Human Factors for Sustainability
Theoretical Perspectives and Global Applications
Edited by Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, and Klaus Fischer
CRC Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Thatcher, Andrew, editor. | Zink, Klaus J., 1947- editor. | Fischer, Klaus (Lecturer on sustainable development), editor.
Title: Human factors for sustainability : theoretical perspectives and global applications / edited by Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, Klaus Fischer.
Description: Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “This book deals with the central question of how human factors and ergonomics (HFE) might contribute to solutions for the more sustainable development of our world. The contents of the book are highly compatible with the recent political agenda for sustainable development as well as with sustainability research from other disciplines.The book aims to summarize and profile the various empirical and theoretical work arising from the field of “Human Factors and Sustainable Development” in the last decade. The book gives a systematic overview of relevant theoretical concepts, their underlying philosophies, as well as global application fields and case studies”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019024680 (print) | LCCN 2019024681 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138576575 (hardback) | ISBN 9781351269681 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Human engineering. | Sustainable engineering. | Sustainable development. Classification: LCC T59.7 .H84535 2019 (print) | LCC T59.7 (ebook) | DDC 620.8/2--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024680
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024681
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com
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Chapter 1 How Has HFE Responded to the Global Challenges of Sustainability? ...................................................................................... 1
Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, and Klaus Fischer
SECTION I Theoretical Basis for Human Factors
Chapter 2 For a Sustainable World, What Should HFE Optimize? .................... 35
Colin G. Drury and Peter A. Hancock
Chapter 3 A Future Ethical Stance for HFE toward Sustainability 51
Andrew Thatcher, Karen Lange-Morales, and Gabriel García-Acosta
Chapter 4 HFE and the Global Sustainable Development Goals 75
Claudio Marcelo Brunoro, Ivan Bolis, Bruno César Kawasaki, Ruri Giannini, and Laerte Idal Sznelwar
SECTION II Methods and Application Areas for Sustainable Work Systems
Chapter 5 Crowd Work, Outsourcing, and Sustainable Work Systems 99
Klaus J. Zink
Chapter 6 Beyond Product Life Cycles: An Introduction to Product Sociotechnical Cycles (PstC) as an Alternative for HFE toward Sustainability in Product Design and Development 123
Gabriel García-Acosta and Karen Lange-Morales
Chapter 7 Current Social Life Cycle Assessment Practice: Getting Through Initial Difficulties of the New Approach ........................... 145
Marina Jentsch
Chapter 8 Identifying Human Factors and Ergonomics Issues in Green Jobs: Facilitating Sustainable Green Jobs ........................................ 171
Margaret Hanson and Andrew Thatcher
Chapter 9 Achieving Sustainability through HFE and Organizational Behavior and Change ....................................................................... 193
Andrew S. Imada and Samantha K. Imada
Chapter 10 Factors to Consider in the Application of the Sustainable System-of-Systems Model for Human Factors and Ergonomics Interventions ..................................................................................... 217
Andrew Thatcher and Paul H. P. Yeow
Chapter 11 Sustainability of Global Value Creation and Supply Chains ........... 237
Klaus Fischer
Chapter 12 Ergoecological Criteria to Achieve Corporate Sustainability .......... 259
Martha Helena Saravia-Pinilla, Carolina Daza-Beltrán, and Lucas Rafael Ivorra- Peñafort
SECTION III Case Studies from around the World on Sustainability and Sustainable Work Systems
Chapter 13 Complex, Interdependent Sustainability Issues and the Potential Role of Human Factors and Ergonomics in the Persian Gulf: Improving Safety and Preparing for Climate Change Challenges 291
Maryam Tabibzadeh and Najmedin Meshkati
Chapter 14 Past, Present, and Future of the Workforce at the Chilean Forestry Sector from a Social and Ergonomics Perspective 319
Felipe Meyer, Elias Apud, Gabriel Eweje, and David Tappin
Chapter 15 Sustainable Development and Energy Systems
Design: Issues and Perspectives from a Francophone Activity-Centered Approach ............................................................ 335
Julien Guibourdenche, Céline Poret, Germain Poizat, Florence Motté, Yvon Haradji, Pascal Salembier, and Mariane Galbat
Chapter 16 Transport Systems in Industrially Developing Countries (IDCs) – The Role of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) ....... 365
Jessica Hutchings
Chapter 17 Safety Training Park in Northern Finland – A Multistakeholder Approach to Improve Occupational Safety and Health ...................
Arto Reiman, Tuula Räsä nen, Louise Møller Pedersen, and Seppo Väyrynen
Chapter 18 HFE Practice within Complex Teams: What We Bring................... 405
Dave Moore, Clare Tedestedt George, and Jas Qadir
SECTION IV Reflections
Preface
More than 25 years ago (in 1992), the first “Earth Summit” placed the issue of sustainable development on the global political agenda. As this famous UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro was held at the time of the end of Cold War, it was driven by a spirit of multilateralism and the hope that a certain dividend would help to solve global sustainability problems and inequality through international cooperation. In recent times, the rise of nationalism and military buildups has meant that the enthusiastic global spirit seems to be a rather remote prospect. However, remarkable progress has been achieved in the last few decades in important fields such as the alleviation of poverty and hunger, child mortality reductions, access to primary education and – when looking at environmental sustainability – with regard to protecting the ozone layer.
These achievements are encouraging, even though many sustainability challenges have become even more pressing in the last few years. Since 2015, the world has agreed on its third global framework for addressing sustainability and sustainable development objectives. The recent Agenda 2030 is an improvement in respecting the interdependencies between environmental, economic, and social aspects as well as the shared responsibility of the Global “North” and “South” and is thus delivering a comprehensive framework for designing the future of a globalized world. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals have consequently been taken up in strategies and action plans at the country, community, and organizational levels worldwide. When looking at the role of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) in this context, our discipline recognized early on the importance of global sustainability entrenched in human well-being. At the International Ergonomics Association Congress (1994) succeeding Rio’s Earth Summit, Moray outlined the global challenges of sustainable development to the HFE community in Toronto, Canada. Although the response of the HFE community was initially quite slow, a multitude of initiatives and research fields were launched. These initiatives led to new concepts such as ergoecology, green ergonomics, supply chain ergonomics, and sustainable work systems design, which help focus our attention on pressing and highly complex issues required for future development. These concepts and their related instruments are – among others – presented in this book.
In 2008, the International Ergonomics Association’s Technical Committee on Human Factors for Sustainable Development (HFSD TC) was launched, offering an overall umbrella body for the sustainability discourse in HFE. In its first decade, this TC has become a platform of exchange and cooperation across the borders of continents, disciplines, and research topics and has thus contributed to an emerging new subdiscipline of HFE. This book picks up on this development and provides a collection of theoretical approaches in sustainability research from the HFE domain, its various existing and new areas for HFE application, and case study examples of where HFE methods have made a significant difference. The discourse is thereby not limited to supposed “classical” sustainability issues: recent technological and social developments such as digitization and demographic changes are inseparably linked
with ecological soundness and global welfare. In particular with regard to the role of HFE, megatrends and transformation paths should thus not be dealt with separately from one another.
As multilateralism efforts have been challenged in recent years, this international book collaboration project brings together experts from around the globe to deal with questions of future development and should be seen as providing a certain inherent value in itself. We cordially thank all who contributed to this one-and-a-half-year project through their commitment to writing, reviewing, revising, and editing this work. We are convinced that the result shows us that it was worth it.
Editors
Prof. Andrew Thatcher earned a PhD in cognitive ergonomics and is the chair of the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is currently the chair of the International Ergonomics Association’s Technical Committee on Human Factors and Sustainable Development. Broadly, his research looks at understanding sustainable work systems with a particular focus on ecological systems. His research focuses on the psychological factors in the adoption of sustainable technologies, health and well-being in “green” buildings, and applying theoretical ecological models to complex human systems. He was the ergonomics expert on the World Green Building Council’s working group, which looked at health, well-being, and effectiveness in green office buildings. He also sits on the editorial board of several ergonomics journals and is currently an editor for the journal Ergonomics. Previously he was an associate editor of the journal Behaviour & Information Technology. From 2014 to 2017, he was President of the Ergonomics Society of South Africa.
Prof. Klaus J. Zink is the scientific director of the Institute for Technology and Work (German acronym: ITA) at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. In a number of books, essays, and articles, he discussed concepts for the development of work and organizations and impacts on the quality of work. He is a member of numerous national and international committees and on the editorial board of several journals. From 1994 to 2001, he was on the board of the German Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (GfA), 1997–1999 as President and 1999–2001 as Past-President. From 1995 to 2000 and 2004 to 2009, he was a member of the Council, 2000–2003 a member of the Executive Committee, and 2009–2012 Vice President of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA). He received the IEA Fellow Award in 2000, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) 2006 Distinguished International Colleague Award, and in 2009 the IEA Ergonomics Development Award. From 2009 to 2015, he was chair of the International Ergonomics Association’s Technical Committee on Human Factors and Sustainable Development.
