Abstract
Subjective Evidence-Based Ethnography (SEBE) is a family of methods developed for investigation in social science based on subjective audio-video recordings with a miniature video-camera usually worn at eye-level (eye-tracking techniques are included). Despite its application to the analysis of high risk professions (e.g. anesthetists, aircraft pilots, nuclear reactor pilots) and the potential additional risks it induces, no suggestions regarding these concerns and no solutions helping researchers to anticipate this kind of risks are available in the literature. Aiming at filling this gap, we undertook a study of SEBE equipment applied to the analysis of workers’ activities on a nuclear power plant. The method was divided in three phases: i) observations and discussions on full scale simulators of activities undertaken by one or two workers (N=42) to characterize the consequences of the SEBE equipment, ii) bibliographic research combined with results of first phase to elaborate a risk assessment protocol, iii) analysis of its application in real operating situations (N=17). The elaborated protocol gave satisfactory results in terms of risk prevention and time application: No incident or accident occurred and the risk assessment took less than five minutes. The observations highlighted however a risk of side-effect (using SEBE equipment to justify subjects’ mistake or failure) giving greater importance to the necessity of this sort of risk assessment protocol. To date, the protocol needs to be tested in other industrial contexts in order to be improved and/or to confirm its robustness.
Highlights
Using video recordings allows the researcher to access to the reality of work activities which is one of the major concerns of work analysts
The first observations from the researchers as well as the first remarks from the subjects concerned the interaction of the SEBE equipment with their body and with their worn equipment: these resulted in comments regarding the SEBE glasses over their own glasses, the way they had to adjust their own glasses whilst working (one of the pilot was used to pushing back his glasses on the nose and another was used to pushing his glasses up on his front when reading certain indicators of the control panel)
The results of phase 1 led to a questionnaire for risk assessment divided in 5 categories addressing a specific field of the experiment for work activity:
Summary
Using video recordings allows the researcher to access to the reality of work activities which is one of the major concerns of work analysts. Taking notes entails the risk of not watching the scene for a while and so to miss important elements of activity. This could be corrected by replaying the activity but in the world of work, it is generally inappropriate to ask to redo several times the activity observed while video allows for multiple visualizations retrospectively, very useful in the case of complex situations. When the work analyst applies self-confrontation, the video recording is a main tool: observed subjects seeing themselves in action can learn about themselves and correct or improve themselves. The video is both a source and a support: a data source for the researcher and a support of expression (body, speech), of mediation, which participates in the emergence of meaning of the activities and of the coproduction of knowledge through the triangle operator-image-researcher [1]
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