Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM)

The growing dependence of working environments on complex technology has created many challenges and lead to a large number of accidents. Although the quality of organization and management within the work environment plays an important role in these accidents, the significance of individual human action (as a direct cause and as a mitigating factor) is undeniable. This has created a need for new, integrated approaches to accident analysis and risk assessment.

This book detailing the use of CREAM is, therefore, both timely and useful. It presents an error taxonomy which integrates individual, technological and organizational factors based on cognitive engineering principles. In addition to the necessary theoretical foundation, it provides a step-by-step description of how the taxonomy can be applied to analyse as well as predict performance using a context-dependent cognitive model.

CREAM can be used as a second-generation human reliability analysis (HRA) approach in probabilistic safety assessment (PSA), as a stand-alone method for accident analysis and as part of a larger design method for interactive systems. In particular, the use of CREAM will enable system designers and risk analysts to:

• identify tasks that require human cognition and therefore depend on cognitive reliability

• determine the conditions where cognitive reliability and ensuing risk may be reduced

• provide an appraisal of the consequences of human performance on system safety which can be used in PSA.

For practitioners of human reliability analysis and accident analysis; designers of interactive systems for industrial applications; and researchers in the fields of human error, cognitive engineering and cognitive ergonomics.

Chapter headings and sub-headings: Foreword. The State of Human Reliability Analysis. Introduction. Shortcomings of First-Generation HRA. Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method. Background of the Book. The Need of HRA. The Ubiquity of Erroneous Actions. The Role of HRA in PSA. The Modelling of Erroneous Actions. The Conceptual Impuissance. The Classification of Erroneous Actions. Traditional Human Factors Approaches. Information Processing Approaches. The Cognitive Systems Engineering Perspective. Evaluation. The Schism between HRA and Psychology. A Conceptual Framework. Introduction. The Need to Predict. Method, Classification, Model. Modelling of Cognition. Standard Classification Schemes. Performance Shaping Factors and Common Performance Conditions. HRA - The First Generation. Reliability and Safety Analysis of Dynamic Process Systems. First-Generation HRA Approaches. Conclusions. HRA and Cognition: Extensions. CREAM - A Second Generation HRA Method. Principles of Cream. Models of Cognition. Basic Principles of the Classification Scheme. Classification Groups. Links Between Classification Groups. The Search For Causes: Retrospective Analysis. Analysis and Stop Rules. Overall Method. Example of Retrospective Analysis. Qualitative Performance Prediction. Principles of Performance Prediction. Predictive Use of the Classification Scheme. Principles of Qualitative Performance Prediction. The Quantification of Predictions. CREAM - Basic Method. CREAM Basic Method: An Example. CREAM - Extended Method. Extended CREAM Method: An Example. References. Index.
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