Organisational challenges of maintenance work at NPPs

The proper working of the machinery is critical to NPP safety and productivity. Because maintenance routines and plant modifications are the activities that intervene most with the machinery, they are also the dominant sources of faults. Most of the human factor studies have relied on this fact. Due to the diversity, the temporal and spatial separation of the maintenance tasks, and the numerous competence requirements, focusing on a single task, special situation or a single psychological problem can only partially explain the requirements of maintenance work and the organisational challenges of effective maintenance. We have applied a cultural approach to maintenance work. Our aim has been to model the maintenance task and its psychological requirements and to characterise the features of organisational cultures in three NPP maintenance units. Results imply similarities and differences in the cultures and in the emphasis on the maintenance task. Maintenance activities have been under various restructuring initiatives. These changes have been experienced as stressful among the personnel. The effect of changes on the reliability of maintenance should be considered. A challenge for maintenance is to be able to build organisational structures and practices that would facilitate the fulfilment of the psychological work characteristics.