AHFE Open AccessHuman Error, Reliability, Resilience, and Performance
Editors: Ronald Boring
Topics: Human Error, Reliability & Performance
Publication Date: 2022
ISBN: 978-1-958651-09-4
DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001560
Articles
Adapting the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System for Commercial Fishing Vessel Accidents
The commercial fishing industry is frequently described as one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States. Their objective, to maximize their catch, is routinely challenged by a variety of elements due to the environment, the vessel, the crew, and a number of external considerations and how they interact with each other. The analysis of fishing vessel accidents can be difficult due to the diverse nature of the industry including the species they catch, the type and size of boat that is employed, how far they must travel from their home port, and the adequacy of their support organizations ensuring safe and uninterrupted operations. Using ten years of data documenting the causes of fatal accidents in the commercial fishing industry, this study developed and evaluated a version of Wiegmann and Shappell’s (2003) Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), specifically for commercial fishing industry vessels, HFACS-FV. HFACS has previously been adapted for transportation, industrial, and healthcare applications and was originally designed for naval aviation accidents. HFACS-FV focuses on the particular differences and vulnerabilities within the fishing industry. In contrast to other commercial maritime operations, the fishing industry is challenged by minimal crew and vessel safety standards in a highly competitive field that rewards working in all weather and sea conditions. For this study, the accident investigation information was converted into the HFACS-FV format by independent raters and measured for inter-rater reliability. The results were analyzed for the frequency of the human factors identified by the raters and their relationship with vessel and accident demographic information. The leading categories were found to be physical environment, equipment acquisitions and support, decision error, technical readiness of the crew, and allowing unsafe operations. HFACS-FV provides significant insight on the human factors that contribute to fatal fishing vessel accidents and areas of focus for preventative efforts. Since many fishing vessel organizations are small businesses that employ a fraction of personnel compared to large companies, employees must fulfill numerous job responsibilities with regard to management, supervision, and operation which indicates that the HFACS-FV categories are more relevant than HFACS-FV tiers compared to other HFACS applications. This HFACS modification offers prospective utilization for accidents in the transportation, construction, and industrial sectors involving small companies or organizations.
Peter Zohorsky, Holly Handley
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Decision Support Systems for Route Planning: Impacts on Performance and Trust
Decision Support Systems (DSS) and other performance augmentation tools are increasingly leveraged by the military to recommend courses of action and improve analyst performance on critical tasks. This is particularly important for path planning operations, where analysts must consider complex tradeoffs and contingencies based on available assets, distance, and target priority. To emulate this environment in a more general applied context, we developed a path planning task that emulated long-range delivery truck dispatch. Participants conducted a quality control check on four scenarios, each with a simulated DSS that recommended truck allocations, which ranged from perfect (100%) accuracy to subpar (40%) accuracy. Each participant also received one of four explanations for how the DSS algorithm would determine where trucks should be allocated: (1) no explanation, (2) a simple written explanation, (3) a flowchart, or (4) annotated tables. Participants demonstrated appropriately lower trust of DSS that had lower accuracy. Despite this appropriate trust calibration, their quality control performance was significantly lower when exposed to a DSS that had below perfect accuracy. Further, participants who self-reported higher levels of experience with path planning and AI algorithms demonstrated lower quality control accuracy. This demonstrates that while participants were able to successfully calibrate trust in their DSS, they nevertheless experienced performance decrements, possibly due to anchoring on the DSS’s incorrect result. Participants demonstrated the greatest understanding, strongest trust, and highest subjective preference for the simple written explanation of the DSS’s algorithm over more complex presentations, including a flowchart or annotated tables. The findings of this study provide the groundwork to understand the relationship between automation-reliance, trust, and performance, to determine when it is most appropriate to allow automation to make recommendations to analysts in operational environments and when DSS under-reliability may impact or increase human error.
