Suzanne Jackson

Published: 2026/09/04

1. What is your name and current profession?

My name is Suzanne Jackson. I work as an independent contractor and currently hold several roles: Safety Advisor, Adjunct Faculty, and Instructor – all with a strong focus on ergonomics and human factors in real workplaces.

2. How long have you been an ACE member? 

I’ve been an ACE member for many years, essentially throughout most of my professional career. ACE has been a consistent professional home base for me. 

3. How did you first become interested in ergonomics? 

I first became interested in ergonomics in my first year of my Kinesiology undergraduate degree. I was fascinated by the idea that we could design work, tools, and systems around people – rather than asking people to endlessly adapt to poorly designed work. That connection between the human body, human decision-making, and design hooked me early and has kept me engaged ever since. 

4. What didn’t you learn in school that you wish you had? 

My academic training in ergonomics and human factors was strong technically, but I wish I had learned more about how to facilitate design discussions and how to work with the stories people tell about their work. 

So much of our impact as ergonomists comes from being able to: 

• Host good conversations with workers, supervisors, and leaders, 
• Make sense of narratives about “how we really get the job done,” and 
• Turn those insights into better design and safer, more sustainable work.

Those facilitation and sense-making skills are things I’ve had to learn and practice mostly on the job.

5. What is your favorite aspect of being an ergonomist? What is your favorite aspect of being involved in ergonomics? 

I love learning about the work people do. Ergonomics has given me the privilege of seeing so many different occupations up close – from community health to construction to office and knowledge work – and understanding how people think about and adapt their work. 

My favourite part is when I can connect what I’m learning from workers to practical changes: small or large improvements that reduce strain, support better decisions, and make work more sustainable over the long term. Being involved in ergonomics means I’m constantly learning, listening, and translating between “how work is imagined” and “how work is really done.”

6. What do you see as the biggest opportunity for ergonomists in the future?

I see huge opportunities for ergonomists in workplace health and safety, particularly in helping organizations move beyond compliance toward truly human-centred work design. There is also growing potential in the design of interfaces, products, and digital tools, where understanding human capabilities and limitations is critical. 

More broadly, I think ergonomists can play an important role in strategic conversations about work – helping organizations design systems, technologies, and environments that support both performance and wellbeing.

7. What advice would you give to a student or young professional starting out in ergonomics? 

First, spend some time noticing: Do you prefer working more directly with people, or with things and data – or both? Ergonomics has room for all of that, from hands-on field work to product design to analytics and research. 

A few pieces of advice: 

• Be curious about work. Ask people how they really get the job done and listen carefully. 
• Learn to communicate and facilitate. Your technical knowledge matters, but your ability to host good conversations often matters just as much. 
• Think in systems. Look beyond the individual to how tools, tasks, culture, staffing, procedures, and technology all fit together. 
• Stay open to learning. The field is evolving, and ergonomists are increasingly involved in strategy, design, and organizational learning – not just assessments.

8. Is there anything else you would like to share that we have missed?

Ergonomics is a profession with tremendous potential to improve people’s everyday experience of work. We’re at an exciting point where ergonomists and human factors professionals can help organizations learn from normal work, design with workers rather than for them, and support better decisions under pressure. 

For students and new professionals: if you’re interested in both people and systems, and you like the idea of making work healthier, safer, and more meaningful, ergonomics is a very rewarding path.