Japan Ergonomics Society

Ergonomics is an interdisciplinary, practical science that can meet the needs of the current age, i.e., the diversified and sophisticated needs for safety, security, comfort and health, through comprehensive approaches based on its cross disciplinary specialty. Studies on ergonomic theory and activities practicing ergonomics are now being carried out all over the world.The International Ergonomics Associationhas 47 federated ergonomics societies as its members, such as the Japan Ergonomics Society, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society(the USA) and Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors(the UK).Related academic societies, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) , also have special interest groups on ergonomics.

Expectations for ergonomics are high in Japan as well. The Japan Ergonomics Society (JES) was founded in 1964 to promote research and related businesses on ergonomics. The society has now around 2,000 members. These members consist of specialists in many different fields, from specialists at colleges or research institutes to practitioners in industries, and have been conducting broad, interdisciplinary activities. One example is the activity to promote international standardization. In 1986, when Japan became a P member (a member with voting rights) in the ISO (International Organization for Standardization)/TC159 (technical committee on ergonomics), the JES was assigned to deliberate domestically all the issues related to TC159 by the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology (now the National Institute of Advance Industrial Science and Technology) in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). To carry out this assignment, the Japan Ergonomics National Committee (JENC) was formed in the JES in the same year. Since then, the JENC has continued its activities, or rather, made progress for more than ten years, launching one special committee or working group after another to reinforce its ability to meet ever growing demand.

The JES has been registered as a cooperative science and research body at the Science Council of Japan, and was designated as an academic body, which is stipulated in Article 30 (1) of the Patent Act, by the Commissioner of the Patent Office on April 1, 2002. The JES has also been registered as a research institution (code: 6000021017) at the Cross-ministerial R & D Management System (e-Rad), which deals with the whole process regarding Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.