Editorial

Human Factors and Ergonomics in Sport and Outdoor Recreation: From individuals and their equipment to complex sociotechnical systems and their frailties

The benefits of sport and outdoor recreation are well known. These include positive impacts on our physical and psychological health and wellbeing as well as a range of broader community, societal and economic benefits. On the contrary, when sport and outdoor recreation systems fail, the consequences can be catastrophic and can include multiple fatalities, large-scale financial losses, and significant trauma to individuals and society. Such impacts can be seen in recent events such as the United States gymnastics sexual abuse scandal, the Mangatepopo Gorge Walking tragedy, the Jules Bianchi Formula One crash, and the FIFA corruption scandal.

As a discipline that is concerned with optimising system performance and human well-being, the important role that Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) can play in understanding and optimising sport and outdoor recreation has long been recognised (e.g. Reilly and Lees, 1984; Reilly and Ussher, 1988). As a result, a significant body of HFE work has been undertaken to date, and there are various researchers and practitioners currently working in the sport and outdoor recreation context (see Salmon and Macquet, 2017).

Broadly, the work of HFE practitioners in sport and outdoor recreation focusses on either optimising performance (athlete, worker, team, organisation, or system performance) or on preventing accidents and injuries. As the discipline of HFE has matured and advanced, the role that HFE plays in sport and outdoor recreation systems has grown. In the area of sport, for example, early applications focussed on individual athletes and sports equipment design (Reilly and Lees, 1984), however, theoretical and methodological advances have seen HFE applications expand to incorporate sports teams (Neville et al., 2017), sports organisations, and overall sports systems (Hulme et al., 2017). This has seen the focus of HFE work extend from physical HFE (e.g. anthropometrics, physiology, injury, disabilities) to cognitive HFE (e.g. situation awareness, decision making) and now to systems HFE (e.g. injury causation and prevention).

Alongside this, sport and outdoor recreation systems are becoming more complex, more technology centric, and in the case of sport, more competitive and more financially driven. As a result, the appetite for HFE research and practice is increasing. In addition, there is a growing recognition that the problems faced in sport and outdoor recreation settings are similar to those being tackled in more traditional HFE application areas such as transportation, defence, and process control (Salmon, 2017). Researchers and practitioners are recognising the benefits of applying HFE theory and methods, developed in other areas, in sport and outdoor recreation (e.g. Kermarrec and Bossard, 2014; Macquet and Stanton, 2014; Mclean et al., 2017). In turn, the potential to inform safety critical system design and the development of HFE theory and methods through sport and outdoor recreation applications is being realised (e.g. Goode et al., 2018; Neville et al., 2017).

This special issue on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Sport and Outdoor Recreation was proposed by the authors in response to this exciting new dawn for HFE in sport, as well as the recent emergence of HFE applications in the area of outdoor recreation (Dallat et al., 2018; Goode et al., 2016, 2018; Salmon et al., 2010, 2014; 2017a). The proposal was developed alongside the creation of a Human Factors and Ergonomics in Sport and Outdoor Recreation conference as part of the Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) conference in Las Vegas in 2015 (see Salmon and Macquet, 2017). The aim of both the special issue and the conference was to provide a platform for communicating contemporary sport and outdoor recreation HFE research, to showcase some of the key issues currently being tackled, and to inspire the HFE community to pursue further applications in sport and outdoor recreation. This special issue also provides an opportunity to reflect on our disciplines contribution as well as its potential role in future sports and outdoor recreation research and practice.

The seven articles included in the special issue each describe recent HFE applications within either sport or outdoor recreation systems. Following a brief overview of the history of HFE in sport and outdoor recreation, a summary of each contribution is provided. The main findings from each contribution are then brought together to articulate the key take home messages. In closing, we discuss the implications for future sport and outdoor recreation HFE research and practice.