Common Procedural Execution Failure Modes during Abnormal Situations

Transcription

1 Common Procedural Execution Failure Modes during Abnormal Situations 2010 International Symposium Beyond Regulatory Compliance, Making Safety Second Nature Dr. Peter Bullemer Human Centered Solutions Liana Kiff and Anand Tharanathan Honeywell October 26-28, 2010 College Station, TX USA ASM Paper presented on behalf of the Abnormal Situation Management R&D Consortium ASM and Abnormal Situation Management are registered trademarks of Honeywell International

2 Authors Dr. Peter Bullemer Senior partner, North American human factors consulting group, Human Centered Solutions, LLC Specializes in human performance in process industry operations Technical contributor to the ASM Consortium since 1994 Liana Kiff Sr. Principal Research Scientist, Honeywell Advanced Technology Specializes in information models and decision support Program Manager for the ASM Consortium Dr. AnandTharanathan Senior Research Scientist, Honeywell Advanced Technology Specializes in improving human cognition and performance in complex and dynamic domains Technical contributor to the ASM Consortium Page 2 2

3 Abnormal Situation Management A Joint Research and Development Consortium Founded in 1994 Creating a new paradigm for the operation of complex industrial plants, with solution concepts that improve Operations ability to prevent and respond to abnormal situations. Human Centered Solutions Helping People Perform UCLA Page 3

4 Background 2009 MKOC Symposium presentation provided findings from ad hoc analysis of 32 private/public incident reports to illustrate impact of human reliability on operations practices Public Site Total USA Non USA Total This presentation reports more detailed analysis of same incidents from perspective of procedural operations Page 4

5 Study Objective Develop an understanding of common failure modes in the application or execution of procedures, either manual or automated, during or in response to an abnormal situation This research study was sponsored by the Abnormal Situation Management (ASM ) Consortium. Page 5

6 Root Cause Analysis A root cause is the most basic cause (or causes) that can reasonably be identified that management has control to fix and, when fixed, will prevent (or significantly reduce the likelihood of) the failure s (or factor s) recurrence Why a failure occurred Root causes were identified using thetaproot methodology Procedure related examples:» Procedure followed incorrectly,» Procedure wrong,» Procedure not used. Page 6

7 Root Cause Analysis All root causes identified were classified as to whether the failure was associated with procedure execution under an abnormal situation If the failure occurred prior to the occurrence of an abnormal situation, the root cause was NOT considered relevant to the study Page 7

8 Analysis Results Procedure Root Cause Summary Table Root Cause Category Subcategory Count ASM Relevance Procedure Followed Format confusing 1 1 of 1; 100% Incorrectly > 1 action / step 0 No Excess references 0 No Mult unit references 0 No Limits NI 0 Yes Details NI 2 0 of 2; 0% Data/computations wrong or 0 incomplete No Graphics NI 0 No No Checkoff 0 No Checkoff Misused 3 1 of 3; 33% Misused second check 0 No Ambiguous instructions 0 Maybe; No examples found Equipment identification NI 0 No Category Subtotal 9% 6 Somewhat: 2 of 6; 33% Procedure Wrong Typo 0 No Sequence wrong 0 No Facts wrong 3 2 of 3; 66% Situation not covered of 25; 79% Wrong revision used 0 No Second checker needed 0 No Category Subtotal 40% 28 Mostly: 22 of 28 (79%) Procedure Not Procedure not used 19 9 of 19; 47% Used/Not Followed No procedure 15 7 of 15; 47% Procedure not available or 1 inconvenient for use 0 of 1; 0% Procedure difficult to use 1 0 of 1; 0% Category Subtotal 51% 36 Moderate: 16 of 36 (44%) All Procedures 100% 70 Majority: 40 of 70 (57%) The majority of root causes were associated with the failure to execute under abnormal situations 57% (40 of 70) of all procedure related root causes Page 8

