has a trait-like component, measurable within the survey. Covariance of this component with survey items could indicate non-response bias. Aims: To...

None available

Unlabelled: An assessment of the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) stress indicator tool was conducted to determine whether it was suitable for use with Ministry of Defence (MoD) personnel. A total of 1031 respondents from the Army, Navy, Air Force and MoD civilians completed a questionnaire containing the HSE tool and supplementary measures of...

It has long been recognised that there is a lack of fit between Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF&E) and the rest of the systems design lifecycle. Key components of a framework for Human Factors Integration are reviewed following a brief historical introduction and a discussion of systems theoretical concepts. Systems design starts when a capability...

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial factors are known to play a key role in determining the progress of back pain patients. However, it is not known whether these factors are applicable to military personnel, who tend to be fitter than the general population. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to identify physical and psychological predictors in a prospective study of th...

Human Factors Integration has its origins in systems theory, which itself was a product of industrialisation and a response to the challenges of building and operating increasingly complex systems. Rapid technological advances caused novelty. It was challenging to design systems with compatible components, including human ones, without prior knowle...

Interviews with 21 overweight and obese Royal Navy (RN) personnel were conducted to understand their perceived facilitators and barriers to weight management. It was found that the following themes were perceived as relevant to participants’ weight management experiences in the RN: the naval environment and culture; influences of others; motivation...

Ergonomics and its areas of application, modern ergonomics, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, future directions for ergonomics, summary, essays and exercises anatomy, posture and body mechanics, some basic body mechanics, postural stability and postural adaptation, risk factors for musculoskeletal problems in the workplace, behavioural aspects...

Questionnaire data captured in January-March 2007 were examined in relation to turnover in males and females during the next five years. In general, most of the workplace stressors (such as role conflict or peer support) were not antecedents of turnover in any group. Junior personnel with psychological strain in 2007 had an increased risk of turnov...

Unlabelled: The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) is used in ergonomics research to measure behavioural problems associated with attentiveness and memory in everyday life. CFQ scores have been related to constructs such as accident proneness and outcomes such as human error and psychological strain. The two-year test-retest reliability of the...

Practical guide to accident investigation with case studies

Understanding why accidents occur in the work place has a long and convoluted history. This paper adds to this corpus of research by investigating the relationship between an individual's level of cognitive failure, psychological stress, and work place accident occurrence. Retrospective analysis of accident-case individuals vs. control-match indivi...

This article highlights recent initiatives to develop guidelines for the minimum content of postgraduate programs in ergonomics. These initiatives are discussed in relation to the theme of globalization, particularly the need to “think globally and act locally” in ergonomics education.

Unlabelled: Data on health and lifestyle from the Naval service cohort study of occupational stress form the background to a discussion of employee health and the sustainability of a healthy workforce in relation to secular changes - in particular, the increasing prevalence of obesity. One thousand two hundred and forty-one Naval personnel returne...

Background: Submariners are an occupational group within the Royal Navy (RN) who work in isolated and extreme conditions. This preliminary study forms part of a longitudinal study of occupational stress in the RN. Aims: To compare stress prevalence in submariners with matched controls and to identify predictors of occupational stress in submarin...

Data are presented from a cohort study of occupational stress. Measures of workplace strain (GHQ-12 score) and cognitive failure (cognitive failures questionnaire score) were obtained for 53 cohort members who had suffered a minor accident between 2007-2010. Each accident case was matched by age, seniority and gender with accident-free controls fro...

Naval personnel at sea completed daily diaries in which they recorded sleep quality, eating patterns and problems with mental and physical task performance. The ships were fitted with motion sensors to enable root mean square accelerations of the deck to be recorded in three axes. Six-hour RMS accelerations were computed for different parts of the...

Methods and results are reported from a study of ships companies' exposure to low-frequency motions on three vessels of the Royal Navy. The aim of the study was to investigate relationships between deck accelerations and the incidence of problems such as difficulties with physical tasks, cognitive activities, motion sickness, and work effort. Ship...

The cognitive task demands of office workers and the self-control demands of their work roles were measured in a sample of 196 employees in two different office layouts using a self-report questionnaire, which was circulated electronically. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that both factors were associated with mental well-being, but no...

Psychological strain was measured in 592 Naval personnel at four phases using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The GHQ-12 Likert score was summed to generate a measure of cumulative strain, which was best predicted by the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) score, effort-reward imbalance and a measure of organisational commitment. Poin...

Firefighting is known to be demanding, but low retirement age in this field means the capacity of the older worker to fight fires is less understood. In the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), firefighting is a critical secondary task that all personnel must be capable of. Heart rate (HR), work ability index and subjective work demand were obtained from 4...

Military training has a high dropout rate but the role of occupational stress is not known. To examine the relationship between occupational stress and outcome of training. A study of occupational stress in 476 army recruits (as measured in Week 4 of 23 weeks of basic military training) using previously identified risk factors for lack of success i...

Seafaring is known to be a demanding occupation but the implications of ageing in seafarers are poorly understood. To investigate task demands and work ability in merchant seamen at sea and to identify factors predicting work ability. This was a cross-sectional study carried out on a single vessel during a summer deployment. Instantaneous heart rat...

Keynote address

Sixty one percent of respondents to a questionnaire survey of occupational stress (Phase I) returned follow-up questionnaires twelve months later (Phase II). The Phase I questionnaire measured psychological strain resulting from exposure to occupational stressors, and measured the presence of stress buffers and demographic, psychological and lifest...

