People & work
Ergonomics, human factors and occupational health: understanding demands, preventing harm and making work sustainable.
Connecting human expertise, science and engineering to shape the future of physically demanding work.
Explore our approach
Essential operations depend on skilled people.
Physically demanding work, an ageing workforce and labour shortages are making it harder to sustain that expertise and capacity. Organisations need work that people can perform safely and healthily throughout their careers and that future generations want to do.
This is a strategic challenge with practical consequences: how should work evolve, where should organisations invest, and which changes will improve both working lives and operational performance?
Led by Intergo and VHP, we bring together ergonomics, human factors and work design with technical development and engineering from Matador, applied research and technological innovation from Fraunhofer, and occupational health science from Amsterdam UMC, drawing on the expertise of the former Coronel Institute.
Together, we translate organisational needs into coherent programmes of research, development and implementation. We examine how tasks, equipment, technology and organisational arrangements interact, combining employees’ practical knowledge with scientific evidence and engineering expertise.
Ergonomics, human factors and occupational health: understanding demands, preventing harm and making work sustainable.
Engineering, sensing, robotics and automation: finding the right tools and interventions for the task.
Research, trials and effect measurement: understanding what improves work and what makes those improvements last.
Our capabilities span the assessment of physical and cognitive demands, prevention of work-related health problems, work organisation, technical design, sensing technologies, robotics and automation. We use this breadth to identify the right combination of interventions: reducing unnecessary work, improving tools and tasks, changing work processes or developing new technical solutions.
Through prototyping, simulation, laboratory testing and workplace trials, we assess technical performance alongside physical exposure, usability, employee experience and operational effects. We also address the skills, responsibilities and organisational changes needed to make improvements last.
See how the approach comes togetherWork Performance Alliance builds on established relationships and shared project experience between partners. We now bring these complementary strengths together under one name, helping organisations sustain the health, expertise and operational capability on which their future depends.
Consortium lead
Ergonomics, human factors and work design
Consortium lead
Ergonomics, human factors and work design
Consortium partner
Technical development and engineering
Consortium partner
Applied research and technological innovation
Consortium partner
Occupational health science