Development of Human Factors Engineering Maturity Method for the Nuclear Domain

We have developed methods and tools for the assessment of the maturity of individual Human Factors Engineering (HFE) products and projects and the maturity of HFE organizations' readiness and capability to apply HFE interventions. The paper will focus on an organization's maturity to conduct HFE interventions in the nuclear domain. To our knowledge, even though there are several methods and tools for the assessment of capacity maturity, e.g., for systems engineering, usability and ergonomics, there is no specific method for the assessment of HFE maturity at the organizational level. Our aim was to develop a method that is flexible and easy to use. The simple maturity method is a type of questionnaire, in which the questions are statements of good practice. The method was developed in an iterative fashion with the representatives of Finnish nuclear companies and of the Finnish nuclear authority. Four stages were included: planning, design, evaluation and implementation. In the planning stage, we specified the expected users and the measurement and determined the scope of the method and criteria for its successful application. In the development strategy stage, we selected the important domain components, individual topics and statements for each domain component, specified the maturity levels and outlined how the method will be applied. In the evaluation/implementation stage, we will specify how to collect feedback on the method's performance. The paper will present the results of the preliminary testing of the method for analyzing nuclear power companies' HFE maturity.