The Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) actively contributes to the work of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) within the framework of the European Campaign “Safe and Healthy Work in the Digital Age”, which focuses on the occupational safety and health challenges arising from digitalisation and emerging technologies.
Within this framework, FEES participated in the official EU-OSHA campaign summit, where Gyula Szabó, PhD, Professor at Óbuda University, Hungary, and representative of the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies, delivered the presentation entitled “Human and Machine”.
The presentation was part of Parallel Session 3: “OSH as a driver of safe and healthy digital technologies for work”, chaired by Dietmar Elsler and Annick Starren, Senior Research Project Managers at EU-OSHA.
The session brought together experts from industry, research, and policy, including:
- Regine Mägerlein, Head of Global Environment, Health and Safety, ZF Lifetec
- Beatrice Aelterman, Head of Global Occupational Health and Safety, Boehringer Ingelheim
- Moritz Schneider, Senior Specialist for AI and Software Architecture, German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), and the Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and Health (PEROSH)
- Gyula Szabó, PhD, Professor at Óbuda University and representative of the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies
The presentation addressed the profound changes brought by artificial intelligence in the field of digital occupational safety and health. AI is no longer merely a supporting technology. It introduces autonomous decision-making, learning systems, and continuous data-driven feedback into everyday work processes. These developments fundamentally reshape human–system interaction and raise new questions related to control, responsibility, trust, and well-being at work.
From an ergonomics and human factors perspective, artificial intelligence represents a new but logically connected application domain. The primary goal of ergonomics has always been to optimise the interaction between humans and systems. With the emergence of AI, this interaction becomes more complex, as cognitive load, transparency, predictability, and human oversight gain increasing importance. Consequently, ergonomics and human factors play a central role in the AI transition.
European regulation clearly reflects this approach. Key principles of the EU AI Act, such as human oversight, transparency, explainability, predictability, and safety, strongly overlap with long-established ergonomic and user-centred design principles. These requirements are not abstract legal concepts, but practical criteria that directly influence worker safety, mental health, and acceptance of AI-based systems.
The presentation also highlighted emerging psychosocial risks linked to AI-supported work. Continuous monitoring, automated evaluation, and blurred human–machine boundaries may increase mental strain, stress, and feelings of loss of control if not properly addressed. AI can improve efficiency only if it does not reduce quality of life or undermine human autonomy.
A central message of the session was that users must not be treated as passive recipients of AI solutions. Human-centred and human-in-the-loop approaches are essential. Workers need to be involved throughout the development and implementation cycle, from design to everyday use and continuous improvement. Clarity, acceptability, safety, and learnability remain key criteria for sustainable AI systems.
The AI transition is therefore not only about smarter machines, but about better human–machine cooperation. Ergonomics and human factors provide the conceptual and practical foundation to ensure that AI-based solutions support people, rather than replace or overload them.
FEES is proud to have been actively involved in the EU-OSHA campaigns since the establishment of the campaign partner network. We consider it a privilege that successive campaign themes consistently highlight different application domains of ergonomics. The previous campaign, “Lighten the Load”, addressed the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and manual handling risks, representing a classical and well-established field of physical ergonomics.
The current campaign, focusing on digitalisation and artificial intelligence, clearly brings ergonomics and human factors into the foreground from a new perspective, emphasising cognitive, organisational, and psychosocial aspects of work. Looking ahead, we anticipate the launch of the next campaign, which is expected to address mental workload and knowledge-based work. This emerging focus will further strengthen the role of cognitive ergonomics and human reliability, areas where ergonomics and human factors can make a decisive contribution.
We look forward to continuing our active involvement in future EU-OSHA campaigns and to representing the ergonomic perspective across these evolving challenges of work.
