Disasters and Human Factors Literature

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Disasters and Human Factors Literature

• Nestor L Osorio
• Northern Illinois University

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Introduction
The purpose of this project is to determine how
the field of human factors is related to research
done on disaster management according to the
literature published in these fields. In order to
accomplish this goal a major electronic
abstracting journal was searched and the results
were critically examined. A content analysis - an
extensively used technique for this kind of study
- of each bibliographic record, abstract, and
subject terms was done. Finally, the bibliometric
data obtained will be discussed.
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Source of Data
The electronic database of Ergonomics Abstracts
was used to collect data. Ergonomics Abstracts is
produced by the Ergonomics Information Center of
the University of Birmingham, UK. This
abstracting journal publishes nearly 6,000
abstracts per year, mainly from journals and
conference proceedings, other documents and books
are also included. The following elements are
included in each citation of Ergonomics
Abstracts Abstract number Authors Source
Year, Volume and Issue Pages Abstract Number
of References Original Language Classification
Term(s) Classification Number(s) and
Application(s).
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Methods
About one thousand two hundred citations from
Ergonomics Abstracts covering the period
1990-2002 were collected and analyzed. These
citations are selected by doing key word searches
that describe different aspects of disaster
literature such as preparedness, emergency,
rescue, evacuation, risks, etc. Abstracts were
evaluated to determine the relevancy of each
citation, that is, citations that covered both
disasters and human factors.   A content
analysis of the citations and abstracts obtained
was done. The analysis included the following
data source of publication place of publication
of source publication date number of pages
original language of publication and number of
references.   The principal Classification Term
assigned to each document was tabulated. Also
collected were the main terms describing
Application for each document reported. A list of
more frequently used classification terms and
applications was generated.
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Results
The first group of data provided information
about what the major publications are in the
field of human factors that published papers on
disaster. Lists of leading journals, conference
proceedings, books and other publications were
generated.   The countries where these
publications are produced will be tabulated. The
number of documents per year published during the
period selected (1990-2002) will be counted. In
the case of articles from journals of conference
proceedings the average number of pages per
article and the average number of references per
article will be obtained. Also, the most used
languages will be tracked.   From the
Classification Term(s) obtained, a taxonomy of
the terms used in Ergonomic Abstracts will
provide an insight about the subject matters in
human factors that are relevant to issues of
disaster (prevention, preparedness, training,
etc).  
Application terms collected provide information
about the topics covered by the literature of
human factors and disasters as relate to the
physical situations. Application terms in this
case mean the physical situation related to a
disaster such as power plants, mines, buildings,
airplanes, etc.
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Results (continued)
This list of terms determines also the
relationship between human factors and disaster
management.   A cluster analysis of the top
twenty Classification Terms has been done using
the SAS statistical program. This cluster
analysis identified significant clusters of terms
within the literature. Application terms
collected provide information about the topics
covered by the literature of human factors and
disasters as relate to the physical situations.
Application terms in this case mean the physical
situation related to a disaster such as power
plants, mines, buildings, airplanes, etc.
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Conclusion
Twenty journals contain 68 percent of all
articles citations. These twenty titles can be
considered the core journal titles for disaster
literature.   The number of proceeding papers
(203) and articles in journals (232) represent
together 79 percent of all documents.   Most
publishers of books (including book chapters) are
published in the United Kingdom and United States
is second.   The majority of reports are
published in the United Kingdom and United
States.   Most conference proceedings papers are
published in the United States and United
Kingdom.  
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Conclusion (continued)
Twelve conference proceedings published 31
percent of all proceeding papers.   Twenty
principal classification terms (one term per
document) contain 61 percent of all documents
founded (550). These classification terms can be
considered the main topic areas of the
literature.   A co-occurrence citation analysis
of these twenty classification terms provides
some indications about the clustering of these
topic areas.   Six clusters are identified in the
dendogram. Cluster 1 Evacuation procedures
Information and communication design Rescue
Workload demands Data collection and recording
Work design and organization for health and
safety Respiratory equipment. Cluster 2 Human
reliability and system reliability Signs
Errors, accuracy and reliability Stress
Training Education, training and safety
procedures. Cluster 3 Decision-making and risk
management Modeling human characteristics.
Cluster 4 Information systems and communication
Behavioural and social processes. Cluster 5
General health and safety Low temperature.
Cluster 6 Emergency services.