Eva Simonsen | Chalmers University of Technology (original) (raw)
Papers by Eva Simonsen
International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
Safe operation is a central objective for nuclear power plants that must be supported by the enti... more Safe operation is a central objective for nuclear power plants that must be supported by the entity managing the operation, the control room system. Safe operation is dependent on how technology is used, so it is important to take human factors issues into consideration. During design or modification of the control room system, its ability to support safe operation must be assessed to ensure that safety-critical discrepancies are eliminated before implementation. Methods are a necessary tool in human factors evaluation, and there are many to choose from. One prerequisite for evaluation is knowing what to evaluate, and this knowledge determines which methods are most suitable. The purpose of this paper is to identify categories of measures that can guide the choice of evaluation methods for assessing nuclear power plant control room systems. Measures targeted by human factors evaluation methods were compared with aspects that contribute to safe operation and measures proposed and used by other researchers. The conclusion of this paper is that measures targeted by human factors evaluation methods can be grouped into six categories: system performance, task performance, teamwork, use of resources, user experience, and identification of design discrepancies. These six categories can guide the choice of human factors evaluation methods to assess socio-technical systems. Methods providing data from all six categories of measures are needed to fully assess a nuclear power plant control room system.
Enlarged Halden Programme Group Meeting - Proceedings of the Man-Technology-Organisation (MTO) Sessions, 2013
There is an on-going process of modernisation of Swedish nuclear power plants, and also new plant... more There is an on-going process of modernisation of Swedish nuclear power plants, and also new plants are being built around the world. When control rooms are modified it is highly significant to maintain safe operation of the plant. Therefore it is important to evaluate the control room from a human factors perspective. The purpose of this study was to provide input to assess the suitability of present human factors methods to evaluate if future Swedish nuclear control rooms support safe operation. The aim was to suggest requirements that human factors evaluation methods must fulfill to be useful in this matter. The requirements were based on presumptive usability problems important to attend to, which were found from an interview study regarding future control room changes with seven professionals from the Swedish nuclear business. The resulting requirements on human factors evaluation methods found were: an ability to evaluate cooperation within the shift team, operator workload and the design and use of digital operating procedures; an ability to identify usability problems that may lower operator situation awareness, inconsistencies between operator interfaces, work tasks that create extreme levels in mental workload, inefficient and/or conflicting work tasks, information and control devices necessary for various work tasks and users, usability problems connected automation, and inconsistencies between the operators’ mental model of the system and the system itself. To conclude, the requirements set on human factors methods for evaluation of safety in control rooms can be used to assess if existing human factors evaluation methods are appropriate. This in turn will give input to study if and how the existing methods can be improved.
6th Resilience Engineering Association Symposium, 2015
A nuclear power plant is a socio-technical system where safety issues are of greatest importance ... more A nuclear power plant is a socio-technical system where safety issues are of greatest importance when designing the control room system. Resilience deals with safety in socio-technical systems and for resilient performance to be possible systems must be able to respond, monitor, learn and anticipate (the four cornerstones of resilience). The aim of this study was to explore how different aspects of the nuclear power plant control room system can be connected to the four abilities of resilient performance. A semi-structured interview study was made with 14 professionals working with operation or design of nuclear power plant control rooms. Five themes; situations, functions, tasks, characteristics, and structural elements were used to analyse their answers. The results showed how the themes functions, structural elements, and characteristics had the potential to describe the nature of concrete aspects of control room system design and connect them to the four basic resilient abilities. The results can be used to create design guidelines for development of control room systems. However, further input is needed, especially on how functions as well as structural elements and their characteristics may be used to affect the abilities to anticipate and to learn.
NES 2017 Conference "Joy at work", 2017
Many design decisions must be made and repeatedly evaluated during the development process to for... more Many design decisions must be made and repeatedly evaluated during the development process to form a nuclear power plant control room system that supports safe operation. The purpose of this paper is to compare utilised approaches to evaluate nuclear power plant control room systems and explore how they relate to design decisions at different levels of specificity. The method used was a review of academic literature. The result showed that evaluation of more specific design decisions is largely addressed. However, there is a need to further develop methodologies and methods for formative evaluation of more general design decisions to support assessment earlier in the development process.
