SAFE20017 - Human Factors in Complex Systems

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This advanced level unit introduces you to the practices and principles of Human Factors and examines the ways that humans function in complex socio-technical environments and organisational safety systems. This unit discusses the core principles of physical, cognitive, organisational and environmental ergonomics and provides the foundational knowledge required for the discipline of Human Factors. You will learn and apply knowledge in the area of anthropometric variation of the human body to end-user design enhancements as well as discussing concepts of job design in relation to psychological considerations including mental workloads, fatigue management, teamwork and job-fit concepts.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026

Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 87.50% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 30.77% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: SUTE Feedback
Feedback
Students reported struggling with the content of this unit this term due to the short time frame to learn complex theories and practical tools.
Recommendation
It is recommended to review the content of this unit before the next offering. This will also need to take into consideration the new cohort of international students undertaking the unit as an elective.
Action Taken
The unit content was changed for the 2025 offering to consider the international students now enrolling in the unit. Several assessment items were made less onerous in relation to the practical application of human factors tools.
Source: Unsolicited Student Feedback
Feedback
International students reported struggling with the very practical assessment tools in this unit.
Recommendation
It is recommended to review the need for the practical human factors tools used for two of the three assessment tasks in this unit.
Action Taken
The use of Human Factors tools was reviewed and changed in order to make it more inclusive for international students to be able to understand and use several human factors tools in real world applications.
Source: SUTE Feeback
Feedback
Students felt that the unit was well put together.
Recommendation
It is recommended to keep the format of the way the unit is delivered. However, this may change if the practical assessment tasks are changed as there may be less focus on teaching these tools.
Action Taken
The format of the delivery of the unit was kept the same but the practical assessment tasks were changed and made less onerous for students to complete.
Source: SUTE Data
Feedback
Sessions were run during work hours and one student reported that they were unable to attend due to work commitments which made them feel a little isolated.
Recommendation
Most of the students work so it is difficult to cater for all students when timetabling is done. It is recommended to keep recording the lectures so that students who cannot attend in person can view the lectures in their out of work hours.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Data
Feedback
It was reported that the prescribed readings for each week could be linked to make it easier to access them.
Recommendation
All prescribed readings are provided in the eReadling List. However, some readings are part of the prescribed textbook and the relevant chapters are to be found via accessing the textbook. It is recommended to check with the library if the prescribed chapters can be isolated from the textbook for easier access across the weeks of term.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Data
Feedback
Students reported they loved the unit and wanted a four-year Human Factors degree.
Recommendation
It is pleasing to see that students enjoyed the unit. It is recommended to keep the unit as students clearly love the Human Factors content and the domain as a whole.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.