SOME RESULTS ON OPERATOR PERFORMANCE IN EMERGENCY EVENTS

This paper synthesizes results from several studies of operator performance in simulated power plant emergencies and from retrospective analyses of operator performance in five actual power plant critical incidents. This synthesis is feasible because all of these studies used process tracing techniques and a common perspective on decision making as the basis for their analysis of operator performance. The paper focuses on two areas: operator's ability to detect and correct errors and how operators utilize procedures. The results in these areas are assessed in terms of their implications for concepts and models relevant to operator performance and in terms of their implications for man-machine system improvements.