Prof. Klaus Fischer is a lecturer for business administration, in particular sustainability and strategic management, at the FOM University of Applied Science in Mannheim, Germany. Since his studies in industrial engineering and management, he has worked on publicly funded and industrial research projects in the fields of sustainable supply chain management, corporate sustainability, and sustainable development at the community level. He earned a PhD in economics, dealing with corporate sustainability governance, and researches the topic of legitimacy and effectiveness of sustainability management approaches and governance processes. He has supported the formation and development of the IEA Technical Committee Human Factors and Sustainable Development since its foundation in 2008.
Contributors
Elias Apud is a professor and director of the ergonomics department, at the University of Concepcion, Chile. In addition, he is the director of the master in ergonomics program. During his career, he has been devoted to applied research in ergonomics, in particular to the study of human adaptation to heavy physical work. As a requirement to perform applied ergonomic research, he has conducted a series of studies to define the physical and anthropometric characteristics of Chilean workers. He has also ventured into the field of nutrition for heavy work and in general on the subject of living conditions and camps.
Ivan Bolis is a visiting professor in the social psychology department of the Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil. His postdoctoral, PhD, and master’s degrees were completed in production engineering at the Polytechnic University of São Paulo, Brazil, and from the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy. He is a researcher and consultant in ergonomics (focused on activity and in organizational level), sustainability, health and safety, organizational values, and corporate decision-making process.
Claudio Brunoro earned a PhD in production engineering from the Polytechnic University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is a researcher and consultant in ergonomics (focused on activity at the organizational level), corporate sustainability, health and safety, and complexity. He is the founder of the Instituto Trabalhar – Centro de Estudos da Psicodinâmica do Trabalho e da Ergonomia da Atividade. He is cochair of the technical subcommittee Theoretical Perspectives on Human Factors and Sustainable Development of the Technical Committee Human Factors and Sustainable Development of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA).
Carolina Daza-Beltrán is an industrial designer with a master’s degree in marketing. She is an assistant professor and researcher at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá. She is a member of the Colombian Ergonomics Society (SCE) and is currently studying toward a PhD in engineering – ergonomics.
Colin Drury is a distinguished professor emeritus of industrial engineering at the University of Buffalo, New York, and President of the Applied Ergonomics Group. He received the FAA 2005 Excellence in Aviation Research Award for his contributions in aviation maintenance and inspection research. He is a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, and the Human Factors Ergonomics Society, and received the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society’s A. R. Lauer Safety Award, the Bartlett medal of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, and the Fitts Award of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Gabriel Eweje is an associate professor of business and sustainability within the School of Management (Albany campus), Massey Business School, Massey University, New Zealand. He is also director of the CSR and Sustainability Research Group – a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Massey Business School. He is the editor-in-chief of Corporate Governance – An International Journal of Business in Society, and associate editor for Business Ethics: A European Review. His PhD from the University of London focused on CSR and activities of multinational oil and mining companies in developing countries.
Mariane Galbat has been a consultant in ergonomics since 1990 and holds the title of European Ergonomist®. In 2008, she cofounded the Ersya company where she currently works as a consultant and a partner. From an activity-centered approach, she contributes to the design of computerized situations and simulation tools within service or industry domains. She is also a member of the French association ARTEE for the recognition of the title of European Ergonomist® .
Gabriel García-Acosta is a full-time professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He is an industrial designer, earned a master’s degree in ergonomics, and a PhD in project engineering and innovation. He leads the design observatory water and energy and his current research interests are oriented toward ergonomics and sustainability, sociotechnical systems, and ethics. He has also worked as a senior consultant in ergonomics for several production sectors (e.g., banking, farming, oil industry, health, manufacturing, among others). He is cofounder of an 18-year-old private company dedicated to design and ergonomics (Ergofactos SAS), cofounder and leader of MIMAPRO Research Group, and cofounder and member of the Colombian Ergonomics Society. Some of his contributions include several books, papers, and patents.
Ruri Giannini is a management consultant and a PhD student, currently involved in the ergonomics and work psychodynamics research group at Escola Politécnica/ USP. She earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in Production Engineering from the same university. She is interested in corporate strategy, performance management, work evaluation, sustainability, and psychodynamics of work.
Julien Guibourdenche earned a PhD in social and occupational psychology and is a European Ergonomist ®. He currently works at Ersya as a consultant in ergonomics. His research stands at the intersection of ergonomics, user experience, cognitive anthropology, and ecology, seeking to advance the articulation between multiple levels of analysis around a core-situated approach to human activity. He has been working on issues of energy efficiency since 2009. In 2015, he founded the commission Concevoir pour le Développement Durable of the French association ARPEGE.
Peter Hancock is a pegasus professor and a provost distinguished research professor in the department of psychology and the institute for simulation and training, as well as at the department of civil and environmental engineering and the department of industrial engineering and management systems at the University of Central Florida
(UCF). He is the author of more than 700 refereed scientific articles and publications as well as writing and editing more than 20 books including Human Performance and Ergonomics, Stress, Workload, and Fatigue; Performance under Stress; Essays on the Future of Human-Machine Systems; and Mind, Machine and Morality. He has won numerous awards around the world for his various contributions to human factors and ergonomics.
Margaret Hanson has more than 25 years’ experience in ergonomics research and consultancy, with a particular focus on workplace health. She is a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors and managing director of WorksOut, a CIEHF registered consultancy based in Edinburgh, UK. She has a strong interest in the contribution that ergonomics/human factors can make to supporting sustainable development and addressing the challenges brought about by climate change.
Yvon Haradji is a senior scientist at EDF R&D (Labs Paris-Saclay). His research focuses on human- computer interaction. He leads a project on a platform simulation with multiagent systems (SMACH). The goal of this research project is to simulate human activity to anticipate realistic load curves in new situations. He is the editorial director of the scientific electronic journal Activités.
Jessica Hutchings earned a PhD in systems engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She has worked in the railway industry in South Africa applying human factors and ergonomics specifically assisting with railway accident investigations. Dr. Hutchings has experience in state-owned enterprises, consulting, and academia. She is currently employed as the Human Factors and Safety Science Competency Leader in the Transnet Centre of Systems Engineering (TCSE). Dr. Hutchings is the president of the Ergonomics Society of South Africa (ESSA).
Andrew S. Imada is a macroergonomics consultant specializing in human and organizational change. He works with people and organizations to change their cultures, respond to scalability demands, implement disruptive technologies, and survive generational transitions. He helps them meet these challenges by balancing organizational, safety, quality, and human needs.
Samantha K. Imada researches how speaking up and workplace safety impact the work environment and drive organizational performance. She currently works with big data and analytics in a large healthcare organization. She earned a PhD in organizational behavior psychology from Claremont Graduate University, California.
Lucas Rafael Ivorra-Peñafort is an industrial designer with a master’s degree in environmental management and is a professional in project management (PMP). He is currently studying toward a PhD and a graduate certificate of research and innovation management. He is a member of the Colombian branch of the Learning Network on Sustainability International – LeNS I – and a member of the Network of Sustainability Professionals. He is an undergraduate and graduate professor in sustainable business development and innovation. Ivorra-Peñafort is an expert in
innovation in production systems and sustainable consumption (PyCS). He leads upcycling and circular economy projects within the private sector.
Marina Jentsch is a research associate at the Institute for Technology and Work (Institut für Technologie und Arbeit, ITA e.V.) at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. Her research interests include sustainable development and corporate social responsibility in general as well as governance of environmental and social issues in global supply chains in particular. Since 2011, she has been working on these topics in fundamental and applied research and development projects in cooperation with German companies and institutions.
Karen Lange-Morales is a full-time professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She studied industrial design and earned a PhD in Public Health, focusing on the complexity of the use of medical devices in healthcare institutions. Her teaching and research areas include organizational ergonomics, systems thinking, design projects, ergonomics quality in design, and sociomaterial practices. She has also worked as a consultant in ergonomics and design in the public and private sectors, including farming, oil, manufacturing, education, banking, and food areas, among others. Dr. Lange-Morales is member of the MIMAPRO Research Group and has several publications in renowned journals and books. Currently she is also editor-in-chief of ACTIO – Journal of Technology in Design, Film Arts, and Visual Communication.
Bruno César Kawasaki is a PhD candidate in the industrial engineering program at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His research interests are performance evaluation and management, academic work, sustainability, ergonomics, and psychodynamics of work.
Najmedin (Najm) Meshkati is a professor of civil/environmental engineering, industrial and systems engineering, and international relations at the University of Southern California (USC), as well as a fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Between 2009 and 2010, he was a Jefferson science fellow and a senior science and engineering advisor to the office of the science and technology adviser of the U.S. Secretary of State. He is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and a member of the Board on Human Systems Integration (BOHSI) of the U.S. National Academies (Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine).
Felipe Meyer is an assistant professor and director of the ergonomics diploma, at the University of Concepcion, Chile. During his career, he has conducted research in areas such as mining, forestry, and industry in general. Among his important publications is the coauthorship of the books Ergonomics in the Fight of Forest Fires and Ergonomics for the Mining Industry
Dave Moore is a director of the Auckland University of Technology Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research, New Zealand. A certified member of the
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of New Zealand, he works mainly in the primary industries and built environment.
