Technology is often looked at to catch human error. However, the role of humans does not simply disappear with automation. The role of humans changes and shifts.
Automation paradox
The worker’s task changes from active participation to monitoring. Humans by nature are not good at monitoring tasks. It is very difficult to remain constantly alert in a task that is low stimulation. An example of a low-stimulation task is monitoring a system that usually performs well.
One of the challenges is the automation paradox. Relatively simple tasks are automated and humans are brought in to intervene when a problem arises. However, it has become more difficult for the employee to understand the system because he or she is no longer actively involved. Therefore, it’s less likely that the employee knows how to solve the problem.
Mode error
One example of the errors that can occur is mode error. Here the user or employee thinks that the system is in a different state than it really is. You may have experienced this yourself in the car, especially if you are driving a new car. You press the gas pedal to go forward, but the car shoots backwards because you were still in reverse. Or your laptop has a black screen and you want to turn it on, so you press the power button. However, it then turns out that your laptop was in sleep mode and you just initiated shutting down your laptop, instead of starting it up.
Safety systems can also introduce new risks
In practice, we also see that even safety systems sometimes fail. For example, a system may intervene unjustly. At that point, an employee must perform an “override” so that production or execution can resume. If unjustified interventions occur frequently, the employee becomes accustomed to performing an “override. It becomes increasingly likely that he or she will also perform an ‘override’ once after a justified intervention. At that point, an incident or even accident may occur. Thus the system intended to increase safety can actually introduce new risks.
Presentation about Human Factors and automation?
