Become a Certified Professional Member
If you have a tertiary degree and have been practising in HFE for at least three years, at least one year of which has been in New Zealand, you could become a Certified Professional Member, and get all the benefits of membership. You could be an academic, consultant or human factors practitioner in a company with a broad knowledge, experience and skills in human factors and ergonomics
There are two routes for attaining certification:
Route A - requires education, supervised training and two years’ experience.
Route B - requires applicants to have at least a Master’s degree in any field, and a minimum of 6 years’ experience of ergonomics work. These applicants must provide evidence of peer reviewed publications to demonstrate competence.
For all applicants
The General Conditions
- You are practicing human factors/ergonomics in the broad ‘systems’ sense of the definition, and in fields that may include physiology, biomechanics, psychology and work organisation
- You have a shared perspective with other human factors professionals/ergonomists that is demonstrated via active and ongoing participation in a variety of HFE-specific activities such as professional development meetings, conferences, publication and study
- You are practising human factors /ergonomics at a level equivalent to that of a university graduated professional
- You are practicing human factors/ergonomics as an intrinsic part of design activities.
For Route A applicants
- You have at least THREE academic years of tertiary education in any field, which includes at least ONE full-time year of education in human factors/ergonomics
- You have had formal education in five core knowledge areas: human factors/ergonomics principles; human characteristics; work analysis and measurement; people and technology; professional issues.
- You can provide evidence to demonstrate how you have applied this knowledge in practice. For example, site visits, classroom-based projects, case studies, simulated tasks or scenarios.
- You have completed at least ONE full-time year (approximately 2000 hours) of supervised training in human factors/ergonomics practice
- Your supervisor should be a Certified NZHFE (or international equivalent) human factors/ergonomics professional
- Your supervisor should verify the quality and nature of the supervision, a log of direct contact hours and duration of the project
- Work activities that may have been used as examples for practical applications of knowledge cannot be used for training hours and demonstration of knowledge.
- Supervision may occur as part of project work, a thesis or working closely with other human factors professionals/ergonomists.
- You have at least TWO full-time years of professional practice in the human factors/ergonomics field after completion of the educational and supervised training components
- At least one year should have been in New Zealand.
- Professional practice in human factors/ergonomics may include consultancy work, design, field or laboratory research, tertiary-level teaching, training in short courses on human factors/ergonomics or management in human factors/ergonomics.
For Route B applicants
- You have at least a Master’s degree in any field.
- You have competence in four core knowledge areas (human factors/ergonomics principles; human characteristics; work analysis and measurement; people and technology) which are demonstrated in the form of peer reviewed publications in human factors/ergonomics journals and conference proceedings.
- You have a MINIMUM OF SIX YEARS at post-Master’s level in supervision and/or consultancy and/or applied research in the human factors/ergonomics field spanning.
At least two years must have been in New Zealand.
Professional Members of HFESNZ must meet criteria including education, supervised training and experience. This flow chart shows the Professional Membership pathways, and further information is contained in the HFESNZ Professional Affairs Board Manual.
- The application process requires that appropriate and strong evidence is submitted to support your claims. Some of the types of evidence (strongest to weakest) are:
- Strongest evidence is a working link through to a journal article or the item of evidence, perhaps on the publisher's website, or a university website if for evidence of qualifications etc.
- On the basis that not everyone has access to academic journal websites, an alternative is attaching a PDF version of a paper or item of evidence.
- Next strongest evidence is a screen clipping or copy of an abstract/header page for the online journal article, copied into a word document or as an image. Screen clippings can be utilised effectively as evidence - e.g., extracts from reports to clients, extracts from supervision logs etc.
- Weaker evidence is copying the content of an abstract etc into a Word document, along with reference information.
- Weakest evidence is the reference only for a paper or item of work.
Tertiary qualification evidence should include details of course content (transcripts) and grades (certificates).
Contact the Convenor by clicking here to email for the application package to become a Certified Professional.
Read more details about the benefits of membership and join our community today!
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FAQs
Application fee $75 +GST, Annual Membership Fee $350 +GST.
In addition to meeting the initial application criteria, you need to meet three yearly re-certification requirements that ensure you maintain currency in the field. Work is afoot to develop a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme that may replace the recertification requirement, likely extended to all Professional Membership grades.
It is a requirement for Certified Professional Members to hold appropriate Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurances, and Statutory Liability insurance is recommended.
Certified Professional Members may refer to themselves as either an Ergonomist or Human Factors Professional, using the title: Certified NZ Human Factors and Ergonomics Professional or Certified NZ Ergonomist or Certified NZ Human Factors Professional, and the post-nominal CNZHFE.
Certified Professional Members must abide a Code of Conduct, and a Complaints and Disciplinary Process applies to these members.
Certified Professional Members are eligible to apply for HASANZ Registration. This requires a separate application fee and application process which is verified by HFESNZ. HASANZ Registration is able to be searched by anyone seeking a health and safety professional, across a wide range of disciplines. This will make you more easily accessible by New Zealand businesses.