Mary Frame, Jessica Armstrong, Bradley Schlessman
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Increasing the Usability of Audio Alerts with Voice Instructions on Ship’s Bridges
The goal of this study was to determine how audio alarms with voice instructions affect the time required for the cause of an alarm message to be recognised by operators on a ship's bridge compared with presently used alarm signals. [Method]Four distinct alert messages with speech cues was created for this study. These were evaluated in a ship simulator where a team of two operator was directing a high-speed catamaran in sheltered waters. At irregular intervals, the operators were presented with four different error messages to which they had to respond. The intervention group (n=12) was given alarm messages with speech cues and conventional alerts with signal tones. All participants performed identical navigation scenarios, and the times required by operators to discover and identify the alarms and correct the problem was measured. In a post-testing interview a subjective estimation of the test participants were collected. [Results]The preliminary findings indicate that a combination of sound and voice commands (1) gives more information about what is wrong, (2) are faster to locate and respond to, (3) have a higher degree of memorability, (4) have a higher degree of user satisfaction, and (5) increases the users situation awareness. The test participants who just received the alarm tones took longer to locate the source of the problem since they had to go around the bridge to discover the precise location because the tones are only distinguishable to a limited extent. Some people were irritated by the auditory tones, while others just disregarded them for a short period of time. Voice instructions were seen to be useful by the test subjects, especially when many warning messages were obtained at the same time, according to their subjective evaluation. The voice commands assist in determining the severity of the problem and its location, as well as determining which issues require immediate attention. [Conclusion]In this study, we compared traditional alerts with the use of augmented alerts with voice instructions in a ship simulator with a crew of nautical students (N = 12) playing out a complex navigation scenario. We found that alerts with voice instructions were easier to learn and understand, and they made it faster and easier to locate the equipment that caused the alert, thus allowing the crew to direct more attention to navigational procedures.
Felix - Marcel Petermann, Ole Andreas Alsos, Erik Styhr Petersen, Malene Liavaag, Julie Karine Schmidt Solberg
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Exploring Multitasking Performance and Fatigue with the MAT-B II: A Narrative Review
Multitasking and switching between tasks is a universal function in many occupations as juggling tasks simultaneously can increase task productivity especially with, factors such as workload that can lead to decrements and impair human performance. Fatigue can refer to the effects or after-effects of exerting mental and or physical effort on a task. Fatigue inducing factors such as high workload and time-on-task can impact task management, optimization and prioritization which can lead to performance decrements. Despite the universality of multitasking, from aviation to driving a car whilst talking simultaneously, it is unclear as to what underlying cognitive processes are affected by induced fatigue. This brief narrative review explores the dynamics of cognitive processes with induced fatigue on individual operator and task contexts. With an interest in cognitive-behavioral models and the Multi-Attribute Task Battery II (MAT-B II), this review aims to provide a conceptual background of the MAT-B II and its diverse use in modelling multitasking environments. By describing and investigating fatigue with multidisciplinary expertise, the development and implementation of countermeasures can enhance performance to mitigate the deleterious effects of workload and time-on-task.
Melissa Ngo, Philippe Rauffet, Siobhan Banks
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
The Application of Human Factors in Wake Vortex Encounter Flight Simulations for the Reduction of Flight Upset Risk and Startle Response
The current top safety risk concern for commercial air travel in Europe is known as “Flight Upset”. This term, also known as “Loss of Control in Flight”, entails the flight crew suddenly finding themselves in an unexpected, complex, and even confusing situation that if not resolved quickly can lead to a major accident. Accidents such as AF447 and the two B737 Max accidents fall into this category. An undesirable aspect of such events is known as the “startle response”, wherein one or both flight crew, finding themselves in dire and dangerous conditions, may experience ‘startle’, which temporarily affects their cognitive functioning. This may only last half a minute, but its effect can have a severe impact on the survivability of such events. A Horizon 2020 research project called SAFEMODE, which aims to integrate Human Factors techniques into a unified framework for designers in aviation and maritime domains, is exploring the use of state-of-the-art flight simulation facilities to measure pilot performance in severe wake turbulence events, which can induce the startle effect. This is part of a broader use case within SAFEMODE to validate the design of a new Wake Vortex Air Traffic Alert for the Cruise phase of flight. A tactical short-term alert to the Flight Crew, ahead of the wake encounter, is seen as beneficial to reduce the startle effect and support the appropriate management of these conflicts. The envisaged risk-alerting logic relies on a ground-based predictor, connected to the Air Traffic Control system, displaying an alert to the En-route Air Traffic Controllers, who can then provide a cautionary advisory to the Flight Crew so they can take appropriate actions.The cockpit flight simulations involve type-rated flight crews in realistic and representative cruise flight conditions, using a Type VI Boeing 737-800 full flight motion-based simulator (also used for Upset Prevention and Recovery training programs). During the simulation runs, pilots are exposed to simulated wake vortex encounters, corresponding to a strong wake-induced upset (between 30 and 40 degrees of bank), with or without prior ATC wake caution, and varying the initial direction of roll between left and right to limit the simulation training effect.Human Factors measurements include workload, situation awareness, trust, acceptability-based user feedback, as well as psychophysiological measures such as eye-tracking and Electro-Dermal Activity (EDA). In particular, eye-tracking is expected to support the refined determination of the sequence of actions before and after detection, and the reaction of flight crews to the en-route ATC Wake alert.A cockpit flight simulation, via combining the analyses of psychophysiological measures, flight parameters, expert observations and subjective pilot feedback, enables evaluation of Flight Crews performance in preparing for, managing or avoiding wake encounter upsets with the new ATC wake alerts, showing the net safety benefits. Early results indicate that the simulations can indeed induce startle effect, and that repeated exposure enables flight crew to overcome it and manage the situation in a more measured and controlled fashion.
