Human factors issues at selected workplaces in Nigeria: practice, status and future research needs

Abstract

Human factor or ergonomics animates a productive system with the capability of a community of production factors that are not productive. The current paper aims to identify research and practice issues of human factors (HF) in the existing literature on Nigerian scenarios. The specific objectives include conducting a review on ergonomics awareness, collating thought-provoking lived experiences gained from human factors practice across sectors of the economy, highlighting their status, and offering valuable tips on the emerging future of HF for workplaces in Nigeria. Understanding HF issues helps to plan and improve productivity at workplaces. The issues treated herein were topical subjects in recent debates about the COVID-19 era, work evolution, human factors, or ergonomics (E) practice in Nigeria. This review article applied a cross-sectional approach involving the descriptive survey and qualitative analytical methods. Analysis carried out incorporated computation of frequency of publication on each issue, which aided the discussion on status. Findings have shown that knowledge or awareness of HF/E is low, and applying the practice at work positions is equally low in Nigeria. Furthermore, the results suggested an insignificant rise in the status of HF/E by research studies. Surreptitiously, the high prospects for growth of HF/E and the ancillary factors like AI and robotics are foreshadowed in low levels of both practice and awareness. The analysis mentioned that the rising frequency of HF/E issues at the workplace has all-inclusive and mutually exclusive implications for the employee. The study’s outcome can contribute to positive change in organizational productivity, product design and process design since scientific research on the gaps can facilitate advancement in knowledge.