This study was conducted on a population of seafarers serving in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the organisation providing support at sea to the Royal Navy. An investigation into work-related fatigue in RFA personnel onboard ships was carried out following changes to the regulations concerning maximum retirement age, to determine whether age was...

The Naval Service Stress Study (2007–2012) is investigating job strain, its characteristics, causes and distribution in the Service. Data from phases I, II and III of the study (January 2007, June 2007 and January 2008) were analysed to determine the relationship between General Health questionnaire scores and a score on the Cognitive Failures Ques...

This study aimed to identify work-related and personal factors associated with occupational stress in submariners. Work and well-being questionnaires were distributed to 219 male submariners (mean age 34 years), as part of a larger cohort study involving a stratified sample of 4951 Royal Navy (RN) personnel. The stress rate in submariners was 40%;...

This study investigated how workload and performance in high-speed ship navigation was affected by sleep deprivation using methods based on either paper charts or electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS). In two separate weeks, five navigators sailed 10 routes in high-fidelity simulators while undergoing progressive sleep deprivatio...

Previous surveys have shown that there is a greater prevalence of psychological strain in Naval personnel than in the general population and have described the main psychosocial stressors associated with strain. To determine the prevalence of acute strain and of repeated episodes of strain over 6- and 12-month periods. Six and twelve months after c...

Data from the Naval Service (NS) cohort study of psychological strain were extracted and analysed to investigate the relationship between self-reported health and lifestyle factors and medical fitness. Identification of factors associated with medical downgrading is of obvious value in shaping future health and safety policy and in understanding th...

Contains advice on lecture preparation, practical demonstrations and solutions to the problems in the textbook

The postgraduate program in ergonomics at the University of Cape Town (UCT) was the brainchild of Professor George Jaros, the then Hyman Goldberg Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Medical School. The Department of Biomedical Engineering had a modular program, designed around a core of medical subjects, to enable graduate engineers to study...

Previous surveys of psychological strain in the Naval Service (NS) have shown higher than expected levels of strain when compared to the general population. To repeat the survey last carried out in 2004 and to obtain further information on the nature of the occupational stressors associated with strain. General Health Questionnaire-12 strain rates...

The aim of the present study was to establish whether a relationship exists between recruit RT4 (mechanical comprehension) scores and a weapons-handling task from the Royal Marines (RM) recruit training course. This aim was achieved through the collection of subjective and objective performance data from RM recruits carrying out the tasks. Statisti...

The Naval Service has been actively involved in research on occupational stress for almost 10 years. Three cross-sectional studies have been completed during this time period. It has been shown that the prevalence rate of psychological strain amongst personnel is relatively constant at 31-34%. Several smaller studies, of personnel at sea and of the...

The aim of the study was to investigate the operational effectiveness of Hunter Company, Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (RM) in rehabilitating injured RM recruits, through the collection of demographic, medical, and performance data for 1 year's intake of RM recruits (N=1115). Flow models for progression through mainstream training and thro...

This study examines mental workload and performance in simulated high-speed ship navigation. Two navigation methods were compared based on an electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and a conventional system using paper charts. Twenty naval cadets navigated in high-fidelity simulators through a 50 nautical mile course with varying l...

Training for the Royal Marines (RMs) is considered to be one of the most arduous military training regimes in the world. Approximately 16% of the annual intake of recruits suffer an injury. Smoking has been found to be a predisposition to injury. To examine the relationship between recruits' smoking status on entry to training and subsequent incide...

Surveys of occupational stress were undertaken in 1999 and 2004. To measure the prevalence of psychological strain and exposure to work-related stressors in personnel. A cross-sectional survey using a validated, reliable questionnaire was undertaken in 1999 and was replicated in 2004. The data were combined and models of stress-strain were develope...

The most severe direct motion induced effect on the ability of an individual to work in a moving environment probably occurs in gross body tasks requiring balance and co-ordination, be it the crew trying to undertake their task effectively or the passenger trying to walk around the vessel. During rough weather working in the ship becomes more diffi...

This study examined the presence of performance-shaping factors (PSFs) in investigation reports following 35 navigation accidents in the Royal Norwegian Navy between 1990 and 2005. This was done to provide an overview of the situational factors present at the time of the accidents, which were related to the human, task, system, and environment. PSF...

A new bunk has been designed for the Type 45 destroyer. Headroom is greatly increased, to allow occupants to sit up in bed, and personal storage space is included in the bunkspace itself. The purpose of this study was: to quantify the limits imposed by the bunk design in terms of the percentage of users that can sit in the bunk, and to measure the...

Neck posture and head movements were measured in four rescue stretchers: the Neil Robertson stretcher, which has been in service in the Royal Navy for almost 100 years, and three potential replacements. A repeated measures laboratory study was carried out to quantify neck posture and head movements while subjects reclined in the stretchers. Stretch...

A literature search was conducted to determine whether there is any scientific evidence that exposure to occupational stressors in the RN causes the development of back disorders in personnel. Few research papers dealing directly with the topic were identified. Acute back pain in the general population is associated with both personal and occupatio...

A previous survey by Shear et al. revealed a high prevalence of back pain in Royal Navy helicopter aircrew, compared with controls. It was recommended that a second survey be undertaken, taking account of flying tasks and cockpit ergonomics. This was the purpose of the present investigation. A questionnaire containing items on back pain and posture...