We’re pleased to announce that the UK’s Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors (CIEHF) has joined the Australian Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare. CIEHF is the UK’s professional member organisation for ergonomist and human factor specialists. Established in 1949, it was the first such body in the world. With over 1800 members, they work across six sectors: manufacturing, transport, defence, energy, work and life, and healthcare. Find out more about CIEHF.

In healthcare, ergonomists and human factors professionals work in partnership with clinicians, managers and IT specialists to ensure a safe and resilient 21st century healthcare system, ensuring that designs complement the strengths and abilities of people and minimise the effects of their limitations. Rather than expecting people to adapt to a design that forces them to work in an uncomfortable, stressful or dangerous way, ergonomists and human factors specialists seek to understand how a product, workplace, technology, tool or system can be designed to suit the people who use it.

Dr Noorzaman Rashid, CEO of CIEHF, welcomes this new partnership opportunity, and says: “Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and robotics combined with our evolving understanding of neuroscience must play a bigger role in healthcare, in developing as well as developed nations. The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors is delighted to collaborate with AAAiH to influence change.”

With a Health Sector and Special Interest Group for Digital Health & AI, CIEHF will initially contribute expertise primarily to the AAAiH Safety, Quality and Ethics Working Group. With expertise in other areas and many links to national and international partners, we anticipate they will be able to contribute more widely to the work of AAAiH over the longer term.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with members of the CIEHF. Their expertise in human factors and ergonomics is highly relevant to our research and to the implementation of safe, effective AI in healthcare”, said Professor Wendy Rogers, Co-Chair of the AAAiH Safety, Quality and Ethics Program.

 

“It’s a global conversation that we need to have with experts such as CIEHF, where we can learn and together implement AI in healthcare that benefits everyone. We’ve been scoping Australian AI safety and ethics initiatives and our next step is to identify the issues at an international level, so we’re looking forward to CIEHF participating in this activity”, said Associate Professor Farah Magrabi, Co-Chair of the AAAiH Safety, Quality and Ethics Program.