Frédéric Rooseleer, Barry Kirwan, Elizabeth Humm, Diana Paola Moreno_Alarcon
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Influence of Head up Display on Visual Fatigue and Eye-Hand Discoordination in Runway Incursion Scenarios
In contrast to Primary Flight Display (PFD), Head-up Display (HUD) has not been found to conducive to the detection of runway incursions, altough visual fatigue and eye-hand discoordination have both been cited as important factors in this regard. Background：Few studies that assess the impact of HUD on visual fatigue and eye-hand coordination. Method：In addressing this deficit, we performed a simulation flight test that detects runway incursion by deploying the A320 cockpit visual simulation system that integrates HUD. Results：The results demonstrate the percentage of eye-hand discoordination with HUD was 18.75%, thereby exceeding the 8.40% recorded in the application of PFD by 10.35%. Hand manipulation duration and frequency analysis indicates that it helps to reduce the pilot’s physical load. The results also demonstrate that the linear fitting coefficient of pupil diameter change over time when HUD is applied is -0.000055 less than the 0.000009 evidenced when PFD is applied. Conclusion：These results lead to the conclusion, flight operating error and visual fatigue are more easily triggered by HUD during the landing phase. Application：The results of this study may contribute to the evaluation of the application and design of HUD, along with the analysis of pilot’s visual fatigue and performance runway incursion prevention.
Xiangyu Ge, Shuyu Shao, Yingqian Meng
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Health Crisis Management and Resilience Factors: A Comparative Study in Two Sectors
The objective of this study is to analyze the modalities of health crisis management in two different sectors during the Covid-19 crisis: the hospital and the nuclear industry. The aim is to:- Characterize the health crisis: similarities and differences compared to other known crises - nuclear, natural crisis (storm, earthquake, flood). - Identify elements of similarity between sectors in the modalities of crisis management and particularities related to the specificities of the socio-technical systems.- Identify the resilience factors and difficulties- Make proposals to enhance the robustness of crisis organizations.Study BackgroundBoth the hospital and the nuclear industry (EDF) have had to organize and adapt to continue their activities from the beginning of the crisis in March 2020.On the hospital side, an emergency plan (White Plan) provides a reconfiguration of the hospital in case of health crisis. On the nuclear side, a Business Continuity Plan exists as well as a pandemic emergency plan (support and mobilization plan).It was at La Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, a reference hospital for infectious diseases, that the first death of Covid19 was recorded. The crisis unit was activated at that time. The hospital then opened its doors to us for human and organizational factors study of crisis management in April 2020. Concerning the nuclear sector, the health crisis management analysis could only be carried out from October 2020 at the national level and the nuclear power plants.Methodological approachWe applied a systemic approach combining ergonomics, cognitive psychology, and sociology to study socio-technical systems safety.The study focused on crisis management via an analysis of organizational resilience to identify the factors of success and difficulty. Given the temporality of this crisis, the study was carried out in three stages at the hospital.1. April and May 2020: i) a series of remote interviews with various hospital staff were conducted; ii) a passive listening follow-up of about 30 phone meetings of the crisis unit; iii) a documentary analysis of the planned crisis organization.2. November and December 2021: i) a second series of interviews in the hospital emergency unit.3. June and July 2021 in the intensive care unit: i) a third round of interviews; ii) field observations in the hospital; iii) a literature review.In the nuclear field we conducted two retrospective studies at different times, focused on the most critical phase of the crisis (from March to May 2020):1. October - November 2021: an analysis of the health crisis’ management at the national level via a series of interviews completed by an analysis of the crisis reference systems.2. August - September 2021: an analysis of the health crisis management in a Nuclear power plant via interviews and an analysis of site-specific documents. ResultsWe observed similarities in the way the crisis was managed, in terms of management, which proved to be factors of success both at the hospital and at EDF, for example,- A crisis management that integrates the business lines and is top-down, but that listens and takes into account proposals from the field.- Experience of crises and emergency situations, which facilitates crisis management and adaptation.- The habit of protocols facilitating the integration of new constraints.- Very strong collective mobilization of personnelHowever, there are linked difficulties in both sectors, for example, to the virus fear, the anxiety of contaminating one's family and friends, especially at the beginning, and then weariness and fatigue linked to the duration of the crisis.Particularities concerning the work activity in the hospital will be discussed especially in relation to the reconfiguration of the services and to the necessary adaptations and improvisations of patients care protocols and procedures, among others.These studies are source of learning, about crisis management and particularly long-term crises that have a lasting impact on socio-technical systems. Proposals in terms of crisis organization and preparedness for this type of crisis will be presented.