Louise Møller Pedersen is a postdoctoral researcher in accident prevention from a combined employee and (middle-) manager-perspective and evaluation respectively. Based on Pawson and Tilleys’ realistic evaluation model, Louise has contributed to a stronger focus on context and mechanisms as essential for understanding the implementation and results of safety interventions. Dr. Pedersen has participated in Danish and international safety projects and is a part of the International Network of Sustainable Organizational Interventions. Since 2013, Dr. Pedersen’s research interests have also included the psychological working environment and employees’ mental health and she teaches young students and senior students in these topics.
Florence Motté is an expert researcher in cognitive ergonomics and human-machine interaction at EDF R&D (Labs Paris-Saclay). Her research focuses on the service relationship in the commercial field, transversality, and continuity within and between organizations. Her approach posits that taking human activity into account contributes to improved performance while maintaining service quality, and that in order for an appropriate service to be designed, it is necessary to take an interest in the customer’s activity as well as that of all the actors involved in the service.
Germain Poizat is a professor in the faculty of psychology and educational sciences, department of adult education, University of Geneva, Switzerland. His work focuses on (a) the analysis of human activity in various social practices (work, art, leisure, everyday life) and (b) the design of innovative learning environments (according to the outcomes of activity analysis). His research is mainly conducted in reference to the theoretical and methodological framework of the course of action and to the enactive approach and is at the intersection of educational sciences, cognitive anthropology, and ergonomics.
Céline Poret earned a PhD in ergonomics from University of Paris 8, France, in 2015. She is interested in the way cross-functional collective activities structures perform (safety, quality, etc.). She studied these activities within the central and decentralized services of the French state and at EDF R&D. Since 2017, she has been working at IRSN’s Social and Human Sciences Laboratory, where her research mainly focuses on safety improvement and risk management within the mesh of the supply chain (integrating suppliers, subcontractors, etc.).
Jas Qadir has a background in engineering and project management, mainly in the construction industry of New Zealand. He is currently pursuing his doctoral study in regenerative design approaches and practices in the NZ built environment, mainly drawing from global and local best practices along with his practitioner experience of interacting with complex teams as the client’s representative on projects. He is a member of New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) and International Living Future Institute (ILFI).
Tuula Räsänen is a senior specialist in the Solutions for Safety group of the finnish institute of occupational health. She completed her PhD at Tampere University of Technology, Finland, with a doctoral thesis entitled “Management of Occupational Safety and Health Information in Finnish Production Companies.” She is involved in occupational health, safety, and well-being training for graduates.
Arto Reiman is working as a research team leader at the University of Oulu, Finland. Reiman is also an adjunct professor (docent) at Tampere University, Finland. His research team focuses on the theme of well-being at work and productivity under the industrial engineering and management discipline. His doctoral thesis in 2013 focused on work system design and management. His current research interests include health and safety, ergonomics, and human factors and how they can be included in design and development processes in order to improve well-being at work and productivity. In addition to an academic career, Reiman has worked as an occupational health and safety manager at a large city organization, as a senior expert at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and as a consultant in the private sector.
Pascal Salembier is a professor of cognitive ergonomics and interaction design at the Troyes University of Technology, France. He is a member of the GIS UTSH board and one of the founding members of the EUSSET networked organizational forum. He is a member of the editorial advisory board of Computer Supported Cooperative Work: The Journal of Collaborative Computing and an associate editor of Le Travail Humain. His research interests lie primarily in the area of cognitive engineering, computer-supported cooperative work, and interaction design. He is also a partner and scientific advisor at Ersya.
Martha Helena Saravia-Pinilla is an industrial designer with a master’s degree in industrial design-ergonomics. Currently, she is an assistant professor and researcher at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá. She is president of the Colombian Ergonomics Society (SCE) and a member of the Human Factors and Sustainable Development Technical Committee of International Ergonomics Association (IEA). She is the author of the book Ergonomía de Concepción: Su Aplicación al Diseño y Otros Procesos Proyectuales.
Laerte Idal Sznelwar is a professor in the department of production engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is a member of the team of the Laboratoire de Psychologie du Travail et de l’ Action at CNAM.
Maryam Tabibzadeh is an assistant professor in the department of manufacturing systems engineering and management at the California State University, Northridge. She earned a PhD in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Southern California. Risk analysis in complex safety-critical and technology-intensive industries is one of her main research areas. She has mainly focused on analyzing the critical role of human and organizational factors in contributing to the safety of operations in those industries. She has presented and published several papers in the areas of risk assessment and safety management, safety
culture, accident investigation, and interoperability analysis of multiple emergency response agencies in different peer-reviewed conferences and journals. As part of her accomplishments, she received the best paper award at the 2018 Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics Conference. She was also among the three finalists for the Human Factors Prize in 2015. In addition, she was named the Student Merit Award Competition Winner at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis.
David Tappin is an associate professor in the school of management at Massey University, Albany, and a member of the Healthy Work Group – a Massey research team interested in preventing stress and psychosocial risk in the workplace and in creating healthy work. His background is in industry-based research and consultancy, with government- and industry-funded research in primary processing, manufacturing, health, and residential construction. He has worked as an ergonomist for organizations and as a consultant and an academic researcher since 2011 with Massey University. His current research interests include psychosocial risk, social sustainability, and work systems design.
Clare Tedestedt George has recently completed her PhD examining the contextual factors impacting the occupational health, safety, and well-being of New Zealand truck drivers. Her research has drawn together factors from the fields of employment and industrial relations, psychology, sociology, and public health, among others, embracing human factors and ergonomics as a home. Dr. Tedestedt-George is a member of the Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research at the Auckland University of Technology.
Seppo Väyrynen began his career as a professor of work science at the University of Oulu, Finland, in 1989. He also worked at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health for 12 years and the Academy of Finland. He earned master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, the theses for which addressed innovative working environments and ergonomics development, being linked to engineering design and management. As part of his role as a professor within a group of researchers and teachers connected with industrial engineering and management, he has supervised doctoral students and taught various courses of ergonomics, human factors, usability, and safety at the faculty of technology. His main research interests include well-being at work, user-centered design, participatory approaches to design and management, organizational development, safety-conscious design, safety management, integrated management systems (HSEQ), sustainability, social responsibility, and quality of working life in general. He has published approximately 400 scientific and professional articles and book chapters.
Paul H. P. Yeow is an associate professor at Monash University, Malaysia, and has 20 years’ experience in the fields of human factors, information systems, and marketing. He has completed 14 research-funded projects in these fields and published more than 50 journal articles. He has held major posts such as head of the Ergonomics Research Centre and head of marketing discipline. He is a member of the editorial board of Applied Ergonomics
1 How Has HFE Responded to the Global Challenges of Sustainability?
Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, and Klaus Fischer
INTRODUCTION
Fundamental ecological, social, and economic transformations are influencing our health and well-being and are changing the way we work worldwide. The overall issue at stake is that of sustainability or the sustainable development of human welfare and prosperity that is inseparable from the state of our global ecosphere. As commonly known, the term “sustainable development” is attributed to the World Commission on Economic Development (WCED, 1987), which defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From this perspective, sustainable development is primarily a social
focusing on
preservation of natural resources is necessary to fulfill these needs. A similar view emerges from the “traditional” objectives of human factors and ergonomics (HFE), which is by definition concerned with optimizing human well-being and overall system performance.
However, bearing in mind that we have entered the Anthropocene age (Crutzen, 2002; Steffen et al., 2011) – the geological period where human activity has had a measurable impact on geophysical and climate systems – it becomes evident that a separate focus on either ecological, social, or economic aspects does not fit with the complexity of our real world.
The Anthropocene poses great challenges to human existence, including climate change (Rosenzweig et al., 2008; Sobel et al., 2016; Steffen et al., 2018); pollution of our air (Landrigan et al., 2017; Montzka et al., 2018), freshwater (Lebreton et al., 2018), and oceans (Paerl, 1997; Vitousek et al., 1997); and unprecedented species extinction (Ceballos, Ehrlich, & Dirzo, 2017). These are threats not just to our environment but to human health and welfare at all levels. Climate change will result in rising sea levels that threaten coastal and island communities, droughts that will exacerbate food shortages (Hecht et al., 2012), and mass migration (Rigaud et al., 2018). These changes have also already had a significant impact on our health (Andersen, 2017; Landrigan et al., 2017; Lelieveld et al., 2015; Patz et al., 2014; World Health Organization, 2017) and well-being (Pimentel et al., 2007; Steentjes et al., 2017).
These inseparable links between environmental soundness, human well-being, and economic prosperity are also reflected in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of our current Agenda 2030 that was submitted by the global community of states in 2015. Besides its multidimensional target-frame – which may also lead to dilemmas and conflicts in the course of implementation – the SDGs are also draw on an integrated perspective between the Global North and Global South without neglecting specific requirements and responsibilities on the way to (more) sustainability. Under the SDGs’ umbrella, issues of “traditional” HFE concern (e.g., human health, education and lifelong learning, decent work, and economic prosperity) are as well represented as those introducing the newer discussion about HFE in the context of ecological sustainability.