Ergonomics and human factors (E/HF) has an important role throughout the whole product developmen... more Ergonomics and human factors (E/HF) has an important role throughout the whole product development process, but the scope and content of E/HF work differs depending on the phase of the project. The aim of this paper is to describe ergonomics activities in the product development process, with special focus on the purpose of ergonomics activities in different parts of the process. As a base for the description the ACD³-framework is used.
Procedia Manufacturing, 2015
During the design process of a product, a variety of design variables are gradually determined – ... more During the design process of a product, a variety of design variables are gradually determined – this happens either intentionally when design decisions are made, or unintentionally when design variables are determined by limitations brought about by circumstances. At the same time, product development in teams complicates the design process if the interdependencies of design decisions are not transparent. If decisions are made at the wrong time, or not at all, the design may not end up being coherent with the product's overall purpose, which negatively impacts the final result of the development. To address this problem, the present paper presents the ACD³-framework, a newly developed product development mapping tool that visualizes where design decisions can be coherently made through a clear structure, while allowing flexibility so as not to inhibit a design organization's innovation and creativity. To map the interrelationship between several design aspects at once, the framework is made up of three dimensions of design (the D³ in ACD³): levels, perspectives and activities. The three dimensions provide a systemic and systematic framework that organises design work at different abstraction levels within a common structure. From this foundation, two coherent models that together make up the framework are derived: the ACD³-matrix and the ACD³-process. These models are useful for planning and carrying out the right activities, at the right level in the organization, at the right stage of the development work.
Thesis Chapters by Eva Simonsen
The design of the nuclear power plant (NPP) control room system affects the operation of the plan... more The design of the nuclear power plant (NPP) control room system affects the operation of the plant it controls, as well as the well-being of its operators. One important activity in control room system development is Human Factors (HF) evaluation. Previous research indicates that HF evaluation practice for NPP control room systems can be improved. For example, there is a need for methods that are flexible and simple to use. In order to advance evaluation practices as part of the development process the purpose of this thesis was to increase understanding of HF evaluation of NPP control room systems. The main object of study was the evaluation activity. The first research question concerned the aspects that need to be assessed so as to be able to evaluate the control room system’s ability to fulfil its intended purpose. The second research question asked if, and how, HF evaluation can better support control room system development. The methods used were two literature studies and empirical studies in the form of an interview study, three case studies, and three focus groups.
In response to the first research question, the interview study investigated those aspects of the NPP control room system that contribute to safe operation. In the first literature study these aspects were used together with aspects found in other studies to identify categories of measures relevant for assessing NPP control room systems. The identified categories – system performance, task performance, use of resources, user experience, and identification of design discrepancies – complement each other and should all be included in control room system evaluation during the course of the development process. In response to the second research question, the second literature study identified a gap in today’s evaluation practice and the research efforts focused on formative evaluation of more general (higher-level) design decisions, preferably undertaken early in the development process. A combination of two methods, heuristic evaluation and scenario-based talkthrough, was used in the case studies and focus groups to explore the evaluation activity in practice. This method combination was found to be useful for formative assessment of higher-level design decisions in NPP control room systems. In addition, HF specialists from other domains who participated in the focus groups believed that the method combination would be useful outside the nuclear power domain too. A description of the method combination is included in the thesis to provide concrete guidance for HF practitioners. The experiences from the case studies were also used to identify guidelines for developing HF evaluation methods that are useful in practice.
From the knowledge gained through exploration of the research questions five perspectives that provide decision support in HF evaluation planning and method development emerged: 1) the purpose of the evaluation activity, 2) the object to be evaluated, 3) the tactic used in the evaluation activity, 4) the evaluation procedure, and 5) the use of the evaluation method. Individual results from the studies, such as the categories of measures and guidelines for developing methods that are useful in practice, can be used as more detailed support within these perspectives.