Cecilia De La Garza, Nora Oufi
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Analysis of Assembly Errors using Systems Thinking Approach: Application of the HFACS Framework
Using a systemic and human-centered approach to analyze quality deficiencies in complex manual assemblies can help to shift the focus towards the role of systems failures instead of focusing on the operators' actions. This paper features the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) framework, to identify several contributing factors to quality deficiencies in a manufacturing environment. Overall, 34 factors were identified. Some 56% were associated with the human operator and operating environment, while 44% were related to organizational influences and supervisory factors. The latter included inadequate design/update of working instructions, variability in production demands, high complexity of product design, and lack of guidelines on shift scheduling and overtime allocation best practices. Although HFACS was able to provide a "big picture" of the situation analyzed, it requires that the user possess a good understanding of the operational aspects of the system and have ample access to data and information. Particularly for latent conditions, which are not so easy to detect.
Yaniel Torres, Sylvie Nadeau, Kurt Landau
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Procedure Progression Similarity, an Aspect of Dependence between Human Failure Events
To characterize the probabilistic nature of human errors, many kinds of human reliability analysis (HRA) techniques have been developed and applied. HRA practitioners assess the dependencies between human failure events based on some contextual factors because of the belief that the failure of a previous action can influence the reliability of a subsequent action. Among the factors determining such dependency, there is an issue regarding the similarity between the procedure progressions of different events. In many abnormal or emergency situations, the operators respond to the plant situations using procedures consisting of several sequential steps. Because the operators work by following the procedural sequences, how reliably they transfer to the relevant procedures is significant to the human reliabilities. In terms of dependency, it can be seen that two events have a common factor producing human failures if they are performed with similar procedural sequences. Therefore, the similarity between procedure progressions should be counted in the dependency assessment of any HRA technique. This paper asserts the importance of such procedure progression similarity in dependency analyses and proposes two ways to estimate the joint error probability that comes from the similarity. The first approach decomposes the human error probabilities and identifies the probabilities commonly involved in both events based on the EMBRACE method. The second approach quantifies the similarity using a sequence alignment technique and estimates the dependency level based on similarity scores for traditional HRA methods. With some application studies, we discuss potential improvements of current dependency analysis and future works.
Yochan Kim, Jaewhan Kim, Jinkyun Park
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Characterization of Recovery Human Action Mechanisms in Nuclear Power Plants
Recovery human action is defined as the action that prevents deviant conditions from producing unwanted effects. Analyzing recovery actions has been a critical part in human reliability analysis (HRA). However, there are a couple of limitations to treat recovery actions only depending on the current HRA methods. Representatively, the existing recovery analysis does not specifically consider recovery actions as are occurred in actual nuclear power plants (NPPs). The overall goal of this study aims to develop a novel recovery analysis method to account for human action recoveries in context of scenarios as well as complement the limitations of existing recovery analysis. In this paper, the recovery analysis in current HRA methods and their challenges are introduced. A strategy to achieve the goal is introduced with a modified recovery definition. Then, how we have researched the approach will be introduced in the paper.
Yunyeong Heo, Jeeyea Ahn, Seung Jun Lee, Ronald Boring, Jooyoung Park
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Dynamic Approach to Dependency Analysis in Human Reliability Analysis: Application in a Steam Generator Tube Rupture Scenario
Dependence analysis refers to a method for adjusting the failure probability for a human action by considering the impact of the preceding human action in human reliability analysis (HRA). Most of the existing dependence analysis methods have been developed based on the approach suggested in the Technique for Human Error-Rate Prediction (THERP) HRA method. However, the THERP-based approaches may have limitations. For instance, it inevitably presents challenges regarding both the subjectivity of expert evaluation as well as experience using dependence for resource-intensive and time-consuming complex analyses. In addition, the THERP-based quantification approaches rarely explain the adjustment of human error probabilities (HEPs), since the quantification processes do not concretely account for the context at the moment when the action is present. For these reasons, the authors’ previous studies have conceptually suggested a dynamic approach to evaluating dependencies by extending the existing performance shaping factor (PSF) concept used for quantifying HEPs in HRA. The conventional PSF modeling methods are limited to separate modeling for each HFE. However, this study suggests PSFs can affect a set of human actions or a multiple HFE rather than a single HFE. With this assumption, the authors simplified the dependency analysis process to efficiently evaluate dependencies and increase the quantification speed with more explicable backgrounds. In this paper, the authors mainly focus on dependency quantification over time. This study utilizes the eight PSFs suggested in the Standardized Plant Analysis Risk-HRA (SPAR-H) method. The mathematical models and logical algorithms are investigated through literature. Integrating the effects of PSFs to generate HEPs with dependency effects is also investigated. Then, the applicability of the dynamic method is investigated based on a design-based accident scenario, steam generator tube rupture. Lastly, insights from this approach are discussed in the paper.
