Non-PSA applications of HRA

Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is a tool for assessing the human contribution to failures, usually as part of a probabilistic safety assessment (PSA). The PSA typically only makes use of the quantitative Human Error Probability (HEP) that is produced by the HRA, meaning that the detailed qualitative analyses that underpin this calculation and the knowledge that is produced in the activity are not utilised outside of the HRA. However, qualitative HRA can provide valuable insights into the individual, workplace and organisational factors that drive human performance and errors, and may be useful for a range of risk-informed applications beyond the PSA.
A questionnaire was carried to how HRA has been used outside PSA and what potential HRA has to widen its scope in the nuclear domain. This questionnaire was distributed to Nordic PSA/HRA organisations. In Finland and Sweden, HRA is used in great majority of cases for PSA purposes only. The lack of broader experience of the area seems to be one reason for that as in the survey, the need for guidance was emphasised. The counterpart for this lack of expertise is the lack of respect towards HRA from the part of organisations which are to utilise the HRA originating results. These forces strengthen each other: without understanding the value of HRA, resources are not distributed to develop HRA and HRA expertise, and without proper resources, less HRA can be done.
A reasonable way to solve this problem would be to strengthen HRA from the inside of the HRA community. That can be done in PSA and non-PSA context. Regarding the usage of HRA in non-PSA purposes, lot of possibilities can be identified. Part of them are realised but a lot can still be done. SAFIR programme provides one possibility to strengthen HRA from various perspectives.