• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4170-4180
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• 2022

The task complexity (TACOM) measure was previously developed to quantify the complexity of proceduralized tasks conducted by nuclear power plant operators. Following the development of the TACOM measure, its appropriateness has been validated by investigating the relationship between TACOM scores and three kinds of human performance data, namely response times, human error probabilities, and subjective workload scores. However, the information reflected in quantified TACOM scores is still insufficient to determine the levels of complexity of proceduralized tasks for human reliability analysis (HRA) applications. In this regard, the objective of this study is to suggest criteria for determining the levels of task complexity based on logistic regression between human error occurrences in digitalized main control rooms and TACOM scores. Analysis results confirmed that the likelihood of human error occurrence according to the TACOM score is secured. This result strongly implies that the TACOM measure can be used to identify the levels of task complexity, which could be applicable to various research domains including HRA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.115-124
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• 2010

According to wide-spread experience in many industries, a procedure is one of the most effective countermeasures to reduce the possibility of human related problems. Unfortunately, a systematic framework to evaluate the complexity of procedural tasks seems to be very scant. For this reason, the TACOM measure, which can quantify the complexity of procedural tasks, has been developed. In this study, the appropriateness of the TACOM measure is investigated by comparing TACOM scores regarding the procedural tasks of high speed train drivers with the associated workload scores measured by the NASA-TLX technique. As a result, it is observed that there is a meaningful correlation between the TACOM scores and the associated NASA-TLX scores. Therefore, it is expected that the TACOM measure can properly quantify the complexity of procedural tasks.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2037-2047
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• 2022

The contribution of degraded human performance (e.g., human errors) is significant for the safety of diverse social-technical systems. Therefore, it is crucial to understand when and why the performance of human operators could be degraded. In this study, the occurrence probability of human errors was empirically estimated based on the complexity of proceduralized tasks. To this end, Logistic regression analysis was conducted to correlate TACOM (Task Complexity) scores with human errors collected from the full-scope training simulator of nuclear power plants equipped with analog devices (analog environment). As a result, it was observed that the occurrence probability of both errors of commission and errors of omission can be soundly estimated by TACOM scores. Since the effect of diverse performance influencing factors on the occurrence probabilities of human errors could be soundly distinguished by TACOM scores, it is also expected that TACOM scores can be used as a tool to explain when and why the performance of human operators starts to be degraded.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.415-420
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• 2012

It is important to understand the amount of time required to execute an emergency procedural task in a high-stress situation for managing human performance under emergencies in a nuclear power plant. However, the time to execute an emergency procedural task is highly dependent upon expert judgment due to the lack of actual data. This paper proposes an analytical method to estimate the operator's performance time (OPT) of a procedural task, which is based on a measure of the task complexity (TACOM). The proposed method for estimating an OPT is an equation that uses the TACOM as a variable, and the OPT of a procedural task can be calculated if its relevant TACOM score is available. The validity of the proposed equation is demonstrated by comparing the estimated OPTs with the observed OPTs for emergency procedural tasks in a steam generator tube rupture scenario.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.744-750
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• 2009

According to the result of related studies, the degradation of human performance has been revealed as one of the most significant causes resulting in the safety of any human-involved system. This means that preventing the occurrence of accidents/incidents through avoiding the degradation of human performance is prerequisite for their successive operation. To this end, it is necessary to develop a plausible tool to evaluate the complexity of a task, which has been known as one of the decisive factors affecting the human performance. For this reason, in this paper, the complexity of tasks to be conducted by KTX drivers was quantified by TACOM measure that is enable to quantify the complexity of proceduralized tasks being used in nuclear power plants. After that, TACOM scores about the tasks of KTX drivers were compared with NASA-TLX scores that are responsible for the level of a subjective workload to be felt by KTX drivers.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.151-164
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• 2013

A key input for the assessment of Human Error Probabilities (HEPs) with Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) methods is the evaluation of the factors influencing the human performance (often referred to as Performance Shaping Factors, PSFs). In general, the definition of these factors and the supporting guidance are such that their evaluation involves significant subjectivity. This affects the repeatability of HRA results as well as the collection of HRA data for model construction and verification. In this context, the present paper considers the TAsk COMplexity (TACOM) measure, developed by one of the authors to quantify the complexity of procedure-guided tasks (by the operating crew of nuclear power plants in emergency situations), and evaluates its use to represent (objectively and quantitatively) task complexity issues relevant to HRA methods. In particular, TACOM scores are calculated for five Human Failure Events (HFEs) for which empirical evidence on the HEPs (albeit with large uncertainty) and influencing factors are available - from the International HRA Empirical Study. The empirical evaluation has shown promising results. The TACOM score increases as the empirical HEP of the selected HFEs increases. Except for one case, TACOM scores are well distinguished if related to different difficulty categories (e.g., "easy" vs. "somewhat difficult"), while values corresponding to tasks within the same category are very close. Despite some important limitations related to the small number of HFEs investigated and the large uncertainty in their HEPs, this paper presents one of few attempts to empirically study the effect of a performance shaping factor on the human error probability. This type of study is important to enhance the empirical basis of HRA methods, to make sure that 1) the definitions of the PSFs cover the influences important for HRA (i.e., influencing the error probability), and 2) the quantitative relationships among PSFs and error probability are adequately represented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.1089-1090
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• 2005