Jeeyea Ahn, Yunyeong Heo, Seung Jun Lee, Ronald Boring, Jooyoung Park
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
The Formation Mechanism of Team Decision-making Errors in Digital Nuclear Power plants
In order to identify the mechanism of team decision-making errors (TDMEs), firstly, the concept of TDMEs is defined, and on the basis of on-site observations and simulation experiments, the team decision-making behaviors in the digital main control room of nuclear power plants (NPPs) are analyzed when facing event of an accident . Then, the specific classifications of behaviors and errors of team decision-making (TDM) are conducted, the contextual factors confronted with TDM are analyzed and classified specifically also. Furthermore, identifying the effects of contextual factors on team decision-making so as to extract the main influencing factors. Finally, the interactions between the influencing factors of TDMEs and their priorities are recognized through Interpretative Structural Modeling(ISM) methods, and a causal conceptual model is developed to reveal the formation mechanism of team decision-making errors(TDMEs), which provides theoretical basis for preventing TDMEs in digital NPPs.
Jing Wen, Pengcheng Li
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Implications of Human Reliability Analysis for Human Readiness Levels
Technology readiness levels (TRLs) were developed to gauge the maturity of new technologies. TRLs are effective for determining suitability for procurement and guiding the evolution of novel research and development efforts from the conceptual stage, through demonstration, to implementation and deployment. A recent augmentation to TRLs is human readiness levels (HRLs). HRLs are anchored to human factors and map suitability for human use. A low HRL may suggest that a technology is early in its human-system interface development, while a high HRL confirms that a technology is fully usable by humans interacting with it. HRLs provide a measure of technology maturity not just according to the hardware or software captured in the TRLs but also the human end users. Ideally, TRLs and HRLs should align, especially as a system reaches maturity and approaches deployment. To date, the relationship between human reliability analysis (HRA) and HRLs has not been explored. HRA seeks to map the rate and nature of human errors when using a system. This paper explores the relationship between human reliability and HRLs. HRA can support the HRL determination by providing acceptable performance criteria and a process for quantifying the appropriate level. HRA can also provide predictive measures to complement empirical usability and maturity assessments.
Ronald Boring
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Promoting Team-Oriented Behavior Based on Regulatory Focus Theory
This research analyzed the effects of two safety management approaches with respect towards teamwork. An approach based on a conventional safety perspective called Safety-I has contributed to improving industrial safety by eliminating failures or mistakes as much as possible. In such a case, any mistake would be punished, even if it’s done trying to help a colleague, for example. One concern, therefore, is that this seemingly harsh Safety-I approach can promote self-protective behaviors to minimize mistakes on an individual level but not on a team level. Considering complex systems require entire teams to function properly, such as in aviation where two pilots work together, teamwork should be promoted to achieve higher levels of safety. Under Safety-I management, there is no incentive promoting team-oriented behavior, but it encourages self-protective behavior making it an unbalanced trade-off. On the other hand, a new safety perspective, termed Safety-II, has been recently developed. Safety-II gives an alternative approach to improve safety by increasing the number of things going well. Under such a perspective, team-oriented behavior might be rewarded by considering it as one of the things that go well. Previous research, however, never gave us experimental evidence showing how the two different safety approaches can affect teamwork. The research focuses on answering the following two research questions: (1) Does the safety-I based approach demonstratively have a negative effect on teamwork?, and (2) How effectively is the Safety-II approach at motivating people to pay attention to each other’s activities. The results from our experiment will give us insights to understand how effective safety management can be utilized on-site.An experiment was designed based on regulatory focus theory to simulate the two safety approaches. The theory has two focuses termed promotion and prevention focus which delineate motivation when people pursue their goals. Prevention focus was considered as utilizing the Safety-I perspective while promotion focus was considered as utilizing Safety-II perspective. In the experiment, participants were required to perform a prevention focus task: to avoid violations; and a promotion focus task: to earn incentives that could lead to supporting their partners. Participants received either positive feedback which would induce promotion focus, or negative feedback which would induce prevention focus during main tasks. We then analyzed how the participants' behaviors changed following the feedback.The experimental results showed that participants who received positive feedback were inclined to make more incentives even though they had to sacrifice a few more violations. As we expected, the number of violations were lower in the prevention focus group. However, the prevention focus feedback didn’t encourage participants to work on the prevention focus task to the degree that the promotion focus feedback encouraged participants to work on the promotion focus task. These results might indicate that emphasizing “Do not make mistakes” is not the most effective approach for achieving higher levels of safety. The results also suggest that safety management with a promotion focus might cause people to focus on teamwork, consequently leading to higher levels of safety.
