Human performance investigation process

Paradies, M., Unger, L., Ramey-Smith, A. (1992). Development and TesHng of the NRC s Human Performance Investigation Process (HPIP). In Proceedings of the International Conference on Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis, Human Factors and Human Reliability in Process Safety, New York American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Center for Chemical Process Safety. Pp. 253-260. 

NUREG/CR-5455, "Development of the human performance investigation process (HPIP)." NUREG-1545, Draft, "Communications corrective action plans Review Criteria."... 

The investigator then follows the Human Performance Difficulty category through a series of questions (or subcategories). These questions help the investigator identify which of several human performance related branches (sometimes known as basic causes) to investigate further. (Some predefined trees use statements rather than questions, but the selection process is similar.)... 

The talk-through technique, often used by human reliability analysts, has particular application for learning more about specihc tasks or occurrences. It is a method in which an operator describes the actions required in a task, explains why he or she is doing each action, and explains the associated mental processes. There is a normal protocol for how to organize the talk-through. When the procedures call for the manipulation of a specific control or for the monitoring of a specific set of displays, the operator and the investigator approach them at the control panels, and the operator points out the controls and displays in question. If the performance is simulated, the operator touches the manual controls that would be operated and describes the control action required. The operator ... 

Commercial and public transportation heavily relies on human operators. There is growing evidence that sleep loss may play a large role in transportation accidents. A committee formed at the 1986 meeting of the Association of Professional Sleep Societies found that numerous performance failures leading to catastrophic events occur most often at times of day coincident with the temporal patterns of brain processes associated with sleep (3). In addition, an investigation in the Netherlands showed that the highest accident rate in public transit accidents occurred in bus drivers who began an early work shift (4). An assessment of the impact of sleep loss in commercial and public transportation is therefore needed. 

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