Safe operation is a central objective for high-risk industries such as nuclear power plants. Oper... more Safe operation is a central objective for high-risk industries such as nuclear power plants. Operation of the plant is managed from a central control room, which is a complex socio-technical system of physical and organisational structures such as operators, procedures, routines, and operator interfaces. When control room systems are built or modified it is of great importance that the new design supports safe operation, something that must be evaluated during the development process. Summative evaluations at the end of the development process are common in the nuclear power domain, whereas formative evaluations early in the process are not as customary. The purpose of this licentiate thesis was to identify demands on evaluation methods for them to be suitable for early assessment of the control room system’s ability to support safe operation. The research consisted of two parts: to explore evaluation measures relevant for nuclear power plant control room systems, and to identify requirements on evaluation methods for them to be useful in early stages of the development process. To explore the issue of evaluation measures two interview studies were performed with various professionals within the nuclear power domain. The purpose of the first study was to investigate aspects contributing to safe operation, while the second study sought to identify design trends in future control room systems and their potential usability problems. To complement these empirical studies, other researchers’ choices of measures for control room system evaluations were analysed. The results showed that a combination of measures from six categories is necessary to fully access the control room system: system performance, task performance, teamwork, use of resources, user experience, and identification of design discrepancies. In addition, the resilience engineering perspective should be considered in control room system evaluations in order to assess the ability to handle unanticipated events. Requirements on evaluation methods were investigated through analysis of characteristics of early product development phases. The result was that system representations in these phases are more conceptual, and that using these representations to perform tasks differs in some aspects from use of the final system. Empirical methods that directly study user interaction with the control room system are therefore less suitable for early evaluations. Analytical methods that study use indirectly are a better choice. An additional identified requirement is that if methods are to be utilised in industry, practitioners must find them useful in practice. To conclude, further work is needed to identify useful analytical evaluation methods that can assess measures from the six categories. Suitable methods for early assessment of the capacity for resilient behaviour is another topic that needs further exploration.
Keywords: control room, nuclear power, evaluation methods, human factors engineering, safe operation, early development, resilience engineering
International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
Safe operation is a central objective for nuclear power plants that must be supported by the enti... more Safe operation is a central objective for nuclear power plants that must be supported by the entity managing the operation, the control room system. Safe operation is dependent on how technology is used, so it is important to take human factors issues into consideration. During design or modification of the control room system, its ability to support safe operation must be assessed to ensure that safety-critical discrepancies are eliminated before implementation. Methods are a necessary tool in human factors evaluation, and there are many to choose from. One prerequisite for evaluation is knowing what to evaluate, and this knowledge determines which methods are most suitable. The purpose of this paper is to identify categories of measures that can guide the choice of evaluation methods for assessing nuclear power plant control room systems. Measures targeted by human factors evaluation methods were compared with aspects that contribute to safe operation and measures proposed and used by other researchers. The conclusion of this paper is that measures targeted by human factors evaluation methods can be grouped into six categories: system performance, task performance, teamwork, use of resources, user experience, and identification of design discrepancies. These six categories can guide the choice of human factors evaluation methods to assess socio-technical systems. Methods providing data from all six categories of measures are needed to fully assess a nuclear power plant control room system.
Enlarged Halden Programme Group Meeting - Proceedings of the Man-Technology-Organisation (MTO) Sessions, 2013
There is an on-going process of modernisation of Swedish nuclear power plants, and also new plant... more There is an on-going process of modernisation of Swedish nuclear power plants, and also new plants are being built around the world. When control rooms are modified it is highly significant to maintain safe operation of the plant. Therefore it is important to evaluate the control room from a human factors perspective. The purpose of this study was to provide input to assess the suitability of present human factors methods to evaluate if future Swedish nuclear control rooms support safe operation. The aim was to suggest requirements that human factors evaluation methods must fulfill to be useful in this matter. The requirements were based on presumptive usability problems important to attend to, which were found from an interview study regarding future control room changes with seven professionals from the Swedish nuclear business. The resulting requirements on human factors evaluation methods found were: an ability to evaluate cooperation within the shift team, operator workload and the design and use of digital operating procedures; an ability to identify usability problems that may lower operator situation awareness, inconsistencies between operator interfaces, work tasks that create extreme levels in mental workload, inefficient and/or conflicting work tasks, information and control devices necessary for various work tasks and users, usability problems connected automation, and inconsistencies between the operators’ mental model of the system and the system itself. To conclude, the requirements set on human factors methods for evaluation of safety in control rooms can be used to assess if existing human factors evaluation methods are appropriate. This in turn will give input to study if and how the existing methods can be improved.
