ISO/TC 159/SC 1/WG 2 - Ergonomic principles related to mental work

This document gives guidance on design principles and on design of work systems, including task and equipment design (comprising robotics and intelligent autonomous systems) and design of the workplace, as well as working conditions with the inclusion of social and organisational factors, emphasising mental workload and its effects as specified in ISO 10075-1. It applies to the design of work and use of human capacities, with the intention of providing optimal working conditions with respect to health and safety, well-being, performance and effectiveness, preventing overload as well as underload, in order to avoid impairing effects and fostering the facilitating effects described in ISO 10075-1. This document includes the design of technical, organisational and social factors only and does not apply to problems of selection or training. This document does not address problems of measurement of mental workload or its effects. This document refers to all kinds of human work activities (see ISO 10075-1), not only to those which can be described as cognitive or mental tasks in a restricted sense but also to those with a primarily physical workload. This document is applicable to all those engaged in the design and use of work systems, for example system and equipment designers, employers and workers and their representatives, where they exist. This document is applicable to the design of new work systems as well as to the redesign of existing ones undergoing substantial revision.

ISO 10075-1:2017 defines terms in the field of mental workload, covering mental stress and mental strain, and short- and long-term, positive and negative consequences of mental strain. It also specifies the relations between these concepts involved. In this document, mental workload is regarded as an umbrella or generic term, referring to all the concepts and constructs mentioned in the document and does not have a specified or standardized meaning of its own within the document. This is consistent with the use of the term in ergonomics and its applications, where it can refer to mental stress, mental strain and their effects, i.e. both to the causes and the effects. In this document, the term mental workload will thus not be treated as a technical term but only as a reference to the domain of mental workload. NOTE Annex A gives additional explanations of terms and concepts. ISO 10075-1:2017 applies to the design of working conditions with respect to mental workload and is intended to promote a common usage of terminology between experts and practitioners in the field of ergonomics as well as in general. ISO 10075-1:2017 does not address methods of measurement and principles of task design, which are dealt with in ISO 10075‑2 and ISO 10075‑3.

ISO 10075-3:2004 establishes principles and requirements for the measurement and assessment of mental workload and specifies the requirements for measurement instruments. ISO 10075-3:2004 provides information for choosing appropriate methods and provides information on aspects of assessing and measuring mental workload to improve communication among the parties involved. ISO 10075-3:2004 is intended for use mainly by ergonomic experts, for example, psychologists, occupational health specialists, and/or physiologists, with appropriate training in the theoretical background and usage of such methods, as well as in the interpretation of the results. They will find the information needed when developing or evaluating methods of mental-workload assessment.

Gives guidance on the design of work systems, including task and equipment and design of the workplace, as well as working conditions. Relates to the adequate design of work and use of human capacities.

This Standard represents an extension of ISO 6385, Subclauses 3.7 to 3.9, describing terms and definitions in more detail. Annex A forms an integral part of this standard.