Designing the Safety-Critical Ecosystem

Abstract

Several safety-critical domains require operators to maintain their attention for long periods; military, anesthesiology, and baggage screening are all environments where lack of, or late detection of, a critical signal can have severe consequences. The decrement in operator performance can occur as early as within the first 5 min of assuming responsibility. In addition to vigilance decrement issues, safety-critical domains, such as aviation, process control, military, and health care, can also be affected by the sleep disruption of its workforce (e.g., Wickens, Hutchins, Laux, & Sebok, 2015). This Research Digest notes some principles to keep in mind when designing for safety-critical environments involving sustained-attention tasks, shiftwork, or long-duration assignments with sleep deprivation.