Getting the attention of American organizations on human factors-a personal experience

Ten absolutes for successfully establishing and sustaining a human factors program in contemporary American organizations, and especially in Federal government agencies, are proposed. These absolutes include: knowledge of what human factors is and what it is capable of achieving as a discipline; communicable goals and a vision for achieving those goals; and the use of public forums for negotiating the role of human factors within the organization and as an external resource for performing that role. It is concluded that these absolutes can help enhance the promise of human factors, and build on that promise into the next century.<>