16 - Design thinking perspective for developing safety management practices in nuclear industry

Abstract

In this chapter, we evaluate the process of implementing human factors (HF) in nuclear power industry from the design thinking point of view. We reflect how the HF implementation manifested design thinking perspective and furthermore, if the design thinking approach would be valuable for the improvement of safety management practices in nuclear industry in more general. Design thinking has been regarded as a way to handle problematic situations, in which new ways have to be applied in order to innovate new strategies and products. This was the case in Finnish nuclear power, while applying competence and methods for the mastery of HF in nuclear safety management was required, but the findings from nuclear power plants indicated insufficient knowledge and implementation of HF. We found that series of eight cooperative, industry-wide workshops that targeted for application of an HF Tool for nuclear power industry purposes reflected design thinking principals. We conclude that similar kind of cocreation with design thinking approach offers potential for developing safety practices in the nuclear power industry overall.