The role of HFE with regards to these SDGs is addressed in Chapter 4 of this book. Johnston et al. (2007), however, have noted that the emphasis on sustainable development has meant that the focus has been on human development and not on the resource limitations and misuses that lead to inequalities in development opportunities. Johnston et al. (2007) argue that this has led to a proliferation of definitions and modifications to the original sustainable development definition. Similarly, Thatcher (2012) noted that similar definitional problems had plagued the early work in the HFE discipline.
ChanGinG WoRld of WoRk
Taking an international perspective and referring to the sustainability challenges mentioned above, the analyses of the International Labour Organization (ILO) are a valuable resource for identifying recent developments and megatrends that are changing our world of work (ILO, 2017).
First, there has been significant progress achieved with regards to several aspects, including (ILO, 2017, p. 1ff):
• Job creation has been positive, albeit slightly below the rate of population growth.
• There has been increased female labor market participation.
• Working poverty has declined.
• There have been gains in social protection.
• There have been improvements in occupational health and safety.
• Countries have improved their ratification of ILO conventions.
• Progress in fundamental principles and rights at work has occurred.
However, the ILO has also noted several negative aspects (ILO, 2017, p. 4ff):
• Unemployment levels remain high.
• Poor quality employment remains a key concern.
• There is a diversification in different forms of employment (increasing nonstandard forms of employment).
• Income inequality remains elevated in most countries.
Setting aside the international perspective for a moment and looking specifically at developments in advanced economies (i.e., developed labor markets), one realizes that there is a growing polarization of labor market opportunities between high- and low-skill jobs, unemployment and underemployment (especially among young people), stagnating incomes for a large proportion of households, and significant income inequality (Manyika, 2017).
If we look at the megatrends and the implications for the future of work, then “globalization” remains one of these trends (ILO, 2017, p. 8). In the past, the internalization of production work was foregrounded using specified framing conditions (e.g., tax reductions or disregarding national legislation) to create Export Processing Zones in the Global South, especially in areas with labor-intensive production processes (Zink, 2009). Since then, new communication and information technologies, particularly the internet, have combined with the idea of “hyper-specialization” (Malone et al., 2011) (i.e., dividing [knowledge] work into very small “chunks”). This has led to the digitization of knowledge work and emergent types of supply chains because an (unknown) global crowd has become the new partner for crowdsourcing (see Zink’s Chapter 5 in this book). In the past, the problem of creating “decent work” was mainly related to manual labor work, but it has now also become a problem for highly skilled knowledge work.
As mentioned above, globalization is now also related to technology. While technology, or technological change, is a major driver of growth and development, it is equally associated with a range of other labor market changes such as big data, 3-D printing, artificial intelligence, and robotics, which will significantly change the nature of work (ILO, 2017, p. 9f). There is an intensive but inconclusive discussion about the influences on the labor market. One group argues that more newer jobs will be created than older ones that will disappear. Others believe that the increase
of intelligent technology will displace more jobs than newer ones that will be needed (Daheim & Wintermann, 2016). Policy makers will not only have to handle labor market problems but also the unequal distribution of productivity gains and potential disproportional impacts by gender, sector, and skill level (ILO, 2017, p. 10).
The second megatrend described by the ILO is related to demography. Taking an international perspective, there are two trends; in emerging and developing countries, the young population entering the labor market is growing, while in developed countries, the global old-age dependency ratio (i.e., people aged 65 and above compared to those aged 15–64) is growing and will grow further (ILO, 2017). This may lead to two scenarios. Either youth unemployment might grow as the elderly stay in employment and therefore the youth might try to seek employment in other developed countries, or the shrinking workforce in developed countries could reduce the problems of unemployment caused by new technologies. What is left behind is a large “informal” economy. A feature of informality is its huge diversity where the different types of informal work frequently occur outside the framework of existing labor and social security laws. Therefore, informal workers are deprived of the benefits of economic development. These deficits for both workers and enterprises demonstrate the importance of including informal work within the scope of labor and social security laws, as well as establishing and promoting an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises (ILO, 2017).
A third megatrend is the stress caused by “climate change” since some of the progress in the world of work has been achieved at the expense of environmental sustainability (ILO, 2017). Climate disasters are likely to reduce the productivity of the agricultural sector. Continued environmental degradation is therefore likely to destroy jobs and livelihoods through, for example, creating harsh climatic conditions or shifting where work can feasibly be carried out. In the medium and long term, decent work and environmental sustainability will need to be considered hand in hand (as envisaged by the 2013 SDGs). On a more positive note, there may be some employment growth in renewable energy (see Chapter 8 of this book for a discussion on the HFE concerns for these “green jobs”), and existing jobs will need to adapt to the requirements of a greening economy (ILO, 2017, p. 13).
Analyzing these megatrends and bringing them together based on results of the International Social Survey Programme, it is not surprising that the majority of people around the world believe that job security is under growing pressure (ILO, 2016). This is combined with the fact that nonstandard forms of employment (NSEs) have become a contemporary feature of labor markets around the world. The ILO sees four different employment arrangements as NSEs (ILO, 2016, p. 1):
• Temporary employment: Fixed-term contracts, including project- or task-based contracts, seasonal work, casual work, and daily work
• Part-time and on-call work: Normal working hours but less than full-time equivalents, marginal part-time employment such as on-call work and zero-hours contracts
• Multiparty employment relationships: These are also known as “dispatch,” “brokerage” and “labor hire,” temporary agency work, and subcontracted labor
• Disguised employment/dependent self-employment: Disguised employment, sham, or misclassified employment
While most of the forms of NSEs have existed in the past, “on-call work” or “work on demand via apps” and “dependent self-employment” or crowd work are now also driven by technology (de Stefano, 2016), and work of this type may continue to expand over the coming years. For some, working in NSEs is an explicit choice and has certain benefits. However, for most workers, employment in NSEs is associated with insecurity (ILO, 2016). Insecurity relates to uncertainty about employment status, earnings, control over working hours, social security, and occupational health and safety. Occupational health and safety in particular, especially as it refers more broadly to well-being, has overlaps with the work of HFE. Summing up the arguments of the ILO study shows a danger of losing decent work in developed countries by new forms of nonstandard employment (driven by technology), the necessity of a transition to a greener economy, but also the necessity to keep the economy competitive. Decent work, environmental sustainability, and economic competitiveness might be seen as the three pillars of a sustainable work system as defined by Docherty et al. (2009).
Aging populations, especially in developed countries, are also something that needs to be carefully considered. Eurofound’s (2015) working definition of “sustainable work over the life course” (p. 2) means that working and living conditions need to be such so that they support people in engaging and remaining in work throughout an extended working life. The main political goal is that people work and stay in work for longer over their lifetime. These goals will be achieved only if workers are in good health, qualified, and employable (i.e., have the necessary skills) and are motivated to stay in work for longer. This means taking a range of different HFE considerations into account, including the job quality (i.e., job design, job organization, the physical environment, the social environment, work intensity exposure limits, etc.), career progression opportunities, and fair remuneration (Eurofound, 2015).
There is a growing interest in the HFE community to try and understand the HFE implications of the changing nature of work. There is a great deal that HFE has already accomplished in supporting work that is fair and that reduces the psychological and physical damage. However, as work patterns change and new types of work emerge, further HFE work is required. Hanson (2013) considered the HFE implications of jobs in the emerging green economy such as renewable energy jobs, organic farming jobs, jobs in the recycling industry, and jobs in the low-energy public transport system. Zink (2014) defined the parameters under which a job and a work system might be considered sustainable, incorporating psychological, social, economic, and environmental considerations. Fosterveld et al. (2018) tackled the intractable problem of defining what is meant by “decent” work to create sustainable jobs. More recently, the IEA has been working on a white paper defining what is meant by decent work for the HFE community. The white paper is being finalized at the time of writing this book chapter. In this book, Zink (Chapter 5) looks at the HFE issues of crowd work and outsourcing while Hanson and Thatcher (Chapter 8) expand on Hanson’s (2013) earlier work to examine the HFE challenges of the emerging green job market. Work also cannot be considered sustainable unless it provides meaning
to the person performing the work. This philosophical issue is covered by Drury and Hancock (Chapter 2) in this book.
hiStoRiCal PRoGReSS fRom hfe
Over the last two decades, a number of prominent HFE researchers have emphasized the need for HFE to tackle the complex systemic social and environmental problems facing humanity such as global climate change, social inequalities, and poverty (Moray, 1995; Vicente, 2008; Wisner, 1997). Writing a few years ago, Martin et al. (2013) noted that the HFE response to these challenges had been quite limited. In this introductory chapter, we show that much has changed since these observations, although there is still much that needs to be achieved before we can truly say that HFE has made a coordinated and concerted effort to address sustainability issues.
The earliest practical response from HFE came in the form of the term “eco-ergonomics,” first used as the theme to the Fourth Ergonomics Congress of Latin America. However, only a handful of papers at this Congress actually addressed issues related to global humanitarian and environmental crises. The term “eco-ergonomics” has been used sporadically over the last 15 years, emphasizing the need for ergonomics to consider the well-being of the natural environment (Brown, 2007; Charytonowicz, 1998), although without suggesting any definitions or models of sustainability or sustainable development. More recently, HFE approaches have been proposed that have been more firmly embedded in theoretical frameworks by introducing “green ergonomics,” “ergoecology,” the “sustainable system-of-systems model,” and “human factors and sustainable development” to the HFE literature. The timeline of these developments is summarized in Table 1.1. This timeline should be compared to the major international agreements found in Table 1.2.
