Human reliability analysis in a manufacturing plant

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Homework #2: Project Proposal

Students will develop an individual project that employs tools and techniques learned in the course.

This may include the modification of an existing HRA method or the development of a new HRA

method applied to a chosen domain problem. Students are not expected to collect or analyze data,

but will be required to detail a HRA data collection and analysis plan and suggest implementation

strategies, similar to the structure of a funding proposal for an exploratory project. Any topic can

be chosen, as long as the existence of human reliability issues can be cited.

The project proposal, which is due at the beginning of the course, is not expected to have details

related to the application of HRA tools and techniques that will be learned later in the course.

However, the student is expected to discuss a human error issue that negatively impacts human

health, safety, and/or performance in a particular domain and has not yet been appropriately

addressed.

The project idea is expected to mature and develop over the course of the semester with some later

modifications to account for knowledge gained through lectures, reading, and discussions. This

will allow students to receive feedback on their proposed topic as the course progresses.

The 1000 word proposal should include the following five items. Please include section sub-

headers for each item.

1. Problem Statement – what is the human error and why is it important?

o A problem can be defined as important if it has a measurable impact on a critical

outcome (financial, health and well-being, performance, etc.). Justify the problem

importance and its relevance to human error.

o Provide at least two sources with citations to justify problem importance (newspaper

articles, journal papers, documented initiatives, industry white papers, government

documents, verbal or written statements by key stakeholders, etc.). The sources must

include a statistic and/or a subjective statement of importance.

o Provide a two-sentence concise summary of your problem statement. Please note that

the required justification is separate from the two-sentence summary.

 Example Template: Humans fail to [problem] resulting in [important human

error outcome]. The criticality of this problem has been verified by [source]

through [specific qualitative/quantitative source content].

2. Why hasn’t someone found a solution previously?

o Discuss challenges and any prior attempts (not necessarily HRAs) to address the

problem.

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3. Focus– what is the problem focus?

o Select one interaction category or a hybrid of two categories and justify the relevance

to the problem statement.

 REQUIRED: Human-Human, Human-Group, Human-Organization, Human-

Artifact.

o Select one human theoretical category or a hybrid of two categories and justify the

relevance to the problem statement

 REQUIRED - Select only one level of cognition as the foundation for your

human process: Low level cognition (memory, sensory processing, etc.); High

level cognition (decision making and problem solving).

 OPTIONAL – Interaction of cognitive level (low/high) with other theoretical

categories may be appropriate for the selected problem focus, although this is

not required: Sociological (relevant for simple human interactions, excluding

human-artifact); Organizational (relevant for more complex sociological

structures, human-org interaction).

o Provide at least two sources with citations to justify the connection of the problem focus

(interaction category and human theoretical category) presented in #3 to the problem

statement presented in #1. Examples of sources include newspaper articles, journal

papers, documented initiatives, industry white papers, government documents, verbal

or written statements by key stakeholders. The sources must include a statistic and/or

a subjective statement of relevance.

o Provide a two-sentence concise summary of your problem focus. Please note that the

required justification is separate from the two-sentence summary.

 Example Template: The problem focus is a [category] interaction between

[stakeholders and/or processes and/or components], driven by [human

theoretical category], resulting in [human error outcome defined in #1]. The

existence and criticality of the problem focus has been verified by [source]

through [specific qualitative/quantitative source content referencing problem

focus]

o Note: Individual theories are not required to be listed here. Theories will be addressed

in Homework 3.

o Note: The two sources required for #1 and #3 can be the same. However, they must

independently address the justification of the problem statement and problem focus.

4. Project Goals (high level discussion) – what do you hope to gain from this HRA?

o How will the analysis potentially help to address the identified problem focus?

5. What sources of information will you use for your project (be specific)?

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o List and justify the use of at least two sources (stakeholders and/or data) that will be

used to detail the processes associated with this human error. The sources must be

specific to the focus identified in #3 (human interaction and human theories). For

example, if your problem is focused on decision making (high level cognition) in a

team environment (human-group interaction), then you need sources (stakeholder

interviews, team protocols, meeting notes, etc.) to detail the specific decisions that are

required in this context and the decision criterion (input).

 Source examples include instructions manuals, protocols, flowcharts,

organizational charts, guidelines, and any other documentation of the process.

Provide citations.

 Include justification for the relevance of data and/or stakeholder sources to the

focus identified in #3.

 Include titles, organizational affiliation, and any other relevant information for

stakeholders who will be utilized for the project.

o Describe how you will access and utilize the selected sources.

o Note: The data and stakeholder sources can overlap with the sources identified in #1

and #3 if the requirements for #5 are independently addressed by the source.

o Note: You may use yourself as one of the sources if you have direct knowledge of a

process or component that is not publically documented. However, you cannot be listed

as a primary source to satisfy the aforementioned two source minimum requirement.

You many only use yourself as a supplemental source. Non-publically documented

sources are only relevant for topics that involve confidential information or the use of

internal resources from an organization.