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2008 Apr 02
A new approach for assessing and mitigating the vulnerability of engineered systems to failure from the actions or inactions of humans has been developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The method is based on examining the factors that cause system configuration and performance variability, identifying when a system is intolerant of variability, and assessing potential consequences. The method is called the Organic Model in recognition of the characteristic that engineered systems change throughout their operational life.
2008 Jan 29
John Maeda of the MIT Media Lab has outlined ten principles for achieving simplicity in technological systems. The three principles of reduction, organization, and efficiency form the foundation on which seven other principles and three keys are layered. The book is titled 'The Laws of Simplicity'. An informative read.
2007 Dec 29
Ongoing analysis of general aviation accidents in the United States by the Air Safety Foundation indicates that pilot error continues to account for 80% of accidents involving fatalities. Poor decision-making with respect to maneuvering flight, operations in marginal weather, takeoffs, landing approaches, and fuel planning are the areas of decision-making deficiency most frequently cited.
2007 Oct 16
Papers are being solicited for the Control Room/Operations session of the 2008 Canadian Nuclear Society conference scheduled for June 1-4 in Toronto. The objective of this conference session is to provide a Canadian forum for discussion of topics concerning issues and improvements in control room operations. For information on session participation, contact us at Crew Systems Solutions or see the CNS website for overall conference planning details.
2007 May 14
Recent neuroscience research at MIT has found that two different areas in the brain control the functions of willful task focus and distraction. These two functions continually compete for limited attentional resources. This may begin to explain why people can still be distracted even when willfully trying to focus on a specific task.
2007 Mar 09
A three year study of general aviation pilots has demonstrated that older pilots perform better than younger pilots on flight simulator tests. Researchers have concluded that expert knowledge and experience can offset the impact of old age on skilled cognitive performance. The study findings have broader implications beyond aviation to the general issue of assessment of cognitive performance and competency in older workers. The study findings are published in the 2007 February 27 issue of Neurology.
2007 Jan 20
Ten papers and a discussion panel have been accepted for the Control Room Operations sessions at the 2007 Canadian Nuclear Society Conference scheduled for June 3 to 6 in Saint John. The topics this year span fatigue management, workplace workarounds, training innovations, control room interface changes and refurbishments, and analytical techniques. See the CNS website for further details.
2006 Nov 28
A study of 29,000 workers in the United States found one third routinely experiencing low levels of energy, poor sleep, and fatigue. Two thirds of this group reported health-related lost productive time. Fatigue was found to be more common in women than men, in workers younger than 50, and in workers with senior decision-making responsibilities. The study findings will be published in the 2007 January issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
2006 Sep 19
A University of Utah study has demonstrated that the relative risk of being in a traffic accident while driving and using a cell phone is equivalent to the risk of driving with a blood alcohol level at the legal limit. The study findings are reported in the 2006 summer issue of the Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
2006 Jul 06
The Federal Aviation Authority in the United States has created and is promoting usage of a personal risk assessment checklist by pilots. The checklist, called IMSAFE, is based on self-examination of the potential negative impacts on fitness for flight of six personal aspects: Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, and Emotion.
2006 May 23
Twelve papers have been accepted for the Control Room Operations sessions at the 2006 Canadian Nuclear Society Conference scheduled for June 11 to 14 in Toronto. This years paper topics span leadership, teamwork, learning and human error, information and display design, design principles and methods, and lessons learned in regulatory experience. See the CNS website for further details.
2006 Apr 19
A Canadian developed tool for collecting, organizing, analyzing and reporting task analysis information has become commercially available. The tool, called TaskArchitect, can be readily adapted to a number of uses. For further information, see the product website - www.taskarchitect.com.
2006 Feb 27
The Professional Reactor Operator Society (PROS) is holding their annual meeting 2006 June 26-29 in St. Louis, Missouri. PROS works to communicate and promote the knowledge and professional values of nuclear plant operators and offers constructive input to the US regulatory process on issues related to operators.
2006 Jan 08
On Intelligence, is a book by Jeff Hawkins that outlines a new theory of human intelligence. Hawkins, one of the original developers of the Palm Pilot, believes that human intelligence is based on the memory storage, recall, and prediction capabilities of the brain. With this new theory he outlines how intelligent machines may finally be constructed that will be capable of exceeding human capabilities in useful ways. For a brief introduction to his ideas see his website at www.onintelligence.org.
2005 Nov 12
Papers are being solicited for the Control Room/Operations session of the 2006 Canadian Nuclear Society conference scheduled for June 11-14 in Toronto. The objective of this conference session is to provide a Canadian forum for discussion of topics concerning issues and improvements in control room operations. For information on session participation, contact us at Crew Systems Solutions or see the CNS website for overall conference planning details.
2005 Oct 18
An international workshop on 'Future Control Station Designs and Human Performance Issues in Nuclear Power Plants' is being organized by the OECD Halden Reactor Project for 2006 May 8-10. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss human and organizational issues and solutions associated with control room modernization in current plants and the adoption of new operational concepts associated with new reactor designs. For further information, see the conference website.
2005 Sep 26
Canada has agreed to resume the supply of nuclear materials and assistance to India after a 30-year suspension of nuclear co-operation. Canada had stopped providing nuclear assistance after India conducted its first nuclear weapons test. The agreement opens the door to Canadian co-operation with the second largest CANDU program in the world.
2005 Jul 15
Operator fatigue and time-of-day induced variations in cognitive effectiveness can lead to lapses in attention, and impairments in reasoning and decision-making. The presence of these conditions can increase the risk of decreased human performance or error. A tool for fatigue assessment and management (i.e., FAST) is available from Science Applications International to assist with work and shift planning. The tool can be used in a proactive manner to predict periods of assigned work where cognitive performance may be reduced or in a retrospective manner for analysis of fatigue related factors that may have contributed to a work related incidents.