First, this chapter considers the theoretical approaches that address HFE and sustainability issues: human factors and sustainable development, green ergonomics, ergoecology, and the sustainable system-of-systems model. Each of these approaches is introduced and their primary underlying theoretical basis is presented. Second, this chapter provides an overview of the different HFE studies and interventions within the broad domain of sustainability. This section covers examples from the HFE literature on topics as diverse as organizational sustainability, social sustainability, task analysis and job design, design of the physical environment, and the design of products and interfaces to support sustainable behaviors and practices. Third, this chapter concludes with an outline of how the rest of this book is organized.
THEORETICAL APPROACHES WITHIN HFE TO ADDRESS SUSTAINABILITY
We cover four of the main theoretical approaches that have appeared in the HFE literature. We emphasize that there is still plenty of space for new theoretical approaches. In particular, these theoretical approaches are not competing with one another. Rather, the theoretical approaches are complementary or even combinatory.
Timeline of HFE’s Responses to Sustainability Challenges
Year Where
1992 Nickerson (1992) at HFES Annual Meeting
1995 Moray (1995) in Ergonomics
1996 García-Acosta (1996), master’s thesis
1997 4th Ergonomics Congress of Latin America
1998 Charytonowicz (1998), ODAM conference paper
Vicente (1998) in Systems Engineering
2006 Steimle & Zink (2006) book chapter
2007 Manuaba (2007) in Journal of Human Ergology
2008 Hedge (2008) in HFES Bulletin
Zink (2008a) in HFES Bulletin
Zink (2008b) book entitled Corporate Sustainability as a Challenge for Comprehensive Management
2010 Hanson (2010) in her IEHF keynote address
2013 Haslam & Waterson (2013) in Ergonomics
Thatcher (2013) in Ergonomics
Zink & Fischer (2013) in Ergonomics
2014 Nemire (2014a, 2014b) in Ergonomics in Design
Dorsey et al. (2014) in Work
García-Acosta et al. (2014) in Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science
Lange-Morales et al. (2014) in Ergonomics
2016 Thatcher & Yeow (2016a) in Ergonomics
Relevant Milestones
Role of HFE for environmental management
Role of HFE in dealing with impending world crises, especially environmental concerns
Defining ergoecology (in Spanish)
Conference theme was eco-ergonomics (eco-ergonomia in Spanish)
The term “eco-ergonomics” is first used in English
Proposed a systems approach for HFE to solve global problems, especially environmental problems
Definition of human factors and sustainable development
Proposed a systemic, holistic, interdisciplinary and participatory (SHIP) approach to sustainability
First use of “green ergonomics”
Klaus Zink announces the formation of the Human Factors and Sustainable Development Technical Committee (HFSD TC) of the IEA
Book features several prominent HFE researchers (e.g., Pascale Carayon, Colin Drury, Andrew Imada, Kazutaka Kogi, Patricia Scott, Peter Vink, and Klaus Zink)
Uses the term “green ergonomics”
Special issue on ergonomics and sustainability
Green ergonomics defined
Sustainable development and human factors explained
Margaret Hanson forms the Green Ergonomics SIG of the CIEHF
Two special issues on human factors and climate change
Special issue on green ergonomics
Ergoecology defined for English-speaking countries
Green ergonomics and ergoecology compared and values for the future of HFE introduced
Sustainable system-of-systems approach introduced
(Continued)
TABLE 1.1 (CONTINUED)
Timeline of HFE’s Responses to Sustainability Challenges
Year Where
Thatcher & Yeow (2016b) in Applied Ergonomics
2017 Beguin & Duarte (2017) in Work
Concevoir pour le Développement
Durable launched in Paris
2018 Thatcher & Yeow (2018) book entitled Ergonomics and Human Factors for a Sustainable Future: Current Research and Future Possibilities
Relevant Milestones
Special issue on ergonomics and sustainability
Special issue on work and sustainable development
Design for Sustainable Development subcommittee of the French Association for Research in Ergonomics Psychology and Ergonomics
Chapters on a range of different HFE and sustainability and sustainable development topics
TABLE 1.2
Major International Milestones toward Sustainability and Sustainable Development
Year Where
1968 Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy
1972 Limits to Growth by Meadows and Meadows
Relevant Milestones
Club of Rome established by former heads of state to establish a common future for humanity
Establishes the first modern use of the term “sustainable”
1987 Our Common Future by the World Commission on Environment and Development Brundtland Report, formally establishing the term “sustainable development”
1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, publishes the Earth Charter
2000 Millennium Summit, New York, USA
2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10) Summit, Johannesburg, South Africa
2012 World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) Summit, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2015 Sustainable Development Summit, New York, USA
The Earth Charter issues Agenda 21, which is a non-binding commitment to sustainable development
Ratified the Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015
Affirmed the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Millennium Development Goals
Launch of the participatory process for developing a Post-2015 Agenda, merging the UN sustainable development and sustainability policy
Formal launch of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and formal commitment to these goals with country-level plans
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II
Pendant que M. Wallers intrigue ainsi les curieux, Marie, seule dans la chambre qui lui sert d’atelier, copie en miniature, sur parchemin, les fragments d’un évangéliaire.
La pièce où elle travaille est prise sur le grenier même. La fenêtre unique, voilée dans sa partie inférieure, ouvre au sommet du pignon. Un jour presque vertical tombe sur la grande table chargée de tubes, de palettes, de godets et de pinceaux. Quand Marie lève les yeux, elle n’aperçoit que les nuages; mais, debout, elle peut découvrir le panorama des toits pointus, enchevêtrés, ici bruns de vieillesse, là d’un rouge neuf et joyeux, ailleurs d’un violet bleuâtre ou d’un gris de plomb... Des toits, rien que des toits! Il faut se pencher par la fenêtre pour admirer la flèche de Sainte-Ursule, à gauche, et le beffroi dont la tour carrée, large de base, fortement enracinée au sol, monte d’un jet puissant, se complique, s’affine et s’achève en plein ciel par un campanile bulbeux, miracle de fantaisie et de hardiesse.
Le cher asile de Marie reflète son âme: ordre, pureté, clarté,— point de joie... Point de tristesse pourtant. Après avoir beaucoup pleuré, Marie est devenue calme, puis sereine; et, maintenant, elle ne semble pas malheureuse de n’avoir pas de bonheur. Est-ce l’amour ravivé de Dieu, est-ce l’amour nouveau de l’art qui l’a tirée de sa passivité mélancolique? Claude Delannoy, à qui rien n’échappe de ce qui intéresse Marie, dit parfois que l’on peut tout espérer d’une femme qui vit à la hauteur des oiseaux et des cloches. Les inguérissables, les découragés, craindraient cette solitude baignée de lumière. Le jour les blesse, comme la vérité. Ils veulent les demi-teintes, le clair-obscur, les contours indécis... Marie Laubespin aime à voir clair en elle et autour d’elle.
Cette renaissance de son énergie s’est manifestée surtout depuis deux ans, depuis qu’elle a entrepris, à l’instigation de son ami Claude, une série de miniatures, d’après les maîtres italiens et
flamands. Ces miniatures—variations admirables sur un thème unique—doivent former le Livre des Annonciations, dont Guillaume Wallers écrira le texte. Une dizaine sont terminées, mises sous verre, et placées en ordre sur les murs. Presque toutes sont italiennes, exécutées d’après des photographies, des croquis et des notes de couleur prises aux Uffizi de Florence. Elles répètent la même scène, dans un décor analogue, et pourtant aucune ne ressemble à l’autre.
Il y a des Annonciations joyeuses et des Annonciations tragiques; et celles de l’aube, et celles du soir, et celles qui sont violettes comme l’améthyste, et celles qui s’embrasent comme les rubis de l’amour divin. Chacune est un grain du rosaire que les vieux peintres catholiques ont égrené. Et de toutes formes, de toutes couleurs, de toute époque; elles disent: Ave Maria!
Avec quelle tendresse, avec quelle piété, Marie Laubespin a ciselé ces pierreries précieuses! Quelle aimable compagnie elle a trouvée en ces beaux êtres vêtus de robes splendides, inclinés pour l’adoration, et qui emplissent l’atelier d’un muet cantique et d’un frisson d’ailes!
C’est pour eux que les cloches de Sainte-Ursule sonnent les trois angélus! C’est pour eux que s’épanouissent, dans un vase de cristal, les roses blanches, les marguerites blanches, les chrysanthèmes blancs, toutes les fleurs immaculées des quatre saisons. Ils sont les gardiens, les confidents, les consolateurs de la jeune femme qui vit parmi eux, comme une jeune fille, et qui, sans doute, a oublié l’homme impur et son méchant amour.
Tous rappellent une pensée, une joie, un chagrin, associés par ce souvenir au travail délicat de l’artiste.
