This article describes some of the institutions and agencies contributing to the development and practice of ergonomics in Canada.
Ergonomics (from the Greek ἔργον, meaning ‘work’, and νόμος, meaning ‘natural law’) is the study of the relation between a person (the operator) and the means used by the operator to perform a task. The task may be (and in the early days of the discipline was restricted to) an industrial or occupational task, like operating a lathe or driving a vehicle or (since those early days) monitoring a computer-controlled operation, but it may also take the form of playing a sport, pursuing a hobby, or conducting an everyday task such as crossing a street. The means used may vary accordingly, from a lathe or car or operator-computer interface to running shoes or bird-watching binoculars or a pedestrian-crossing signal. In studying the relation between operators and tasks, ergonomists take account of the perceptual and problem-solving skills required of the operator, the physiological and anatomical characteristics of the operator, and the organisational, managerial, and social context within which the task is performed. The knowledge thus acquired is applied to the design of the means of performing the task and the context in which it is performed in such a way as to maintain the health and well-being of the operator while at the same time maximising the effectiveness and efficiency of the operation.
Defence Research Board Toronto
Ergonomics in Canada, as in other countries, found its genesis in military procurement. Following the Second World War, military scientists at the Defence Research Board Toronto recognised the basic tenet of ergonomics – that operators (in this case service personnel) work more safely and more effectively when the design of the work situation takes account of their anatomical, physiological and psychological characteristics – and adopted ergonomics as a significant component of their work. In due course (after a change of name to Defence Research Establishment Toronto), DRET became the birthplace, in 1968, of the Association of Canadian Ergonomists, the Canadian organisation affiliated to the International Ergonomics Association.
Apart from providing a birthplace for ACE, DRET also provided its original name: Human Factors Association of Canada. In establishing DRET, the Department of National Defence had "recognized the importance of human factors", and DRET claimed "the human factors of command systems" as one of its areas of competence. In 1968, prevailing opinion in North America was that the term 'human factors' correctly described the domain of interest and did so more appropriately than the term 'ergonomics'. The new association was therefore named accordingly. It thrived for many years with that name but whether the decision impeded, in certain respects, the development of ergonomics in Canada remains questionable.
Association of Canadian Ergonomists
The twenty-nine founding members of the original organisation were mostly military or ex-military persons or functionaries of other government departments. A few were academics; only two were women. In its early days the Association (HFAC, as it then was) members met at least once a year to present papers to each other, but it did not engage seriously in questions of academic and professional status and development. The prevailing mode changed in 1981 when members were persuaded to forsake the Muskoka Lakes in order to hold the annual conference in Toronto. Ergonomists from places outside southern Ontario were now able to find the venue and the organisation began its expansion.
In 1984 the Association adopted the name Human Factors Association of Canada/Association canadienne d’ergonomie. In this year also it entered the international scene by sponsoring the International Conference on Occupational Ergonomics in Toronto. In 1999 it changed its name once more, this time to the Association of Canadian Ergonomists/Association canadienne d’ergonomie (ACE).
Institut de récherche en santé et en sécurité du travail
Meanwhile, parallel developments were taking place in Montreal. In 1980 the Government of Quebec had established the Institut de recherche en santé et en sécurité de travail (IRSST) to undertake research aimed at promoting occupational health and safety. From its inception, ergonomics research constituted a significant part of the activity of IRSST, but unlike that of the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine (the successor of DRET), this research was wholly directed to industrial objectives as distinct from what were the mostly military objectives of the latter.