Automating the human factors engineering and evaluation processes

Abstract

The Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) has developed a software tool for automating human factors engineering (HFE) design review, analysis, and evaluation processes. The tool provides a consistent, cost effective, graded, user-friendly approach for evaluating process control system human system interface (HSI) specifications, designs, and existing implementations. The initial set of HFE design guidelines, used in the tool, was obtained from NUREG-0700. Each guideline was analyzed and classified according to its significance (general concept vs. supporting detail), the HSI technology (computer based vs. noncomputer based), and the HSI safety function (safety vs. nonsafety). Approximately 10% of the guidelines were determined to be redundant or obsolete and were discarded. The remaining guidelines were arranged in a Microsoft Access relational database, and a Microsoft Visual Basic user interface was provided to facilitate the HFE design review. The tool also provides the capability to add new criteria to accommodate advances in HSI technology and incorporate lessons learned. Summary reports produced by the tool can be easily ported to Microsoft Word and other popular PC office applications. An IBM compatible PC with Microsoft Windows 95 or higher is required to run the application.