Keitaro Ichikawa, Daisuke Karikawa, Makoto Takahashi, Tsubasa Otsuki
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Design of Conversation Interaction Between Users and Systems to Prevent Human Misunderstanding
Human ability on thinking is considered as imperfect. Our logic is intuitive and not logically strict. Also, capacity of our memory is limited. We often fail to make correct judgement. Therefore, agents interacting with human users, which may be user interfaces of computer systems and instruction documents, should guide the users to avoid their logical defects. When a system accepts the order from a user, it questions to the user several times to clarify user’s demand. Such conversation should be designed with considerations on questioning style, order of questions, concreteness of question, and so on.This paper proposes three principles on questioning design.2. Principle of positive wording and avoiding negative conditioningEven though logical denial forms are often used in questioning sentences, they should not be used. In general, logical negative expressions hide what you really want to mean and state unimportant things instead. Instead of them, positive and explicit expression are proper for the interaction. For example, an instruction of "If not A, do X." has a disadvantage, since users have to pay effort to image what "not A" means. Explicit questioning, such as "If B or C, do X." is much clearer and reliable to guide the user’s thinking.3. Principle of independency from user’s memoryThe question should be answered by a user without remembering things in the past. One of typical bad questions is to inquire the experience memory of user’s actions. For example, "If you have put salt and sugar in, the operation is completed." Memory is unstable, and actions are not physical objects. So, remembering action experiences are rather difficult for users. The user’s answer might be incorrect. The system should inquire on evidence not memory like "Put salt and sugar in. Then, taste the object to check its completeness." 4. Principle of elimination of logical dependencyA conversation should go smoothly without stepping back, but sometimes it happens due to logical dependencies among the questions. Suppose a situation as follows. The first question is "Which do you like A or B?" Then, the second question is "A has an option X. Do you want it?" The user never finds the possibility of X when he selected B at first. Or the user will cancel his choice of B to step back the first question. It wastes user’s effort and time.An unsophisticated solution is to flatten all questions into a list of alternatives (disjunctive normal form, DNF) like "There are three alternatives: A, A with X, or B." But, in general, DNS becomes a too long list for practical use.Another solution is to reform the order of the question in respect to importance. If Option X is the most important, it should be confirmed first. The system should ask a question on user’s demand of X at the first question.The proper reform is elimination of logical dependency. If Option B can have X too, the order of the questions does not constrain the conversation.
Toru Nakata
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Sustainability of Human Resources: A Heuristic Approach
Introduction: Companies increasingly recognize the effects of socially and environmentally responsible decisions and investment in the sustainability of their businesses. Skilled and well-trained employees (human resources) are like valuable and scares resources and should be managed in sustainable manners. Ergonomics and Human Factors (E/HF) field can help management identify potential problem areas and improve the working conditions to minimize waste such as turnover, injury, absenteeism, etc. The employees’ performance can be used as an indicator of sustainability. Objective: To develop a heuristic model to assess the sustainability of human resources by utilizing micro-, meso, and macro-ergonomics factors, which can be used as diagnostic tool for improvement.Method: A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed among two different organization (a hospital and a manufacturing company). Three different indices of E/HF were calculated as well as performance index. The correlation between indices were studied and three-dimensional plots were created to evaluate the validity of the heuristic model.Finding: There were insignificant correlation between the E/HF indices and performance index in both organization, however, the responses from the manufacturing company matched the heuristic model better than hospital. Conclusion: The heuristic model developed in this study appeared to be viable to assess the sustainability of human resources. Additional work or different methods need to be implemented to validate the results. It seems that the survey should be custom designed for different industry since different factors and elements can affect the sustainability of human resources in each industry.
Farman Moayed, Kendall Cribelar, Annette Smith
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
How was it Possible to do Everything Right and yet 19 Prescott Fire Department Firefighters Died in One Fell Swoop on June 30, 2013?
