Error detection and recovery - results from experiment 1997

This report presents the results from the experiment performed in HAMMLAB in 1997. Error detection and recovery data were calculated from auto-confrontation, and were based upon the participants' self-reporting and their own anticipation of what they believed to be an error. The participants in this study were twelve operators from the Halden Boiling Water Reactor (HBWR). They were tested in six challenging scenarios in a pressurised water reactor simulator, and two of the six scenarios were used in the auto-confrontation. Two approaches to the data are described: One statistical hypothesis testing approach and one qualitative approach, trying to identify the underlying mechanisms of error management. Due to poor data quality, neither of the approaches provides clear results. However, the report gives a comprehensive overview of theories and methods in this area. A discussion of the results and the concepts of error and error recovery is included, which points towards a new way of understanding and analysing error recovery and human error in general. (Author). 44 refs., 8 figs., 8 tabs