9 Common Manifestation Analysis A root cause manifestation is the specific expression or indication of a root cause in an incident How execution failures are expressed in real operations settings A common manifestation is an abstraction of similar individual root cause manifestation across incidents Example: Supervisor not in control room to discuss problemsis an example common manifestation for the No Supervisioncommonroot cause Page 9

10 Conceptual Basis Common manifestations abstractions were developed based on ASM Operations Intervention Model of operator supervisor control activities Page 10

11 Conceptual Basis Orienting Failures Fail to detect abnormal condition Fail to detect an abnormal situation Evaluating Failures Unaware of process or equipment hazard Lack understanding of impact of actions Acting Failures Execute inappropriate action Assessing Failures None were identified Page 11

12 Detailed Analysis Results Common manifestations for procedure execution failures under abnormal situations: Common Manifestations Inappropriate action Fail to detect abnormal condition Lack understanding of impact Fail to detect abnormal situation Page 12 # Definition 15 Failure to know what the appropriate response should be to the occurrence of an abnormal situation in the execution of the procedure 12 Failure to detect whether equipment or process is abnormal mode; or whether there are any latent abnormal conditions 8 Failure to understand the correct impact or effect of a procedural action or failure to know the impact of not following procedural instruction 4 Failure to know when normal operating range is exceeded; or know the indications of the occurrence of an abnormal situation Unaware of hazard 1 Failure to know about the existence of a hazard or the potential of a hazardous situation if a step or steps are not followed as specified Total 40

13 Root Causes and Manifestations Examine root cause and manifestations to aid understanding of possible mitigations for these types of procedure execution failures Root Case Subcategory Count Common Manifestations (Count) Situation Not Covered 20 of 25 Inappropriate Action (7) Fail to Detect Abnormal Conditions (7) Lack Understanding of Impact (5) Fail to Detect Abnormal Situation (1) Procedure Not Used 9 of 19 Inappropriate Action (4) Fail to Detect Abnormal Conditions (3) Lack Understanding of Impact (2) No Procedure 7 of 15 Inappropriate Action (4) Fail to Detect Abnormal Situation (2) Fail to Detect Abnormal Conditions (1) Facts Wrong 2 of 3 Fail to Detect Abnormal Situation (1) Lack Understanding of Impact (1) Check-off Misused 1 of 3 Fail to Detect Abnormal Conditions (1) Format Confusing 1 of 1 Unaware of Hazard (1) Page 13

14 Corrective Action Recommendations In 59% of these incident reports, the investigation team observed a strong need to address abnormal situations in procedure development Incident Report Corrective Action Recommendations Frequency Improve procedure content by addressing 19 abnormal situations No procedure mitigation strategy 13 recommended in report Improve procedure coverage 10 Improve procedure content 4 Improve policy enforcement 3 Improve procedural training 3 Improve development method 2 Improve procedure format 1 Improve review work process 1 Improve status documentation 1 Page 14

15 Conclusion The analysis of root cause manifestations suggests the following improvements to procedural content to improve reliability: Page 15 Know what the appropriate response should be to the occurrence of an abnormal situation in the execution of the procedure Detect whether equipment or process is abnormal mode; or whether there are any latent abnormal conditions Detect when normal operating range is exceeded; or know the indications of the occurrence of an abnormal situation Understand the correct impact or effect of a procedural action or know the impact of not following the procedural instruction

16 Discussion/Questions Thank You! Questions and/or Comments? Page 16

17 Abstract The Abnormal Situation Management Consortium funded a study to investigate procedural execution failures during abnormal situations. The study team analyzed 20 public and 12 private incident reports using the TapRoot methodology to identify root causes associated with procedural operations failures. The main finding from this investigation was the majority of the procedural operations failures (57%) across these 32 incident reports involved execution failures in abnormal situations. Specific recommendations include potential information to capture from plant incident to better understand the sources of procedural operations failures and improve procedural operations in abnormal situations. Page 17