6th Resilience Engineering Association Symposium, 2015
A nuclear power plant is a socio-technical system where safety issues are of greatest importance ... more A nuclear power plant is a socio-technical system where safety issues are of greatest importance when designing the control room system. Resilience deals with safety in socio-technical systems and for resilient performance to be possible systems must be able to respond, monitor, learn and anticipate (the four cornerstones of resilience). The aim of this study was to explore how different aspects of the nuclear power plant control room system can be connected to the four abilities of resilient performance. A semi-structured interview study was made with 14 professionals working with operation or design of nuclear power plant control rooms. Five themes; situations, functions, tasks, characteristics, and structural elements were used to analyse their answers. The results showed how the themes functions, structural elements, and characteristics had the potential to describe the nature of concrete aspects of control room system design and connect them to the four basic resilient abilities. The results can be used to create design guidelines for development of control room systems. However, further input is needed, especially on how functions as well as structural elements and their characteristics may be used to affect the abilities to anticipate and to learn.
NES 2017 Conference "Joy at work", 2017
Many design decisions must be made and repeatedly evaluated during the development process to for... more Many design decisions must be made and repeatedly evaluated during the development process to form a nuclear power plant control room system that supports safe operation. The purpose of this paper is to compare utilised approaches to evaluate nuclear power plant control room systems and explore how they relate to design decisions at different levels of specificity. The method used was a review of academic literature. The result showed that evaluation of more specific design decisions is largely addressed. However, there is a need to further develop methodologies and methods for formative evaluation of more general design decisions to support assessment earlier in the development process.
Ergonomics and human factors (E/HF) has an important role throughout the whole product developmen... more Ergonomics and human factors (E/HF) has an important role throughout the whole product development process, but the scope and content of E/HF work differs depending on the phase of the project. The aim of this paper is to describe ergonomics activities in the product development process, with special focus on the purpose of ergonomics activities in different parts of the process. As a base for the description the ACD³-framework is used.
Procedia Manufacturing, 2015
During the design process of a product, a variety of design variables are gradually determined – ... more During the design process of a product, a variety of design variables are gradually determined – this happens either intentionally when design decisions are made, or unintentionally when design variables are determined by limitations brought about by circumstances. At the same time, product development in teams complicates the design process if the interdependencies of design decisions are not transparent. If decisions are made at the wrong time, or not at all, the design may not end up being coherent with the product's overall purpose, which negatively impacts the final result of the development. To address this problem, the present paper presents the ACD³-framework, a newly developed product development mapping tool that visualizes where design decisions can be coherently made through a clear structure, while allowing flexibility so as not to inhibit a design organization's innovation and creativity. To map the interrelationship between several design aspects at once, the framework is made up of three dimensions of design (the D³ in ACD³): levels, perspectives and activities. The three dimensions provide a systemic and systematic framework that organises design work at different abstraction levels within a common structure. From this foundation, two coherent models that together make up the framework are derived: the ACD³-matrix and the ACD³-process. These models are useful for planning and carrying out the right activities, at the right level in the organization, at the right stage of the development work.
