Human Factors & Risk Management: What's Needed & Why?
Shannon Hoste, President of Agilis Consulting Group and former lead of the FDA’s Human Factors Team, explains how human factors serves as a critical risk management activity for medical device development. She details the importance of the Use-Related Risk Assessment (URRA) in identifying potential use errors and high-disparity harms early in the design process to ensure safe and effective product use. Hoste discusses the evolution of ISO 62366, the challenges engineers face in understanding qualitative user needs, and the necessity of integrating human factors into the product development lifecycle rather than treating it as a late-stage compliance checkbox.