338 research outputs found
A note from the editors
No full textThe first three papers in this issue are based on a symposium entitled “Rasmussen Revisited 3—Human Factors, Accidents and Error” held at a joint conference in Banff in 2017, organised by the Association of Canadian Ergonomists and by the Organizational Design and Management (ODAM) committee of the International Ergonomics Association. In the words of Patrick Waterson, Jean-Christophe Le Coze and Henning Boje Andersen (1): “The work of Jens Rasmussen over the course of the last half century represents some of the most influential contributions to the fields of cognitive science, human factors, ergonomics and safety science.” These three papers both honour that contribution and show the continued value of applying the theory and tools developed by Jens Rasmussen
A Future Vision For The Engineering Design Environment: A Future Sociotechnical Scenario
No full textThis paper presents a future vision for the working practices of designers within a manufacturing organisation. By its very nature the engineering design environment is highly distributed in nature and is characterised by a large number of information sources, which together with the designers forms a complex sociotechnical system. In discussions with designers it is apparent that changes are required to this environment to reflect the changes in the design process and organisations. We have developed a scenario that incorporates many of the features requested by designers and managers to improve the design environment. The scenario sets out a route map for the development of technical and social tools that aid the designer
Engagement of small, micro and medium sized enterprises in occupational safety and health:Project know how
No full textFinal project report co-authored with Alistair Gibb, James Pinder, Phil Bust, Alistair Cheyne, Andrew Dainty, Mike Fray, Aoife Finneran, Jane Glover, Ruth Hartley, Roger Haslam, Wendy Jones, Sarah Pink, Patrick Waterson, Elaine Yolande Goslin
The use of Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to probe deeper into railway safety management systems – Two studies from Great Britain and Italy
No full textThe importance of Safety Management Systems (SMS) to the railway industry is underlined by the fact that all organisations operating on UK railways are required by law to have one. Analysing SMSs can provide a reliable systemic tool to identify hazards and weaknesses within complex systems like the railway, making it possible to significantly increase safety, reducing the odds of near misses and accidents. However, there is little empirical research evidence to determine the impact on safety of a structured SMS. The current paper describes two studies which use Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) to conceptualise SMSs and their impact on front-line performance. The paper presents the usefulness of BBNs to compare complex systems and reconcile cultural differences within the railway industry, identifying factors that are deemed vital within Italy and Britain. The two studies allowed us to identify the most influential factors within a SMS and how they interact with each other, as well as the strength of the identified relationships. A BBN is particularly useful in estimating how changing some of the node states (e.g., by making safety leadership present) affected the other factors. The current study showed that safety leadership has an impact on the SMSs of the British and Italian railway industries
Towards a unified model of accident causation:refining and validating the systems thinking safety tenets
No full textThe systems thinking tenets were developed based on a synthesis of contemporary accident causation theory, models and approaches and encapsulate 15 features of complex systems that interact to create both safety and adverse events. Whilst initial testing provided supportive evidence, the tenets have not yet been subject to formal validation. This article presents the findings from a three-round Delphi study undertaken to refine and validate the tenets and assess their suitability for inclusion in a unified model of accident causation. Participants with expertise in accident causation and systems thinking provided feedback on the tenets and associated definitions until an acceptable level of consensus was achieved. The results reduced the original 15 tenets to 14 and 10 were identified as important to include in unified model of accident causation. The refined systems thinking tenets are presented along with future research directions designed to facilitate their use in safety practice. Practitioner summary: This article presents a refined and validated set of systems thinking tenets which describe features of complex systems that interact to create adverse events. The tenets can be used by practitioners to proactively identify safety leading indicators and contributory factors during adverse event analysis.</p
The big picture on accident causation:A review, synthesis and meta-analysis of AcciMap studies
No full textAs AcciMap is now arguably the most popular accident analysis method in the peer-reviewed literature, there are key learnings to be taken from reviewing and synthesising published AcciMap analyses. In particular, the extent to which the network of contributory factors underpinning accidents is consistent across safety critical domains. This study reviewed and synthesised 23 AcciMap analyses published in the peer-reviewed literature. Contributory factors and relationships were extracted and thematically coded to form a single multi-domain, multi-incident AcciMap. The resulting AcciMap contains 5587 contributory factors spanning seventy-nine distinct contributory factor types. The findings reveal a set of generic contributory factors that consistently play a role in major accidents regardless of domain. Additionally, contributory factors previously only associated with sharp-end human operators are, in fact, prevalent across multiple levels of accident systems. The implications of these findings for accident theory and accident analysis and prevention activities are discussed. For future AcciMap analyses it is recommended that the contributory factor classification scheme developed in the present study is used to support the identification and classification of contributory factors. In addition, further education for analysts on the systems thinking perspective on accident causation is recommended.</p
