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PHYSIOLOGICAL ERGONOMICS
It is led by favouring the experimental approaches on the field, which is essential to the ergonomics research, but also in laboratory and with simulation.
The research regarding Biomechanics applied to ergonomics focus on the adoption of morphological and biomechanical aspects of operators during the design of activities spaces : posts for driving, piloting, supervision... or individual equipments such as helmets, masks, etc... The realized works on the postural comfort in several situations of piloting, planes, helicopters, space vehicles, automotive vehicles, lead to three dimensional (3-D) characterizations of positions of less discomfort, in relationship with the type of activity and the environment nature. These 3-D characterizations of postures, but also of movements have been recently spread out to spatial flights, thanks to the ANBRE program, led in collaboration with the European Spatial Agency.
The LAA is, at the moment, partner in the BRITE EURAM program which name is "Advanced Information Technology / Digital Mock-Up - Ergonomic Simulation". In cooperation with the main european car manufacturers, simulation tools are in the development process. They integrate the different results on the comfort criteria to allow a better integration of Ergonomics in the design of driving posts or in maintenance activities.
The second theme is a matter for Psychophysiology and Chronobiology. It concerns, more especially, the vigilance, the performance and the human behavior in monotonous or risky situations.
The research about vigilance are realized in the civil aeronautic domain, during long distance flights, with the support of the General Direction of Civil Aviation (DGAC), on plane from the new generation : B747-400 and A340. The research deals also with railroad transport, train driving and traffic regulation, the control room of nuclear factory and car traffic, in particular for automotive driving and highway security. In any case, those works need to gather biological data in real situations. For example, 156 long distance flights have been studied this way by gathering, during the whole cycle, continuing records of electro-encephalogram, electro-oculogram and electrocardiogram for each member of the crew. The same procedure is used for 125 highway journeys of 4 hours long each. These works, in collaboration with the Highway company Paris-Rhin-Rhône (SAPRR) and the South Highway of France (ASF), allowed to establish the existence of a correlation between the accidents caused by drowsiness and the appearings of hypvigilances and microsleeps for particular parts of the highway.
The consequences of these works allow, for example, to optimize the rests, the sleep as well as the management of the tasks for airplane long distance crew. A guide of recommendations, co-edited by the DGAC and the LAA has been published. In a different field, tools have been created to help the recruitment and the professional training of highway patrollers employees, and petrochemical supervision operators. These facts have allowed to propose practical solutions to help in the adaptation at shift work (3*8, 2*12, time lag hours) of employees assigned to safety posts. These works are, at the moment, in progress. In particular, thanks to the support of DGAC and highway companies, research deal with the consideration of tiredness, the sleep quality, the hardness of the services and the contents of activities in the air transport field for short - and medium - distance airplane pilot, for air traffic controller and, concerning the road, the highway traffic, the highway patrollers and truck drivers.
The formalization and the practical application of these knowledge about man being in work situation as well as the assessment in ergonomics allow collaboration with industrial companies, car and airplane manufacturers, and information service companies. These studies concern the aspects of the comfort in relationship with the physical adjustment of activity posts, but also, the forms for information presentations as well as Man Machine Interface Design.