Assessing Safety Culture Issues Through Observations of Nuclear Power Plant Operators in Incident Management

Abstract

The aim of this paper is discuss how the sociotechnical environment influences the behavior of nuclear power plant (NPP) control room operators. The interest of this research is to investigate how the operators' cognitive strategies are supported by the overall work system of the organization, such as the implementation of a safety culture enhance program. We based our research in field studies in a nuclear power plant control room. Activity analysis during the actual operator crew work was the basis of our research methodology. We use electronic media, such as audio and video recorders, and field notes in order do get empirical data. We identify problem areas in the organization work design system that brings constraints to these cognitive strategies, showing how these problems are related to the different organizational levels.