Marie était bien lasse encore quand elle peignit cette Vierge siennoise, d’après Simone Memmi, cette Vierge qui n’est point belle, qui n’est point femme, qui a l’ovale allongé, les yeux étroits, la bouche aux coins tombants d’une figure japonaise et qui se blottit, se cache dans sa grande chaire de marbre. Elle semble avoir peur de l’ange aux ailes fauves, l’ange d’or sur fond d’or, couronné de
sombre feuillage, ceint d’une écharpe volante, et qui tend, non pas le lys mystique, mais un rameau pareil à sa couronne, grêle et obscur, détaché d’un arbre inconnu, peut-être le dernier rameau du vieil arbre de la science...
Elles furent aussi les amies des jours tristes, la Vierge d’Orcagna, si grave, telle une savante abbesse qui interrompt sa lecture pour écouter le messager, recueillie et point surprise,—et la Vierge de Botticelli, dans sa chambre ouverte sur un panorama de villes compliquées et de fleuves sinueux; cette Vierge, qui n’est pas très jeune, qui a beaucoup pensé déjà et beaucoup pleuré, qui prévoit et accepte les glaives, tandis que l’ange, vêtu de pourpre et de violet comme le soir d’automne, la regarde, l’adore et la plaint.
Elles furent les compagnes des jours apaisés, la Vierge d’Agnolo Gaddi, blanche et bleue, en robe stricte, princesse d’un roman céleste, enclose dans la demeure enchantée, la tour d’ivoire où l’ange même n’entrera pas... Et la Vierge de Baldovinetto qui accueille le messager avec un geste de châtelaine indulgente; et la Vierge très blonde, attribuée à Vinci, assise au crépuscule dans le jardin des cyprès, devant la table de marbre qui est peut-être un sarcophage antique: elle a une main levée, l’autre main sur le Livre des Prophéties; son voile découvre son front qui retient toute la lumière...
Plus tard, quand Marie Laubespin se reprit à vivre, quand elle redevint belle, et retrouva cet air de ses quinze ans, cet air distrait, étonné, de la jeune fille en attente, au printemps de cette année même, elle se plut à peindre les plus féminines des madones, celles qui ne prient pas, qui ne lisent pas, qui sont des enfants pieuses et bien coiffées, dans leur petite chambre...
La plus jolie, c’est la fillette florentine de Lorenzo di Credi, dans le beau palais qui ouvre sur un jardin aux buis taillés et sur des montagnes bleuissantes... Oui, vraiment, une fillette très sage, qui étudiait sa leçon près de son petit lit quand l’Annonciateur est entré. Elle l’invite du geste, à s’approcher, et sourit, contente, comme si on lui promettait un fiancé fils de roi et un bel enfant tout pareil à sa
poupée. Et l’ange, n’est-ce pas le serviteur favori du roi lointain, le page naïf, joufflu sous ses boucles, et bien intimidé?
Et, maintenant, Marie a délaissé les vierges italiennes, et elle inaugure la série des flamandes, par cette exquise madone de l’évangéliaire, chef-d’œuvre d’un maître inconnu,—fillette aussi, comme la Florentine, mais plus humble, moins jolie, d’une grâce presque chétive, qui veut être la servante et non la fiancée du Seigneur. Son front est bombé, ses cheveux rares, sa poitrine étroite. Comment pourra-t-elle porter l’enfant? Ce n’est pas la rose mystique, ce n’est pas la colombe, ce n’est pas l’étoile du matin: c’est une pauvre petite fille de Flandre, une pâquerette née à l’ombre des cathédrales, sans force, sans vie, sans éclat, mais qui fleurit de bonne volonté et qui attend que Dieu la cueille...
Et de toutes les saintes Marie, ses patronnes, Marie préfère celle-là.
III
Elle s’applique, profitant du jour qui baisse, inclinant son profil délicat, au petit nez, au menton fin. Son pinceau effleure les ailes ocellées de l’archange, vertes et bleues comme un émail persan. Et elle est si absorbée qu’elle n’entend pas le coup discret frappé à la porte.
On frappe encore.
Cette fois, Marie Laubespin a entendu. Elle ne bouge pas et crie seulement:
—C’est toi, Belle?... Entre...
Et, tout de suite, d’une voix changée, qui tremble un peu:
—Comment, c’est vous, Claude!
Elle a reconnu le pas du visiteur. Sans quitter sa chaise, elle tourne la tête, tend la main. Mais qu’a donc Claude? Il touche à peine cette main que Marie lui offre. Son visage maigre, aquilin, au type hispano-flamand, paraît vieilli par l’inquiétude. La moustache noire ne dissimule pas le pli amer de la bouche. Ses beaux yeux fauves, brouillés de vert, ont une étrange expression...
—Vous arrivez d’Arras?... Pourquoi ne m’avez-vous pas avertie?... Pourquoi n’avez-vous pas répondu à ma lettre?
—Parce que je voulais une explication... Je me suis décidé brusquement à partir, et j’ai aperçu votre père à la gare. Il attendait le train de Bruxelles qui arrive cinq minutes après le train de Paris. Il n’a eu que le temps de me dire: «Viens dîner!» et il s’est élancé vers un singulier bonhomme qui l’a embrassé, oui, embrassé sur les deux joues!... Je les ai laissés à leurs effusions, et je suis allé mettre mon sac chez ma tante... Et me voilà!
Marie demande:
—Vous êtes sûr?... Un singulier bonhomme embrassait papa?...
C’est invraisemblable, Claude! Papa est allé chercher à la gare et conduire à l’hôtel du Cygne un jeune homme qu’il n’a jamais vu, qui s’est annoncé par lettre, et qui est le fils du feu professeur Ercole di Toma, le grand archéologue napolitain.
—Je ne connais pas...
—Un vieil ami de papa. Ils ont fouillé ensemble un peu partout, en Sicile... Monsieur di Toma a laissé deux fils, un sculpteur et Angelo, le peintre, notre convive de ce soir... C’est cet Angelo qui doit illustrer le fameux ouvrage: l’Art et la Vie à Pompéi...
—Si son talent ressemble à son plumage, ce monsieur Thomas...
—Di Toma, Claude! vous le dépoétisez!
—Vous verrez s’il est poétique! Une espèce de rasta, habillé d’étoffes trop minces, chaussé de souliers jaunes et coiffé d’un vieux feutre gris... D’ailleurs assez beau garçon, mais odieux!
—Il n’a jamais quitté son pays; il n’est pas riche; il porte les vêtements qu’il porterait à Naples, en cette saison... Soyez charitable, Claude!
Le jeune homme ne répond pas. Il s’est assis dans la bergère, devant le petit poêle rougeoyant. Marie nettoie ses pinceaux et couvre la miniature que son ami n’a même pas regardée. Elle vient enfin s’asseoir près de lui, et ils évitent de se regarder, chacun sentant la gêne de l’autre, voulant parler et n’osant parler...
Il dit enfin:
—Isabelle est à Pont-sur-Deule?
—Oui, jusqu’à demain. J’irai à Courtrai avec elle pour voir Frédéric Van Coppenolle. Accompagnez-nous... Ce sera une occasion de saluer madame Vervins, notre vieille amie, au Béguinage.
Claude ne paraît pas entendre la timide invitation.
—J’admire, dit-il, le soin que vous avez de réconcilier des gens qui ne s’aiment pas, qui ne s’accordent pas, qui finiront par se détester.
—Pourquoi? Isabelle est très bonne et Frédéric est un honnête garçon, ni méchant, ni sot, laborieux, dévoué à sa famille...
—Frédéric est un balourd et Isabelle une écervelée. L’un est resté Belge et l’autre est devenue Parisienne. La bière forte et le vin mousseux!
—Puisqu’ils sont mariés...
—Ils divorceront!
—Claude!... Les sentiments religieux d’Isabelle...
—Parlez des vôtres, Marie, je les respecte en les maudissant, puisque je souffre à cause d’eux... et vous aussi peut-être... Mais les sentiments religieux d’Isabelle!... Non! C’est à mourir de rire... Isabelle n’a jamais réfléchi sérieusement à quoi que ce soit, excepté à ses robes, à ses chapeaux et à ses amoureux... Ne protestez pas! Je dis amoureux et non amants. Et je veux croire avec vous qu’Isabelle est vertueuse, ce qui d’ailleurs m’est indifférent... Je pourrais tout au plus m’étonner de cette ardeur que vous mettez à réconcilier les Van Coppenolle, vous qui avez fait du mariage une expérience si malheureuse. Mais je ne m’en étonne plus trop. Je sais maintenant que vous prêchez d’exemple.
—Expliquez-vous. Je ne comprends pas...
—Pourquoi m’avez-vous écrit la lettre froide, réticente et calculée que j’ai reçue hier? Vous m’annoncez, brusquement, que vous avez changé d’avis, que vous suivrez votre père à Naples et que vous y resterez huit ou dix mois!... Rien ne me faisait prévoir ce voyage, et j’en chercherais encore la véritable raison, celle que vous n’osez pas dire, si une phrase de ma tante, tout à l’heure, ne m’avait éclairé... Votre mari doit venir à Pont-sur-Deule, et votre famille prépare une réconciliation... On disait même que monsieur Laubespin était attendu, ce soir... Cela, je ne l’ai pas cru, puisque j’avais rencontré
votre père, à la gare, avec son Napolitain et qu’il m’avait invité...
