2.1 Background to HFI prior to the mid 1980s

The application of the human sciences to the design of jobs and equipment, along with the associated issues such as training, has a long history within the UK. ^[1] The defence needs of the nation during the Second World War, and later, did much to provide the impetus for this application. Perhaps one of the best and earliest examples of reports from this tradition is Sir Frederick Bartlett's Ferrier lecture of 1943 in which he presented conceptual models and empirical information on a range of gunnery and other tasks. Such work was developed in the 1950s at the Medical Research Council, Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge with the pioneering project on the Cambridge Cockpit . By the 1960s, the Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine (RAF IAM), within the UK Ministry of Defence, had wide-ranging programmes in the areas of physiology and ergonomics. This was followed shortly after by similar programmes within the Army Personnel Research Establishment (APRE) for land forces, and the Applied Psychology Unit (APU), Teddington, for the Royal Navy. Within industry Prof. Brian Shackel established a laboratory in EMI, during the 1950s, and this contributed greatly to many design projects including notable work on the combat systems of the Royal Navy.

All of the above were groundbreaking projects and programmes and some of them had outstanding success. Collaboration between Rolls Royce and Associates, the MoD and APU Teddington on nuclear reactor control developed...