Can weak-resilience-signals (WRS) reveal obstacles compromising (rail-)system resilience?
conference paper
Analysis of accidents in socio-technical systems frequently reveals unnoticed obstacles, which have grown to become the main cause of incubation and surprise at failure (Dekker, 2011). Thus far, it has proven to be a challenge to identify those unnoticed obstacles upfront among the tremendous number of events occurring during normal operations. In this article, we describe the usage of weak resilience signals (WRS) (Siegel & Schraagen, 2014), at a rail control post, to reveal obstacles compromising the resilience state of the system. Resilience is defined as the ability
of a complex socio-technical system to cope with unexpected and unforeseen
disruptions (Hollnagel, Woods, & Leveson, 2006). The WRSs, developed and
presented around three system boundaries: safety, performance and workload, are used to stimulate a state of mindfulness (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007) revealing unnoticed obstacles. An observational study is proposed to verify exposure of obstacles and their impact on rail-system resilience. The WRS and its stimulus to rail traffic controllers are expected to contribute to a higher rail operation reliability.
of a complex socio-technical system to cope with unexpected and unforeseen
disruptions (Hollnagel, Woods, & Leveson, 2006). The WRSs, developed and
presented around three system boundaries: safety, performance and workload, are used to stimulate a state of mindfulness (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007) revealing unnoticed obstacles. An observational study is proposed to verify exposure of obstacles and their impact on rail-system resilience. The WRS and its stimulus to rail traffic controllers are expected to contribute to a higher rail operation reliability.
TNO Identifier
525028
Source title
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Europe Chapter 2014 Annual Conference
Editor(s)
Waard, D. de
Sauer, J.
Röttger, S.
Kluge, A.
Manzey, D.
Weikert, C.
Toffetti, A.
Wiczorek, R.
Brookhuis, K.
Hoonhout, H.
Sauer, J.
Röttger, S.
Kluge, A.
Manzey, D.
Weikert, C.
Toffetti, A.
Wiczorek, R.
Brookhuis, K.
Hoonhout, H.
Pages
187-191
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