On 30 June 2013, nineteen Prescott FD, Granite Mountain Hot Shots, a quasi-military Wildland Fire Crew, died on the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona. This tragic Arizona State Forestry (ASF) wildfire was “investigated” by a USDA US Forest Service-funded Serious Accident Investigation Team (SAIT). Their alleged "factual" report (SAIR) concluded they "found no indication of negligence, reckless actions, or violations of policy or protocol." Stated in the positive - they did everything right and yet nineteen men perished. This no blame, no-fault conclusion clearly defies logic and reason. Both USFS and BLM training publications mirror each other: "If firefighters follow the Standard Firefighting Orders and are alerted to the 18 Watch Out Situations, much of the risk of firefighting can be reduced." In 2001 and 2002, former USFS Fire Director Jerry Williams fully supported that joint assertion: “The Ten Standard Firefighting Orders must be firm rules of engagement. … They are the result of hard-learned lessons. Compromis¬ing one or more of them is a common denominator of all tragedy fires. … [where] the Fire Orders were ignored, overlooked, or otherwise compromised.” “Entrapment avoid¬ance must be our primary emphasis and our measure of professional operational success. We must embrace the rules of engagement as a way of doing business - as a professional standard. ... because we owe it to one another. The Fire Orders must become a shared obligation, where the leader’s situational awareness depends on participation by the entire crew and where the crew’s participation is tempered with respect for the leader’s responsibility ..." The SAIT states: "The 10 Standard Firefighting Orders and 18 Watch Out Situations ... [are] the foundation of training in fire suppression operations, ... but they require judgment in application. These principles, ... outline the [SAIT’s] perspective regarding the use and consideration of the 10 and 18 in [the SAIR]." This contradicts the GMHS aftermath.Additionally, other Agency video training sources have made light of this serious subject. “Visualizing The Ten and Eighteen - With Humor” (2004) Kathy Murphy; “WFSTAR: Fire Orders” (2018); and the Wildland Fire LLC - “Honor the Fallen” (2018). In this video, the Standard Fire Orders are denigrated by the USFS Apprenticeship Program Manager: “the truth is that we try to put it into these little boxes in these rules and the 10 and 18 that cannot, they’re not gonna keep us safe, that’s been proven time and time again, we can’t follow our own rule, you know, these rules whatever they are” and states they need to have “luck decision conversation[s],” concluding with “it was good … until it wasn’t.” Did these, and coaching from others, result in the third-year GMHS sole survivor McDonough’s SAIT assertion that Fire Order Ten regarding safely fighting fire, was “hillbilly” and “old”? The documented YH Fire and GMHS tragedy is inaccurate. Indeed, knowing, recognizing, and applying the 10 and 18, and mitigating any Watchout Situations are responsible for saving tens of thousands of WF lives every year! There are no documented cases revealing otherwise.
Fred Schoeffler, Joy A. Collura
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Evaluating Human Performance in a Complex Search-and-Retrieve Task
Prior research has investigated human performance in simple psychological tasks with a smaller cognitive workload. However, little is known about how humans learn in complex search-and-retrieve simulated environments. The primary objective of our research was to evaluate human performance in a complex search-and-retrieve environment. We developed a complex simulated environment, mimicking a military on-ground operation, using Unity 3D with targets and distractors. Fifty human participants were recruited to play the simulated game for 25 minutes. Participants were tasked to maximize their score by collecting targets items and avoiding distractor items available within the environment. The game's duration was divided into training and testing phases, which differed in terms of availability of feedback and the time duration (15 minutes for the training phase and 10 minutes for the test phase). In the training phase, the participants were allowed to navigate the environment to collect the items (14 targets and 7 distractors) with scores as feedback. Participants had to navigate the environment while collecting the items (28 targets and 14 distractors) to maximize their score without feedback. Results revealed a significant difference in the performance of human participants from the training phase to the test phase. The participants scored significantly more in the test phase without feedback than the training phase with feedback. Also, there was a significant increase in the proportion of targets collected over the time in both the train and test phases. We highlight the implications of developing simulation tools for training personnel in different tasks.
