A Systematic Approach to the Countermeasures for Human Errors in Nuclear Power Plants

There are a number of human error (HE) events that are uncontrollable and hard to handle because of the fact that the nature of events may have been threatened or very intensive. It is strongly required that more systematic studies should be performed to grasp the whole picture of current situation for hazard factors in nuclear power plants (NPPs). One of the most frequently used techniques for NPPs is an event investigation analysis based on INPO's human performance enhancement system (HPES), and Korean human performance enhancement system (KHPES) in Korea, respectively. Those analysis methods associated with HE in NPPs may be different with explanation of accidents happening and an establishment of counter-plan. In the interest of them, we should consider events with all information about system conditions and system movements. The objective of this paper is to propose an approach aiming to reduce the loss from HEs through a macroergonomic approach; a systematic barrier against hazard factors in NPPs by establishing procedures. The procedures are first to grasp influent elements of events using person and system approach, secondly to derive countermeasures according to systematic barriers. Then, a case study for human error in NPPs using the proposed approach is performed for verification purposes