• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2024

In accordance with the clean hydrogen-centered hydrogen industry development plan, technology development and demonstration operation of water electrolysis devices are being actively carried out. Risk assessments are performed on newly developed hydrogen-using facilities and supplies to identify potential hazard factors. However, in general, most industrial accidents are caused by operator's human error or incorrect work practices. Additionally, the possibility of accidents occurring during operation control, maintenance, and inspection increases. For this reason, for equipment developed for demonstration operation, the correct work methods for the main jobs of operator must be reviewed and work procedures must be prepared. Accordingly, in this study, we conducted a job safety analysis (JSA) on major jobs in the operation of water electrolysis facilities to study safe work methods and necessary measures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1180-1187
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• 2020

A team of operators is required for nuclear power plant operation, and communication between the operators is an important aspect of the team's ability to successfully carry out tasks. It has been difficult to evaluate the quality of this communication though, and as the relationship between communication quality and team performance has yet to be clarified, it has not been applied to most human reliability analysis (HRA) methodologies. This study investigates the relationship between the quality of communication and team performance using data from a full-scope training simulator of a digital main control room (MCR). Two important characteristics of communication were considered to determine quality: each operator's ability to self-confirm the status of a given task in a digital MCR, and the type of communication, as divided into 1-way, 2-way, and 3-way between operators. To measure team performance, the concept of an unsafe act was employed, which is defined as a human error that has the potential to negatively affect plant safety. Analysis results showed that the communication quality and team performance were related to each other. With this more clearly defined relationship, the results of this study can be applied to related performance shaping factors to improve HRA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.292-300
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• 1995

This paper present a new dynamic HRA (Human Reliability Analysis) method and its application for Quantifying the human error probabilities in implementing an accident management action. For comparisons of current HRA methods with the new method, the characteristics of THERP, HCR, and SLIM-MAUD, which are most frequently used methods in PSAs, are discussed. The action associated with the implementation of the cavity flooding during a station blackout sequence is considered for its application. This method is based on the concepts of the quantified correlation between the performance requirement and performance achievement. The MAAP 3.0B code and Latin Hypercube sampling technique are used to determine the uncertainty of the performance achievement parameter. Meanwhile, the value of the performance requirement parameter is obtained from interviews. Based on these stochastic distributions obtained, human error probabilities are calculated with respect to the various means and variances of the timings. It is shown that this method is very flexible in that it can be applied to any kind of the operator actions, including the actions associated with the implementation of accident management strategies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.211-217
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• 1998

Many practical control problems for the complex, uncertain or large-scale plants, need to simultaneously achieve a number of objectives, which may conflict or compete with each other. If the conventional optimization methods are applied to solve these control problems, the solution process may be time-consuming and the resulting solution would ofter lose its original meaning of optimality. Nevertheless, the human operators usually performs satisfactory results based on their qualitative and heuristic knowledge. In this paper, we investigate the control strategies of the human operators, and propose a fuzzy model-based multi-objective satisfactory controller. We also apply it to the automatic train operation(ATO) system for the magnetically levitated vehicles(MAGLEV). One of the human operator's strategies is to predict the control result in order to find the meaningful solution. In this paper, Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is used to simulated the prediction procedure. Another str tegy is to evaluate the multiple objectives with respect to their own standards. To realize this strategy, we propose the concept of a satisfactory solution and a satisfactory control scheme. The MAGLEV train is a typical example of the uncertain, complex and large-scale plants. Moreover, the ATO system has to satisfy multiple objectives, such as seed pattern tracking, stop gap accuracy, safety and riding comfort. In this paper, the speed pattern tracking controller and the automatic stop controller of the ATO system is designed based on the proposed control scheme. The effectiveness of the ATO system based on the proposed scheme is shown by the experiments with a rotary test bed and a real MAGLEV train.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to develop a visibility evaluation system for cabin type combine. Human's field of view was classified into five levels (perceptive, effective, stable gaze, induced, and auxiliary) depending on rotation of human's head and eye. Divider, reaper lever, gearshift, dashboard, and conveying part were considered as major viewpoints of combine. Visibilities of combine was evaluated quantitatively using the viewpoints and the human's field of view levels. The visibility evaluation system for cabin type combine was consisted of a laser pointer, stepping motors to control the direction of view, gyro sensors to measure horizontal and vertical angle, and I/O interface to acquire the signals. Tests were conducted with different postures ('sitting straight', 'sitting with $15^{\circ}$ tilt', 'standing straight', and 'standing with $15^{\circ}$ tilt'). The LSD (least significant difference) multiple comparison tests showed that the visibilities of viewpoints were different significantly as the operator's postures were changed. The results showed that the posture at standing with $15^{\circ}$ tilt provided the best visibility for operators. The divider of the combine was invisible due to blocking with the cabin frame at many postures. The reaper lever showed good visibilities at the postures of sitting or standing with $15^{\circ}$ tilt. The gearshift, the dashboard, and the conveying part had reasonable visibilities at the posture of sitting with $15^{\circ}$ tilt. However, most viewpoints of the combine were out of the stable gaze field of view level. Modifications of the combine design will be required to enhance the visibility during harvesting operation for farmers' safety and convenience.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.56-60
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• 1997

The study of human erroneous actions has traditionally taken place along two different lines of approach. One has been concerned with finding and explaining the causes of erroneous actions, such as studies in the psychology of "error". The other has been concerned with the qualitative and quantitative prediction of possible erroneous actions, exemplified by the field of human reliability analysis (HRA). Another distinction is also that the former approach has been dominated by an academic point of view, hence emphasising theories, models, and experiments, while the latter has been of a more pragmatic nature, hence putting greater emphasis on data and methods. We have been developing a method to make predictions about error modes. The input to the method is a detailed task description of a set of scenarios for an experiment. This description is then analysed to characterise thd nature of the individual task steps, as well as the conditions under which they must be carried out. The task steps are expressed in terms of a predefined set of cognitive activity types. Following that each task step is examined in terms of a systematic classification of possible error modes and the likely error modes are identified. This effectively constitutes a qualitative analysis of the possibilities for erroneous action in a given task. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the predictions, the data from a large scale experiment were analysed. The experiment used the full-scale nuclear power plant simulator in the Halden Man-Machine Systems Laboratory (HAMMLAB) and used six crews of systematic performance observations by experts using a pre-defined task description, as well as audio and video recordings. The purpose of the analysis was to determine how well the predictions matiched the actually observed performance failures. The results indicated a very acceptable rate of accuracy. The emphasis in this experiment has been to develop a practical method for qualitative performance prediction, i.e., a method that did not require too many resources or specialised human factors knowledge. If such methods are to become practical tools, it is important that they are valid, reliable, and robust.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.49 no.9
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• pp.279-286
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• 2012

Recently, design of Universal Soft Controller(USC) has been applied to the advanced control room for nuclear power plant. USC is software-based manual control means to control safety components as well as non-safety components in the highly-integrated control room. Therefore, design feature of USC is essential for the implementation of a single workstation in the advanced control room. The traditional control room is replaced by computer-driven consolidated operator interfaces. Considering our design has further reduced the probability of USC spurious signals by requiring two distinct operator control actions to generate any control signal. The reality of USC does not increase the probability of reactor trip because the probability of spurious USC signal is negligible. Universal Soft Control represents a significant evolution in nuclear I&C/HSI System. USC integrates the indicators and controls from multiple divisions into a single integrated visual display unit(VDU) based HSI(Human System Interface). In order to prevent adverse influence on safety function performance from USC failure, ESFAS signals are applied to safety components or functions. In addition, safety manual switches have priority over USC's signals. Therefore, spurious USC signals can be momentarily blocked by selecting a soft control command from the safety VDU.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.251-260
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• 2014

The number of farmers who have suffered from non-fatal acute pesticide poisoning has been reported to vary from 5.7% to 86.7% in South Korea since 1975. Absorption through the skin is the main route of exposure to pesticides for farmers who operate with them. Several in vitro tests using the skins of humans or animal and in vivo tests using laboratory animals are introduced for the assessment of human dermal absorption level of pesticides. The objective of this study is to evaluate and compare international guidelines and strategies of dermal absorption assessments and to propose unique approaches for applications into pesticide registration process in our situation. Until present in our situation, pesticide exposure level to operator is determined just using default value of 10 as for skin absorption ratio because of data shortage. Dermal absorption tests are requested to get exposure level of pesticides and to ultimately know the safety of pesticides for operators through the comparison with the value of AOEL. When the exposure level is higher than AOEL, the pesticide cannot be approved. We reviewed the skin absorption test guidelines recommended by OECD, EFSA and EPA. The EPA recommends assessment of skin absorption of pesticides for humans through the TPA which includes all the results of in vitro human and animal and animal in vivo skin absorption studies. OECD and EFSA, employ a tiered approach, which the requirement of further study depends on the results of the former stage study. OECD guidelines accept the analysis of pesticide level absorbed through skin without radioisotope when the recovery using the non-labeled method is within 80~120%. Various factors are reviewed in this study, including the origin of skin (gender, animal species and sites of skin), thickness, temperature and, etc., which can influence the integrity of results.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1813-1818
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• 2014

This paper presents the stability analysis of the haptic system including a human impedance using the Routh-Hurwitz criterion. The reflective force is computed from a virtual spring model and is transferred to a human operator using the first-order-hold method. The stability boundary conditions are induced and the relation among a virtual spring ($K_w$), the mass ($M_h$), the damping ($B_h$) and the stiffness ($K_h$) of a human impedance is analyzed. Hence the stability boundary of the virtual spring ($K_w$) is proposed as $K_w{\leq}54413{\sqrt{(M_h+M_d)(B_h+B_d)}}-0.486K_h$ when the sampling time is 1 ms. The average relative error is about 0.5% when the mathematical analysis results are compared with the results of the stability boundary model.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2016

For the prevention of marine casualties, international bodies have mainly focused on strengthening ship's stability and design, maritime education and training, and improving maritime traffic environment. Statistics analysis on marine casualties showed that most of casualties occurred in coastal waters, especially by human elements. In order to review the conformity of existing prevention measures with the result of the statistics analysis, the IMO's SHELL model was applied to the established measures. As a result, ergonomic approaches were needed for the prevention of human errors in coastal waters, so that the priority should be given to the interface between ship's operator and navigational environment. For this study, Rasmussen's SRK pyramid, which showed decision making mechanism of human, and the US Coast Guard's investigation manual on marine casualties concerning the collapse of safe maritime transportation system were reviewed, and the merits and demerits within the risk assessment tools such as IWRAP, PAWSA, ES model, PARK model, and NURI model were also studied. Although the effectiveness of the existing risk assessment models was proved in ports and approaching channels, it is concluded that the need of new models for converting Korean seafarers' qualitative risk to quantitative risk was proposed so as to print hazard maps which make seafarers instinctively recognize comparative hazard levels of coastal waters.