Human and organisational factors

But interaction between humans, technology and organisation (HTO) must be taken into account when developing new digital solutions. People play a key role in such innovations and, in order to prevent and handle incidents, must be able to monitor and perform critical tasks if a system fails.

Experience from audits conducted by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) shows that insufficient account is taken of knowledge about human capabilities and limitations when adopting new technology. Investigations also reveal that analyses of the underlying reasons why people acted as they did are weak.

Measures 1: information and guidance

Tripartite collaboration between employers, employees and government is crucial for the success of efforts to improve safety when digital technology and automated systems are introduced to the industry.

A number of tools have been deployed by the PSA to achieve good effects from its follow-up, with knowledge development and sharing at centre stage alongside collaboration. The goal is to develop an integrated picture of the challenges and risks in the industry related to managing human and organisational conditions.

To give greater prominence to human factors in accident investigations, Sintef developed guidelines for the PSA in 2022 on examining such aspects. These include a toolbox with checklists and methods which can be used in taking an in-depth approach to certain issues.

A summary report with relevant sources was also compiled, and the results will be used actively in a campaign being pursued by the PSA in 2022-25 to strengthen the investigation of incidents and to learn lessons from them.

In 2018-22, the PSA pursued a number of studies to increase its expertise on digitalisation and human aspects. The goal has been to help the industry to give high priority to safety and the working environment when digital technology is developed, implemented and applied. Reports from this work are available at psa.no, and are actively used in supervision and follow-up of the sector.

The PSA has participated in a working group appointed by the Safety Forum to study how employee participation is to be secured when introducing new digital solutions. Its report has now been published and communicated to the parties.

In the international arena, the PSA collaborates with the International Regulators Forum (IRF). This body has defined digitalisation and human-centred design as risk areas.

Experience from the PSA’s supervision of developing and using new digital solutions was presented in 2022 to members of the Human Factors in Control (HFC) forum. It participates in this body along with a number of companies from the petroleum sector, educational and research institutions and other government agencies.

Measures 2: audits

As part of its follow-up, the PSA has initiated audit series directed at such areas as alarm management in the control room, development and introduction of automated drilling processes, use of hand-held devices, and the introduction of new collaboration models across operators, contractors and service companies.

The goal of this work has been to check how the various companies discharge their obligations to manage major-accident and working-environment risk. Its results show that new solutions often mean big changes for employees with regard to interfaces, work assignments and processes, and collaboration modes.

Through its follow-up, the PSA has seen that limited attention is paid to assessing human factors when digital technology is developed and adopted. Training, changed roles and responsibilities, and user-centred development of innovative technology are among important organisational aspects which must be taken into account in this context.

A summary report published by the PSA in 2022 was based on 54 audits of alarm management systems in control rooms, which aimed to verify how the companies follow up safety and the working environment for control-room operators in accordance with the regulations and their own internal requirements.

This audit series revealed a number of regulatory breaches related to inadequate follow-up of alarm systems and inadequate analyses. More than 60 per cent of the companies had not conducted analyses and assessments of the total workload, including cognitive and perceptual conditions.

These results have been followed up with the companies concerned and communicated to the industry in several arenas.

Effects

By following up human factors through various measures, the PSA has seen that its overall efforts have helped to increase knowledge sharing about human and organisational conditions when new digital solutions are to be introduced and adopted.

The responsible companies are working to implement extensive measures as a result of the PSA’s supervisory activities. In the wake of the alarm audits, they have improved the conduct of working-environment analyses and assessments in control rooms.

Viewed overall, the PSA finds that its audit reports, knowledge projects and technical articles attract much attention. Over time, it also sees that its activities related to following up human and organisational factors have helped the industry to acquire a more integrated perspective on developing and using new digital technology and solutions, and on introducing new forms of collaboration.

The industry is devoting great attention to developing automated solutions and to the opportunities these offer for enhancing efficiency, and the PSA will continue to follow up these issues.

This article is taken from PSA's annual report for 2022. The full report (in Norwegian only) can be read here.