Shashank Uttrani, Bhavik Kanekar, Aadhar Gupta, Harsh Katakwar, Varun Dutt
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Can Vigilance be Enhanced by Flashing Visual Stimuli? An EEG Study
In aviation, poor vigilance has been cited as an important factor of incidents and accidents. Consequently, many studies are conducted in order to detect the level of vigilance and thus reduce the risk of occurrence of low task engagement or low awareness. Being able to enhance someone’s level of vigilance could be useful in many fields, such as aviation or the navy, in particular when a particularly high level of awareness is required (critical maneuvers, occurrence of warning alarms etc.). With the evolution of the knowledge about brain waves, it seems now possible to influence cortical activity by inducing specific wave patterns, using stimuli such as binaural sounds or visual flashes. In this study, we assessed the possibility of artificially increasing the level of vigilance by stimulating brain activity using flashing visual stimuli. Twelve participants performed a vigilance test (Mackworth clock test) while visual flashing stimuli were displayed around the task on the screen border, and at different flashing frequencies (0 Hz, 4 Hz, 8 Hz, 40 Hz). Brain waves were recorded continuously with a 32-channel electroencephalogram (EEG). Results revealed that reaction times during the vigilance task were shorter with the 40 Hz flashing stimuli. However, subjective mental workload was increased by the presence of each type of visual flash. With the 40 Hz flash, gamma activity (roughly oscillating to the frequency of the 40 Hz flash) in the visual cortex was much higher than with the other flashing frequencies. Interestingly, this increased gamma activity was extended to the frontal regions. In addition, the theta/beta ratio was generally higher on frontal electrodes with lower flashing frequency (4 Hz) than with faster flashing frequencies (8 Hz and 40 Hz). It suggests that the vigilance level was poorer with lower flashing frequency. Indeed, higher theta/beta ratio has been associated with lower vigilance levels and mind wandering episodes. Despite these rather encouraging results, replications of such studies are needed to confirm that visual flashing stimuli can modulate vigilance level and elicit specific brain waves, in particular in regions outside the visual cortex.
Thibaud De Barnier, Mickael Causse
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Identification of the dependence between local muscle load and the method of predetermined times
In industrial practice today, the focus is mainly on production automation, big data and smart things. But processes that can't be automated yet are being forgotten. These are manual assembly operations. In the world of assembly, it is still not possible to replace all manual activities appropriately with automation. For this reason, too, there is still a need to address standard setting. However, performance has long since ceased to be the only factor considered by industrial companies. As important as it is to ensure that workers are as productive as possible and that the resulting revenue is maximized. However, the health of the workforce itself cannot be ignored.In order to achieve optimal results, it is necessary to constantly link performance and workers' health. This thesis will examine precisely the link between rationalization and ergonomics or between the setting of standards, worker movements, and potential worker overload. Specifically, it focuses on finding the link between ergonomics and norming or finding the link between local muscle loading and the pre-set time method. The contribution of this work is to detect bad movements at the design stage of a new workplace, as well as to detect dangerous movements in real production without EMG measurements.The evaluation and selection of a suitable measurement tool is the result of the research part. After studying the literature and articles that deal with ergonomics, a measuring instrument for measuring local muscle strain using electromyography will be used for the dissertation research. In the Czech Republic, there is only one measuring device, which is: EMG Holter from Geta. The data collection is oriented toward workers in assembly companies within the Czech Republic, therefore the EMG Holter will be used. Due to the research conducted and literature studied, it was found that the most common occupational disease is upper limb disorders, which are caused by overuse and repetitive movements. Carpal tunnel syndrome has been the most common occupational disease in the Czech Republic for several years. The issue of local muscle strain is nowadays very much addressed. In the Czech Republic, the local muscle load is measured on the forearms of the upper limbs (flexor, extensor). The only legally approved device is the EMG Holter from Geta. The review of scientific articles focused mainly on the issue of norming, with a detailed focus on the MOST method (Maynard Operation Sequence Technique) and its connection with ergonomics. Subsequently, the field of integrated electromyography was explored, especially the measurement of local muscle loading on the upper forearm. Due to the very small sample of papers found on the topic of the link between the MOST method and ergonomics in general, it was found that a very small number of authors had dedicated their research to this topic. However, the models found did not include a link to any norming method focusing on local muscle loading. The aim of this thesis is Identification of the relationship between local muscle loading and the pre-set time method. Within this thesis, I will discuss the MOST (Maynard Operation Sequence Technique) or the method of analysing movement patterns. In order to understand the aforementioned link, it is necessary to create a database of at-risk movements and relate these movements to the MOST method.
Pavel Vránek, Michal Šimon, Filip Rybnikár, Ilona Kačerová
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Adaptation Patterns to Cope with Burn Mass Casualty Incidents
Understanding and learning from hospitals’ resilient behavior or adequate responses to beyond-surge capacity incidents to be better prepare staff for offering patients the appropriate, timely care is imperative. The study adopted the previous findings from the Formosa-Fun-Coast-Dust-Explosion studies as the base of data analysis. We synthesized the past discoveries and identified nine adaptation patterns. The results systematically organized how two initial receiving hospitals’ responsive adaptations changed over time to cope with the difficulties in the emergency departments in the aftermath of the mass burn casualty incidents. The benefit of the pattern approach can in-crease the efficiency and effectiveness of the learning process.
Sheuwen Chuang, David D Woods, Sen-Kuang Hou
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings