Standardizing the practice of human reliability analysis

The practice of human reliability analysis (HRA) within the nuclear industry varies greatly in terms of posited mechanisms that shape human performance, methods of characterizing and analytically modeling human behavior, and the techniques that are employed to estimate the frequency with which human error occurs. This variation has been a source of contention among HRA practitioners regarding the validity of results obtained from different HRA methods. It has also resulted in attempts to develop standard methods and procedures for conducting HRAs. For many of the same reasons, the practice of HRA has not been standardized or has been standardized only to the extent that individual analysts have developed heuristics and consistent approaches in their practice of HRA. From the standpoint of consumers and regulators, this has resulted in a lack of clear acceptance criteria for the assumptions, modeling, and quantification of human errors in probabilistic risk assessments