2005 May 05
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company (KHNP) has announced plans to begin exporting nuclear plants overseas. Both the 1000 MWe Korean Standard Plant and APR1400 designs are to be offered for foreign deployment. Korean currently ranks sixth in terms of nuclear electricity production in the world.
2005 Mar 10
The Electric Power Research Institute has develop updated human factors guidance to help plant operators and equipment suppliers plan and implement changes to control rooms and equipment interfaces that address obsolescence issues and the need for new capabilities. The guidance consists of a set of 31 guidelines and the technical bases for them. More information on this guidance (i.e., Technical report 1008122) can be found at www.epri.com.
2005 Jan 12
Papers are being solicited for the Control Room/Operations session of the 2005 Canadian Nuclear Society conference scheduled for June 12-15 in Toronto. The objective of this conference session is to provide a Canadian forum for discussion of topics concerning issues and improvements in control room operations. For information on session participation, contact us at Crew Systems Solutions or see the CNS website - www-cns-snc.ca for overall conference planning details.
2004 Nov 30
'Let a Thousand Reactors Bloom' is a Wired magazine article about the China's indigenous nuclear plans for development and deployment of pebble-bed reactors. Program plans call for a standard unit size of 200 MW with the heat output used for both electricity generation and possibly hydrogen production via thermochemical water splitting. The full article can be found in the 2004 September issue in the Wired archives at www.wired.com.
2004 Sep 15
'The Humane Interface - New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems', is a book by Jef Raskin one of the original members of the MacIntosh computer design team. Raskin believes that many of the current interface paradigms are dead ends, and that making computers significantly easier to use and more effective requires new approaches. For a brief introduction to his ideas see his website at www.jefraskin.com.
2004 Jul 23
Papers are being solicited for conference presentation concerning the application of human factors to decommissioning projects. The papers will be presented at the 2005 Canadian Nuclear Society conference on Waste Management, Decommissioning, and Environmental Restoration on 2005 May 08 to 11 in Ottawa. For information on paper submission, contact us at Crew Systems Solutions or see the CNS website for overall conference planning details.
2004 May 14
Seventeen papers have been accepted for the three Control Room Operations sessions at the 2004 Canadian Nuclear Society Conference scheduled for June 07 to 09 in Toronto. This years paper topics span topics concerning control room information systems, monitoring, human error, training, validation, an mid-life systems assessments. See the CNS website for further details.
2004 Mar 04
The effects of interface management tasks on crew performance and safety in nuclear power plants has been reviewed in a recent US NRC study. The study found interface management tasks can create barriers between operators and important primary task information in two ways. Firstly, time consuming interface management tasks divert time from primary task performance; and secondly, under high workload, operators minimize interface management tasks often failing to retrieve relevant primary task information. The report reference is NUREG/CR-6690.
2004 Jan 02
Papers are being solicited for the Control Room/Operations session of the 2004 Canadian Nuclear Society conference scheduled for June 6-9 in Toronto. The objective of this conference session is to provide a Canadian forum for discussion of topics concerning issues and improvements in control room operations. For information on session participation, contact us at Crew Systems Solutions or see the CNS website for overall conference planning details.
2003 Dec 06
A conference on Human Performance, Situation Awareness, and Automation Technology will be held 2004 March 22-25 in Daytona Beach, Florida. The conference will share experience concerning human work with automated systems from the perspective of several work domains. Further information can be found at the conference website.
2003 Nov 04
'The Human Factor', a book by Kim Vicente of the University of Toronto, advocates the need for technology that is purposely designed to work for people. The book discusses usage problems with technology in several domains, and offers guidance on how to design equipment so that it will be more supportive of human usage needs.
2003 Sep 17
The merits and limitations of using PowerPoint as a visual tool in human communication is discussed in debate form in the 2004 September issue of Wired magazine. The complete article is available at the Wired magazine website.
2003 May 10
The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the use of non-safety distributed control system operator workstations for control of both safety and non-safety components for all phases of plant operation. This approval allows designers to employ a uniform workstation interface for all plant controls, allowing further simplification of the organization of control room resources to support operator tasks.
2003 Mar 15
Recent studies by the Abnormal Situation Management Consortium, a process control industry working group, have demonstrated that re-engineering of legacy alarm systems can offer substantial benefit in reducing the recurring costs associated with industrial upsets. Estimates show the financial benefit realized from alarm system improvement is 5 to 8% of the value of process throughput. This represents a cost savings of $8 million annually for a typical refinery.
2002 Dec 23
Papers are being solicited for the Control Room Operations session of the 2003 Canadian Nuclear Society conference scheduled for June 8-11 in Toronto. The objective of this conference session is to provide a Canadian forum for discussion of topics concerning issues and improvements in control room operations. For information on session participation, contact us at Crew Systems Solutions or see the CNS website for overall conference planning details.
2002 Sep 25
Why do tools that look and feel good seem to work better? Recent work by several authors has been examining the role of product aesthetics in relation to functionality and usability in determining user task performance. Researchers have found that how a tool looks and feels influences how we feel, and in turn our feeling about the tool can substantially influence how we use the tool to perform tasks and solve problems. For further information, see the article by Norman in Interactions, Summer 2002 issue.
2002 Jul 17
Complexity analysis has been proposed as an effective tool for determining the acceptability of the demands placed on individuals in performing system tasks. Complexity results from the interaction of system, interface, task, and workplace factors, as system tasks are performed. Characteristics that lead to high system complexity and consequent excessive demands on task performers can be readily identified through criteria checklists. For further information, see the article by Meister in Ergonomics in Design, Spring 2002 issue.
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