Human factors consideration in the automation design of a safety-critical installation

M.Ing. (Engineering Management)Abstract: Human factors consideration should form an integral part of any system’s design. The aim is to ensure the designed system is compatible with human skills and limitations. Benefits of this consideration include reduction in the required level of training once the system is deployed. Unfortunately, even though the requirement of humans in systems design is well known, systems are continuously designed with little or no input from the eventual operators. This study aims to investigate the human factors aspect in the automation design of a safety-critical installation. Automation in its noble form is intended to improve factors such as safety, efficiency, and costs. However, this is not always the case. Part of the problem is that human operators are not always adequately considered during the design. It is the aim of this study to elicit the important human factors that must be considered in the automation design. This is done using a case study method. The case study was undertaken at the major radioisotopes production institution in the Republic of South Africa. The use of this study method is adopted as it provides enough in-depth knowledge that can be used in other safety-critical facilities