Citation

Mackieh A, Cilingir C. Int. J. Ind. Ergonomics 1998; 22(4-5): 285-292.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of an experimental study, conducted for the purpose of examining the effects of some personal and environmental factors on the errors made by nuclear reactor operators. A computer simulation of the control board, of a 10 kW university training nuclear reactor (UTR-10), was used to test the performance shaping factors (PSFs) affecting the errors of the operators. One hundred and twenty subjects participated in the experiments. Effects of; motor variables, decision-making mechanism, complexity of information presented, intelligence levels and emotional states of subjects on the errors committed by the operators were analyzed.Relevance to industryThe human error is a potent and frequent source of accidents and failures in complex technological systems. The present study aims to identify latent factors which are likely to effect operator's performance. The PSFs identified in this study, can easily be cause of some failures in other complex industrial systems. Therefore, the results presented in this paper could guide job designers in other industries.