Citation

Bernard CI, Morineau T, Thierry S. Safety Sci. 2020; 127: e104712.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104712

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Through the Dynamic Safety Model, Rasmussen (1990) pointed out that operators in complex work systems must cope with many degrees of freedom that involve uncertainty and risk. How to deal with these degrees of freedom without risk constitutes a central issue to devise proactive methods in risk analysis. The Abstraction Hierarchy technique is viewed as a tool that can assist operators in resolving the degrees of freedom problem. The method consists in creating a functional model of the work domain to help operators understand and control it. Such a method is well-adapted to organizations tightly coupled with their work domain (e.g. aviation, nuclear plants). However, in more loosely coupled work systems, many degrees of freedom also come significantly from the organization itself (self-organizing processes, equipment, and team management) in addition to those coming from the work domain. Through a heuristic version of Cognitive Work Analysis, this article presents the State Space Sketch as a technique to describe the constraints required to control a loosely coupled work system. The resulting model of constraints may be used to analyse potential failures and failure propagation. A first application to a medical emergency situation controlled by a medical team is presented. The State Space Sketch conforms to the formative and proactive requirements involved in the Cognitive Work Analysis framework and can contribute to devising assistance strategies.

Language: en

Keywords

Cognitive work analysis; Degrees of freedom; Dynamic safety model; Risk analysis method; Self-organization