A scientific consideration of human factors, new technology and human error requires empirical based research examining issues of user involvement in the design process, prototyping sample designs, assessing the usability of technology, all within a user-centred systems framework. The School’s usability laboratory offers the necessary research environment to study human factors and the design of new technology. It uses standard usability assessment approaches, facilitates prototyping of designs with various levels of fidelity such as paper, touch screen and 3-D working forms. The general context to this research area has been described in several peer reviewed published papers (see Roger R Hall’s publication list) which also presents some research findings.