Ergonomía

Despite recent developments in information technology, management of many of contemporary industrial and service systems, such as mining, oil and gas exploration, nuclear power generation, transportation (including aviation), or health care, continue to be a major challenge for the global society with respect to safety and health of people who are involved with their daily operation and maintenance, as well as safety and health of customers/clients.

The control of the risk to develop noise induced hearing loss, the main physiological effect of noise exposure, is more often than desirable achieved through the use of hearing protection devices (HPDs). However, and despite the apparent simplicity of this measure, its adoption is a complex issue and it involves the consideration of several physical factors, such as noise characterization, psychological factors, for example linked to the idiosyncrasy of the users and their specific behaviour, and health aspects, related to their hearing function.

La formación superior  de la Ergonomía en España se ha ligado a la Prevención de Riesgos Laborales como una de las Especialidades en esta materia, y por lo tanto desde 1997  se ha regulado por el Reglamento de los Servicios de Prevención. Pero con la entrada en vigor del Plan Bolonia donde marcan las directrices para impartir los Másteres oficiales universitarios estas competencias se han traspasado a la universidad.