Pourtant...
—Mon pauvre Claude!... Vous êtes fier de votre clairvoyance et de votre beau raisonnement. Il n’y a pas de quoi... Votre tante a beaucoup d’imagination, et vous, une étrange crédulité... Ne cherchez aucune relation entre un racontar de petite ville et mon voyage qui ne sera pas, je vous l’affirme, un second voyage de noces... J’ajoute que ni monsieur Laubespin, ni moi, ne souhaitons reprendre la vie commune...
—Bien vrai, Marie?... Ah! je respire!... Vous me pardonnez, dites?...
—Oui, mon ami.
—Et, malgré votre lettre, vous resterez?
—Non...
—Pourquoi?...
—Il faut que je m’en aille, Claude, il le faut! pour moi, pour vous... Je sens que je vous fais du mal, et cela me trouble... Je voudrais vous guérir et je ne le puis qu’en m’éloignant...
—C’est à cause de moi?...
—Oui... Il y a un malentendu entre nous. Vous me regardez comme une veuve ou une femme libre, qui peut, selon son cœur, accueillir ou repousser votre amour. Vous oubliez que le choix ne m’est pas permis, que je suis mariée devant le prêtre, et que les torts de monsieur Laubespin ne suppriment pas mes devoirs... Ah! pourquoi m’avez-vous parlé? Je ne soupçonnais rien. Je croyais à votre fraternelle amitié. J’étais presque heureuse...
—Est-ce possible, Marie! C’est moi que vous fuyez, et parce que, dans un moment d’émotion, j’ai eu la faiblesse d’avouer un amour que je croyais deviné!... Si j’étais dangereux pour votre repos, si vous m’aimiez... mais vous ne m’aimez pas!... Alors, que craignez-
vous?... Mes importunités?... Je saurai me taire. Je me suis tu vingt ans. N’avez-vous pas trouvé en moi un frère et un ami?
—Je ne les trouve plus... Je trouve un homme qui se plaint, qui m’effraie, que je fais souffrir et qui me tourmente... Tout à l’heure encore, vous m’avez cherché une querelle absurde. La semaine dernière... c’était autre chose...
—Je vous ai baisé la main... comme tant d’autres fois.
—Non, pas comme les autres fois... Tout est changé, Claude...
Elle secoue la tête, et son petit visage exprime une volonté irrévocable qui consterne le jeune homme.
Il soupire, sans protester, le front dans ses mains. Et des souvenirs l’assiègent qui lui montrent Marie mêlée à toute son existence d’homme et d’enfant.
Leurs mères s’étaient mariées la même année, et madame Wallers eut d’abord un fils, Jacques. Marie attendit, pour naître, que Claude fût né. On aurait pu les endormir dans le même berceau.
Mais l’heureuse petite Wallers fut choyée dès sa naissance, tandis que Claude, tout de suite orphelin, ne connut pas le lait, le sourire, le baiser de la femme et la cadence de ses genoux. Pauvre poussin de couveuse!
Les seuls plaisirs de son enfance délaissée, il les eut chez les voisins Wallers qui l’invitaient à passer des après-midi avec le gros Jacques, bruyant et pleurard, Isabelle, la cousine de Paris, coquette et gourmande, et cette petite Marie, blonde, qui semblait en porcelaine.
Et, bien que le gros Jacques fût l’aîné d’un an, Claude, plus grand, plus mâle, était, dans tous les jeux, celui qui tue les méchants et protège les faibles: il était l’explorateur casqué de papier qui arrache la petite Marie aux cannibales; il était saint Christophe, qui porte Jésus sur son dos. Il était le père de toutes les poupées...
Marie l’aimait. Marie lui offrait la moitié de ses gâteaux, sa boîte à couleurs, son jeu de patience, et elle lui écrivait, au premier janvier, sur du papier à dentelle acheté par la bonne... Marie, la froide et fragile Marie, chérissait Claude parce qu’il était mal habillé, pas riche, et qu’il n’avait pas de maman.
S’ils avaient grandi côte à côte, au lieu d’être séparés par le collège et la pension, leur tendresse enfantine eût suivi sa pente naturelle et fût devenue de l’amour. Mais, quand Marie sortit du couvent, Claude, bachelier, partit pour Paris. Aux vacances, il voyagea. Et le cœur incertain de la jeune fille appartint à l’homme fait, à l’homme hardi qui, le premier, voulut le prendre.
Et c’est alors que Claude comprit son amour, né de ses émotions puériles comme un fleuve formé d’humbles ruisseaux. Il fut déchiré jusqu’à l’âme, mais stoïque dans sa douleur, raide d’orgueil, il cacha sa jalousie. En se comparant au fiancé de Marie Wallers, il pensa que la lutte n’était pas possible, et l’humiliation éprouvée exaspéra son désir d’être «quelqu’un», de dépasser Laubespin par le succès et la fortune... Il travailla avec rage, au lieu de se lamenter, car il avait un tempérament d’homme d’action et répugnait aux tristesses contemplatives et stériles. Et, Marie étant à jamais perdue pour lui, heureuse loin de lui, il tâcha de l’oublier Il tint, dans ses bras, de doux corps féminins; il fit, parfois, pleurer des femmes qui l’aimèrent et qu’il crut aimer... Mais aucune ne lui rendit ce sentiment de tendresse protectrice et timide, cette fraîche joie, cette volupté pure et délicate qu’il avait ressentis aux dernières grandes vacances, avant le mariage de Marie, l’année qui fut leur seizième année...
Et voilà qu’après dix ans ils se retrouvèrent, lui, devenu ingénieur des mines en Artois, elle, presque libérée, dans la vieille maison tiède encore de leur enfance. Marie était moins jolie qu’autrefois, car c’est l’amour de l’homme qui fait la beauté de la femme. Ses joues étaient devenues trop minces, ses tempes creuses; ses paupières se fripaient dans les larmes, comme une soie trop fine, et sa chevelure lumineuse éteignait ses reflets... Mais, plus que jamais, elle était cette enfant faible, silencieuse et touchante que Claude avait tant aimée! Elle était la petite Marie...
Mais lui, le grand Claude, il n’était plus un collégien pauvre et ombrageux. Il avait fait ses preuves. Il valait Laubespin. Il vaudrait davantage.
Son âme s’ouvrit toute au rêve éblouissant de la revanche et de la conquête.
Un jour de printemps, dans le clair atelier, pendant que chantait le carillon de Sainte-Ursule, Claude éclata en mots d’amour. Il dit la monstruosité d’un mariage fictif qui enchaîne les époux, redevenus étrangers par les sentiments et par les intérêts; il cita des femmes divorcées qui conservaient l’estime des honnêtes gens; il insinua que l’annulation en cour de Rome est facilement obtenue quand on a de la fortune et des amis haut placés...
Marie fut épouvantée par ces discours. Elle crut que le Tentateur s’était incarné sous la forme chère de Claude. D’abord, muette et consternée, elle répondit enfin, en pleurant. Claude ignorait-il qu’elle était une vraie chrétienne, qu’elle voyait dans le mariage non pas un contrat, mais un sacrement? L’amour qu’il implorait d’elle, l’Église l’appelait tout simplement, tout crûment: adultère.
—Et moi qui croyais à votre amitié! Moi qui étais si confiante, si heureuse! Il faut nous séparer...
Il trembla. A force de promesses, pourtant, il rassura la jeune femme. Il obtint qu’elle oublierait l’aveu intempestif. Mais quand un homme a dit: «Je vous aime» à une femme elle garde le son de ces mots dans l’oreille et dans le cœur, et elle croit les entendre, déguisés, sous les phrases les plus banales. La peur de l’amour, sans cesse, la ramène à l’idée de l’amour.
Vint le dernier dimanche d’octobre. Claude avait déjeuné chez les Wallers. Il monta dans l’atelier pour voir les Annonciations.
Marie soufflait sur le papier de soie qui couvrait les enluminures, et la feuille légère et transparente se rebroussait ou s’envolait. Parfois, l’haleine de la jeune femme effleurait les mains impatientes de Claude.
Il avait d’abord regardé les peintures précieuses, mais bientôt ses yeux se détournèrent des Madones et des archanges, et caressèrent d’un regard hésitant le cou nu de Marie, sa nuque ambrée, où les tresses aux fortes racines croisaient leurs cordes soyeuses, dorées à la base et qui s’argentaient en remontant vers le front, selon la courbe de la tête. Et Claude était fasciné par cette chevelure dont la splendide orfèvrerie brillait dans la lumière comme un joyau, et qui exhalait une odeur de jeunesse, mêlée au parfum pur de l’iris.
Soudain, la jeune femme fit la moue:
—Vous êtes distrait, Claude!
Elle rejeta les miniatures sur la table et se tourna vers Claude... Et elle reconnut tout à coup ce visage qu’elle avait vu, le jour de l’aveu, et qu’elle pensait bien ne revoir jamais. Une émotion l’envahit, plaisir triste et douce peine...