Ethnicity and work-related stress: Migrant workers in Southern Italy
No full textThis paper reports a study of ethnicity and work-related stress that takes the Demands-Resources-Individual-Effects (DRIVE) model (Mark & Smith, 2008) as a framework of reference. The model combines individual differences, job characteristics, ethnicity dimensions and appraisals as independent variables in the prediction of psychophysical health outcomes and it was applied in a sample of 900 workers, differing in ethnicity, in Southern Italy. Results confirmed the hypotheses predicted by the suggested model, showed different profiles of associations and the main effects of the independent variables on the psychophysical health outcomes. The importance of including ethnicity dimensions in work-related stress research requires further investigation
Paths and Rivers; Sa’dan Toraja Society in Transformation
No full textFieldwork extending over a thirty-year period provided materials for this book. Paths and Rivers offers an unusually deep and broad picture of the Sa’dan Toraja as a society in dynamic transition over the course of the past century. The Toraja inhabit the mountainous highlands of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and are well known for their dramatic architecture, their unusual cliff burials, and their flamboyant ceremonial life, which places extraordinary economic demands on individuals and families. The analysis is informed, firstly, by a comparative perspective which sets Toraja social structure in the context of the Austronesian world. Secondly, the author delves deeply into Toraja social memory to show how people think about the past. She examines the usefulness of history and myth in the present as a source of identity, a template for action, or a resource by means of which to claim precedence. The book gives a clear picture of the structure and ethos of the indigenous Toraja religion, the Aluk To Dolo or ‘Way of the Ancestors’, with its complex cycle of rituals. The book concludes with an analysis of the ceremonial economy, which draws upon both domestic subsistence production and the global market economy.
Paths and Rivers draws together a fascinating picture of one society’s journey into modernity.
Roxana Waterson is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore. She is also the author of The living house: an anthropology of architecture in Southeast Asia (3rd ed., Thames and Hudson, 1997) and Southeast Asian lives: Personal narratives and historical experience (Singapore University Press/Ohio University Press, 2007)
Paths and Rivers; Sa’dan Toraja Society in Transformation
No full textFieldwork extending over a thirty-year period provided materials for this book. Paths and Rivers offers an unusually deep and broad picture of the Sa’dan Toraja as a society in dynamic transition over the course of the past century. The Toraja inhabit the mountainous highlands of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and are well known for their dramatic architecture, their unusual cliff burials, and their flamboyant ceremonial life, which places extraordinary economic demands on individuals and families. The analysis is informed, firstly, by a comparative perspective which sets Toraja social structure in the context of the Austronesian world. Secondly, the author delves deeply into Toraja social memory to show how people think about the past. She examines the usefulness of history and myth in the present as a source of identity, a template for action, or a resource by means of which to claim precedence. The book gives a clear picture of the structure and ethos of the indigenous Toraja religion, the Aluk To Dolo or ‘Way of the Ancestors’, with its complex cycle of rituals. The book concludes with an analysis of the ceremonial economy, which draws upon both domestic subsistence production and the global market economy.
Paths and Rivers draws together a fascinating picture of one society’s journey into modernity.
Roxana Waterson is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore. She is also the author of The living house: an anthropology of architecture in Southeast Asia (3rd ed., Thames and Hudson, 1997) and Southeast Asian lives: Personal narratives and historical experience (Singapore University Press/Ohio University Press, 2007)
Steps Towards Satisficing Distributed Dynamic Team Trust
No full textDefining and measuring trust in dynamic, multiagent teams is important in a
range of contexts, particularly in defense and security domains. Team members
should be trusted to work towards agreed goals and in accordance with shared
values. In this paper, our concern is with the definition of goals and values
such that it is possible to define 'trust' in a way that is interpretable, and
hence usable, by both humans and robots. We argue that the outcome of team
activity can be considered in terms of 'goal', 'individual/team values', and
'legal principles'. We question whether alignment is possible at the level of
'individual/team values', or only at the 'goal' and 'legal principles' levels.
We argue for a set of metrics to define trust in human-robot teams that are
interpretable by human or robot team members, and consider an experiment that
could demonstrate the notion of 'satisficing trust' over the course of a
simulated mission
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