Exploring the Use of Human Reliability and Accident Investigation Methods to Influence Design Requirements for Naval Systems
Abstract
This thesis explores whether established methods from human reliability analysis and accident investigation can be applied early in system development to identify the design vulnerabilities that increase risk of system failure. Human reliability analyses evaluate performance shaping factors to quantify the likelihood of human failure before an accident occurs. Mishap investigations performed after an accident identify both human contributions to the systems failure and recommendations to avoid human failures in the future. This thesis proposes a method to evaluate system resiliency to variations in human performance and estimate the likelihood of human error. This method begins with functional analysis and failure mode analysis for a system concept, and then proposes two questionnaires based on human reliability and accident investigation criteria. This method is intended for the requirements development phase before system requirements are finalized and system design prototypes are completed. A demonstration of this method evaluates the human role using the electronic chart display and information system. Results from the demonstration reveal the two dominant factors that increase human error probability. The thesis concludes with an examination of the methods performance and results in support of validation of the method. Follow-on work is proposed to conduct a human subjects experiment for further validation and verification of the method.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1126687
Entities
People
- Cindy R. Whitehead
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School