Ergonomics programmes at Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary

The European Conference on Applied Ergonomics, organized by the Hungarian Ergonomic Society and the Ergonomics Sub-Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was hosted by Óbuda University, Donát Bánki Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering. The opening address of the conference, consisting of two English-language sessions, was delivered by Kenichi Hirose, Senior Specialist of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Country Office for Central and Eastern Europe, on the occasion that the ILO publication titled “Ergonomic checkpoints: Practical and easy-to-implement solutions for improving safety, health and working conditions” was issued in the framework of the teaching material development project of Óbuda University. Conference participants include Sylvain Leduc, president of the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES), Maggie Graf president of the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE) and the presidents of several European ergonomics societies as well.
In the days to follow the conference, Budapest was the venue of the 43rd session of the council of CREE, operating a register of European Ergonomists. Registration is intended to provide contacts to prominent professionals in ergonomics as well as to strengthen the ergonomist profession itself. A standardized system of requirements and an assessment procedure of several stages ensure that holders of the European Ergonomist title have all the competencies required for performing ergonomics activities independently and at high standards.
The Harmonising European Training Programs for the Ergonomics Profession (HETPEP), was adopted in 1990 and since then it has served as a model for a number of standardized European professional qualification systems, including the titles of European Health and Safety Technician and European Health and Safety Manager.