Traditionally, Naval ship design programs have placed Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in a subordinate role to ship manning, a process primarily concerned with determining the ship's complement. As a result, HFE inputs to ship design documentation are often scattered, uncoordinated and lacking in fundamental standardization. The Naval Sea Systems Command has recently initiated an effort to correct these problems through a program designed to integrate HFE technologies into the ship planning and acquisition process. One of the primary objectives of this project is the development of an HFE Design Guide to assist Navy personnel in applying HFE technologies early in the design phase of the ship acquisition process. The paper describes the current status and philosophy of this program, and evaluates an attempt to apply a preliminary model of the Guide to Naval recovery systems presently in the development stages: the Mark-14 Arresting Gear System and the Beartrap Recovery Assist, Secure and Traverse System.