The design of the nuclear power plant (NPP) control room system affects the operation of the plan... more The design of the nuclear power plant (NPP) control room system affects the operation of the plant it controls, as well as the well-being of its operators. One important activity in control room system development is Human Factors (HF) evaluation. Previous research indicates that HF evaluation practice for NPP control room systems can be improved. For example, there is a need for methods that are flexible and simple to use. In order to advance evaluation practices as part of the development process the purpose of this thesis was to increase understanding of HF evaluation of NPP control room systems. The main object of study was the evaluation activity. The first research question concerned the aspects that need to be assessed so as to be able to evaluate the control room system’s ability to fulfil its intended purpose. The second research question asked if, and how, HF evaluation can better support control room system development. The methods used were two literature studies and empirical studies in the form of an interview study, three case studies, and three focus groups.
In response to the first research question, the interview study investigated those aspects of the NPP control room system that contribute to safe operation. In the first literature study these aspects were used together with aspects found in other studies to identify categories of measures relevant for assessing NPP control room systems. The identified categories – system performance, task performance, use of resources, user experience, and identification of design discrepancies – complement each other and should all be included in control room system evaluation during the course of the development process. In response to the second research question, the second literature study identified a gap in today’s evaluation practice and the research efforts focused on formative evaluation of more general (higher-level) design decisions, preferably undertaken early in the development process. A combination of two methods, heuristic evaluation and scenario-based talkthrough, was used in the case studies and focus groups to explore the evaluation activity in practice. This method combination was found to be useful for formative assessment of higher-level design decisions in NPP control room systems. In addition, HF specialists from other domains who participated in the focus groups believed that the method combination would be useful outside the nuclear power domain too. A description of the method combination is included in the thesis to provide concrete guidance for HF practitioners. The experiences from the case studies were also used to identify guidelines for developing HF evaluation methods that are useful in practice.
From the knowledge gained through exploration of the research questions five perspectives that provide decision support in HF evaluation planning and method development emerged: 1) the purpose of the evaluation activity, 2) the object to be evaluated, 3) the tactic used in the evaluation activity, 4) the evaluation procedure, and 5) the use of the evaluation method. Individual results from the studies, such as the categories of measures and guidelines for developing methods that are useful in practice, can be used as more detailed support within these perspectives.
Safe operation is a central objective for high-risk industries such as nuclear power plants. Oper... more Safe operation is a central objective for high-risk industries such as nuclear power plants. Operation of the plant is managed from a central control room, which is a complex socio-technical system of physical and organisational structures such as operators, procedures, routines, and operator interfaces. When control room systems are built or modified it is of great importance that the new design supports safe operation, something that must be evaluated during the development process. Summative evaluations at the end of the development process are common in the nuclear power domain, whereas formative evaluations early in the process are not as customary. The purpose of this licentiate thesis was to identify demands on evaluation methods for them to be suitable for early assessment of the control room system’s ability to support safe operation. The research consisted of two parts: to explore evaluation measures relevant for nuclear power plant control room systems, and to identify requirements on evaluation methods for them to be useful in early stages of the development process. To explore the issue of evaluation measures two interview studies were performed with various professionals within the nuclear power domain. The purpose of the first study was to investigate aspects contributing to safe operation, while the second study sought to identify design trends in future control room systems and their potential usability problems. To complement these empirical studies, other researchers’ choices of measures for control room system evaluations were analysed. The results showed that a combination of measures from six categories is necessary to fully access the control room system: system performance, task performance, teamwork, use of resources, user experience, and identification of design discrepancies. In addition, the resilience engineering perspective should be considered in control room system evaluations in order to assess the ability to handle unanticipated events. Requirements on evaluation methods were investigated through analysis of characteristics of early product development phases. The result was that system representations in these phases are more conceptual, and that using these representations to perform tasks differs in some aspects from use of the final system. Empirical methods that directly study user interaction with the control room system are therefore less suitable for early evaluations. Analytical methods that study use indirectly are a better choice. An additional identified requirement is that if methods are to be utilised in industry, practitioners must find them useful in practice. To conclude, further work is needed to identify useful analytical evaluation methods that can assess measures from the six categories. Suitable methods for early assessment of the capacity for resilient behaviour is another topic that needs further exploration.
Keywords: control room, nuclear power, evaluation methods, human factors engineering, safe operation, early development, resilience engineering