Welcome to the Human Factors Hub

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Human Factors in Health and Care Podcast Series. In this opening conversation, our hosts introduce the core principles of Human Factors and Ergonomics, why they matter in health and social care, and how designing work around people improves safety, performance, and wellbeing.

This episode offers a clear, accessible starting point for anyone new to Human Factors or looking to understand its relevance across everyday practice.

Three things you will learn:

• What Human Factors and Ergonomics actually mean and why the terms describe the same discipline.
• How Human Factors improves system performance and staff wellbeing by focusing on design, context, and real‑world work.
• Why Human Factors is essential in healthcare and how it complements other improvement approaches like quality improvement.

Please select the logo to listen or download episode one.

Welcome to Episode 2 of the Human Factors in Health and Care Podcast. In this episode, our hosts explore what a systems approach really means in Human Factors—why it matters, how it differs from traditional ways of thinking about safety, and how it helps us understand the complex reality of work in health and social care.

Through practical examples and discussion, the episode highlights how systems thinking supports better design, safer work environments, and more meaningful learning and improvement.

Three things you will learn:

• What a Human Factors systems approach is and why understanding interactions—rather than individual components—is essential.
• How systems frameworks (like SEIPS) can be applied to investigate work, design improvements, and support proactive safety thinking.
• Where systems thinking fits in everyday practice—from simulation and incident reviews to designing environments, policies, and care processes.

Please select the logo to listen or download episode two.

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Human Factors in Health and Care Podcast. In this episode, the hosts explore the complex concept of safety culture what it means, why it matters, and how it shapes everyday work, performance, and wellbeing across health and social care.

Through discussion and real-world examples, the episode unpacks why safety culture is hard to define, how it influences behaviour at all levels, and how tools like the NES Safety Culture Discussion Cards can support more meaningful conversations about how work is really done.

Three things you will learn:

• What “safety culture” actually is—and why it's often difficult to pin down or measure, despite its importance.
• How culture influences everyday behaviour and outcomes, including the role of leadership, values, norms, and surface behaviours.
• Practical ways to explore and improve culture, including using tools like the NES Safety Culture Discussion Cards to prompt deeper reflection and team dialogue.

Please select the logo to listen or download episode three.

Welcome to Episode 4 of the Human Factors in Health and Care Podcast. In this episode, the hosts explore why work procedures—policies, SOPs, pathways, checklists and all other cognitive aids—so often fall short in practice, and how a human‑centred design approach can make them more usable, more realistic, and safer.

Drawing on real examples and evidence, the discussion examines the gap between work as imagined and work as done, the importance of co‑design, and why involving the right people at the right time is essential for procedures that genuinely support safe, efficient work.

Three things you will learn:

• Why many work procedures fail in practice, including issues of usability, context, and disconnect from real‑world work.
• Key principles of human‑centred design, including co‑design, capturing multiple perspectives, and grounding procedures in “work as done.”
• What supports successful implementation and sustainability, such as team agreement, realistic design, and avoiding unnecessary complexity that adds burden to staff.

Please select the logo to listen or download episode four.

Welcome to Episode 5 of the Human Factors in Health and Care Podcast. In this episode, the hosts unpack the concept of resilient healthcare—what it means, how it differs from traditional “Safety‑I” approaches, and how it connects with ideas like Safety‑II and resilience engineering.

Through practical examples and educational insights, the discussion explores how everyday work is adapted to keep systems functioning, why this adaptability is essential in complex care environments, and how a modernised approach to safety can strengthen learning, performance, and wellbeing.

Three things you will learn:

• What resilient healthcare and Safety‑II actually mean, and how they contrast with traditional reactive, error‑focused “Safety‑I” thinking.
• Why studying everyday work is vital, including how staff adapt, adjust, and create safety in under‑specified and pressured systems.
• How resilience principles can enhance education and practice, from teaching adaptive capacity to designing systems and procedures that better reflect real work.

Please select the logo to listen or download episode five.