Soudain, Claude prit la main de son amie et la baisa, dans ce creux sensible et délicat de la paume, puis sur la chair du poignet; tout le long du bras demi-nu, jusqu’au pli du coude où l’épiderme plus mince laisse transparaître une petite veine bleue. Puis la porte se referma derrière lui, et la jeune femme se retrouva seule.
Les anges, autour d’elle, élevaient des lis, et les Madones, sous les colombes planantes, accueillaient dans leur âme l’époux divin. L’atelier baignait dans le silence et la blancheur comme un oratoire.
Marie s’assit, la tête dans les mains, et pria.
Pendant ce temps, Claude emportait dans sa solitude d’Arras le souvenir de la nuque dorée, du bras mince, de l’artère battante sous la peau fiévreuse. Et toute la nuit il veilla, malade d’amour, rêvant de cette pulsation plus troublante que le spasme de la volupté, comme s’il avait possédé, dans un baiser profond, le cœur même, le cœur mystérieux et caché de Marie...
«Tout est changé!» a-t-elle dit... Maintenant, la pensée de Claude émerge des souvenirs profonds, et retrouve la réalité présente... Oui, tout est changé depuis cette dernière visite, depuis ce baiser. Et la lettre de Marie, ce voyage brusquement décidé, révèlent que la dévote timide a pris peur.
Pourtant Claude ne veut pas qu’elle parte. Il ne le veut pas!
Obstiné contre l’évidence, espérant modifier cette résolution qui le désespère, et où il devine l’influence souveraine du confesseur, Claude emploie l’éternelle tactique, celle qui réussit toujours quand la femme est tendre et qu’elle aime un peu. Il se plaint, pour se faire plaindre. Il dit sa solitude, les folles, les mauvaises pensées qui lui viennent...
La porte du poêle projette un reflet ardent sur le tapis, mais la fenêtre est pleine de nuit bleue. Un Esprit voilé, triste et souriant, le Crépuscule qui a le visage du Souvenir, est entré dans la chambre. Son geste invisible amollit les volontés, rapproche les âmes...
«Marie! ne m’abandonnez pas! Ne me livrez pas aux tentations du désespoir... Je suis un homme, et le meilleur de nous ne vaut pas grand’chose... Apprenez-moi à vous chérir comme vous voulez être chérie, dans le sacrifice et la pureté... J’essaierai, Marie, quoique un tel amour me soit difficile... Faites ce miracle de me rendre pareil à vous! Mais ne me quittez pas, ne partez pas, bien-aimée!»
Elle ne bouge pas, comme endormie, quoique ses yeux fixes brillent dans l’ombre... Et soudain, elle se lève, va vers la table, cherche et tâtonne... La clarté brutale d’une lampe jaillit.
—Non, Claude! Épargnez-nous... Je souffre de vous faire souffrir... mais il faut que je parte... Ma décision est prise... N’insistez pas... Et puis, descendez... Mon père est revenu, je pense... On vous attend... Je dois m’habiller...
—C’est bien. J’ai compris...
—Claude!
—Je vous ai trop importunée. Pardon! Je me retire...
Il est parti!... Elle demeure, au milieu de l’atelier, immobile, la bouche entr’ouverte comme pour appeler... Et un flot de larmes coule sur ses joues.
Guillaume Wallers et ses hôtes n’attendaient plus que Marie.
Ils étaient réunis dans la bibliothèque aux boiseries brunes, qui avait aux fenêtres des verdures drapées en rideaux, et sur toutes ses parois, du parquet au plafond, des livres, des milliers de livres. Les vieilles reliures de veau fauve à fers dorés, les peaux de truie plus mates que l’ivoire, les maroquins et les brochages composaient une tenture chaude, éclatante et sombre comme certains tapis d’Orient. La cheminée à hotte et à colonnettes de marbre noir, aussi ancienne que la maison, recélait un énorme feu de houille, un vrai feu anglais, soigneusement couvert de cendre. Comme on n’avait pas allumé le lustre ciselé de dauphins, deux lampes inégales répandaient des lueurs amorties. La plus grosse était placée presque au centre de la pièce sur une table carrée; l’autre, sur le bureau, éclairait l’encrier majestueux, le portrait de Marie dans un petit cadre, et une réduction en bronze vert de la Victoire pompéienne.
En ce moment, debout, le dos au feu, Guillaume Wallers déclarait:
—Ce que monsieur di Toma vient de nous raconter me trouble un peu. Dieu me garde de critiquer ce que je n’ai point vu. Je connais la haute compétence et le tact de monsieur l’inspecteur Spaniello. Mais cette idée de refaire les toits écroulés et de replanter les jardins me paraît dangereuse. Vous affirmez que ma première visite me rassurera. Je le souhaite. Mais je crains beaucoup les architectes et les maçons. Quand ces gens-là se mettent dans une ruine, c’est pour l’habiller de neuf et la maquiller... Voyez ce qu’ils ont fait de Carcassonne en la coiffant d’ardoises gothiques, dans ce sec Languedoc où les châteaux, les villes, les villages, les moindres masures, cuisent au soleil leurs toits de tuiles orangées...
Il s’interrompit:
—Voilà ma fille.
Et il présenta:
—Monsieur Angelo di Toma... Madame Laubespin.
Claude était près de madame Wallers sur le canapé. A droite de la cheminée, le vieux M. Meurisse, filateur et maire de Pont-surDeule, écoutait placidement l’ami Wallers, et, de l’autre côté, il y avait Isabelle Van Coppenolle et, derrière elle, un jeune homme qui s’avança pour baiser la main de Marie.
Elle pensa au portrait cruel que Claude avait fait de ce garçon, et elle fut étonnée de le trouver ridicule, mais d’un ridicule sympathique et gentil. Il avait échangé ses souliers jaunes contre des bottines vernies, et sa jaquette mince découvrait un gilet d’été, une cravate claire, un plastron et un col si luisant qu’on les eût dits en «linge américain». Cet ajustement lui donnait un air un peu rasta, et sa figure même n’était pas tout à fait d’un homme du monde à cause de la perfection classique du nez droit et de la bouche en arc, à cause des cils trop longs et des dents trop régulières sous la petite moustache ébouriffée, plus châtaine que les cheveux. C’était une beauté gênante, beauté de modèle, d’aventurier ou de ténor, faite pour les oripeaux et les guenilles.
Tout de même, Angelo di Toma n’en était pas responsable! Et il se faisait pardonner cette scandaleuse beauté à force de gentillesse. Dans un français correct, mais avec un terrible accent, il tourna un joli compliment à Marie qui ressemblait, dit-il, à son père et à sa mère, et aussi à une infante de Vélasquez... La robe blanche voilée de noir transparent, les perles au cou, la cocarde rose à la ceinture, les cheveux cendrés et argentés... Oui, c’était l’Infante!
M. Wallers approuva; madame Van Coppenolle, demanda si elle avait, elle aussi, le type des dames de Vélasquez, bien qu’elle sût très bien ne pas l’avoir, mais elle aimait à provoquer les louanges. M. di Toma, depuis qu’il était entré dans le salon, n’avait regardé qu’elle: il profita de la circonstance pour la regarder encore, en détail et de tout près. Elle posait, comme devant un peintre, inclinée et
souriante dans le fauteuil de velours pourpre à dossier très haut. Grande et forte, avec de lourds cheveux dont elle savait adoucir la nuance ardente, elle avait les yeux verdâtres, le rire facile, la bouche mûre d’une Néréide de Rubens; elle en avait la chair lactée, nacrée, presque soyeuse dans la lumière, et que l’ombre enveloppe d’une transparence azurée. Le sang riche de la jeunesse colorait de rose vif les lobes des oreilles, les joues, les lèvres, les mains mêmes, et les hommes qui déshabillaient des yeux ces formes provocantes devaient penser que le beau corps, nu, gras et blanc, était fleuri et fouetté du même rose.
La robe d’Isabelle la couvrait sans la cacher C’était un fourreau en crêpe de Chine crème, tout brodé, tout ramagé d’or; des perles dans les cheveux; des perles au cou. Sur les épaules, une écharpe de plumes floconneuses. Cette toilette, trop riche pour un dîner de famille, contrastait avec la mousseline noire de Marie et l’honnête satin broché, couleur puce, de madame Wallers. Isabelle s’en excusa:
—Tu vois, dit-elle à sa cousine, je me suis mise «en peau». C’est que ma femme de chambre avait fourré cette vieille robe dans ma malle,—à tout hasard... Je n’avais pas autre chose,—à moins de dîner en peignoir ou en costume tailleur
—Je pense, dit l’Italien, que cette femme de chambre mérite notre gratitude. Madame est aussi belle qu’Hélène Fourment.
Il considérait Isabelle avec un étrange regard de peintre, d’amoureux et de maquignon.
Guillaume Wallers dit:
—C’est très juste. Ma nièce ressemble à Hélène Fourment.
—Cela ne me flatte guère, oncle Guillaume.
—Tu es difficile!
—Un Rubens, c’est bien vulgaire.
