• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권11호
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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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• 제42권1호
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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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• 제54권6호
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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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• 제44권4호
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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.

• 한국철도학회논문집
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.744-750
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• 2009

기존 연구결과에 따르면, 시스템의 안전성에 가장 큰 영향을 주는 요인 중 하나는 인적수행도의 저하인 것으로 밝혀졌다. 따라서 인적수행도 저하 방지를 통한 사건/사고의 방지는 원자력이나 철도와 같이 안전을 우선적으로 고려해야 하는 산업체의 경우 반드시 고려되어야 하는 조건이다. 이를 위해서는 인적수행도 저감의 원인의 체계적 파악 및 이에 근거한 효과적인 관리가 선행되어야 하기 때문에, 대표적인 인적수행도 저하 원인으로 알려져 있는 직무복잡도를 객관적으로 평가할 수 있는 방법의 개발이 필요하다. 이러한 필요성에 따라, 본 논문에서는 원자력발전소의 절차화된 직무에 대한 복잡도를 평가할 수 있는 TACOM 척도를 사용하여 KTX 기장이 수행해야 하는 운전직무의 복잡도를 정량적으로 평가한 후 그 결과를 주관적 직무부하 평가 방법인 NASA-TLX 결과와 비교하여 적합성을 검증하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권2호
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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.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2005년도 추계학술발표회
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• pp.1089-1090
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• 2005