Adapting the failure modes effect analysis (FMEA) for early detection of human factors concerns

As one of many initiatives underway in a collaborative action research project with a large manufacturer, this paper presents the development of a "human factors" failure modes effect analysis (HF-FMEA). FMEA is an engineering reliability tool that helps define, identify, prioritize and eliminate known or potential failures of a system, design or manufacturing assembly process, generally to optimize quality or systems safety for consumers. The goal of the HF-FMEA is to detect and minimize risk of injury for the operator who will assemble products, prior to design of an assembly line. Scoring procedures for "severity", "occurrence" and "detection" from a HF perspective are presented with examples. Embedding the HF-FMEA into software templates, and structuring a process for support and integration helps ensure its continued use. The process may be useful for other organizations with hand-intensive assemblies to optimize worker health together with assembly quality.