18th IAA Humans in Space Symposium (2011)
2059.pdf
Conception and Technique of Human Error Management in Space Flight
A. P. Nechaev
Head of Scientific and Organizing Department, Institute for Biomedical Problems of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, Khoroshevskoye Shosse, 76a, 123007 Moscow, Russia
Despite measures to prevent human error being undertaken at all stages of manned space objects
design and crewmembers training they continue to be observed in the course of crew task
performance. The point is that it is very difficult to foresee beforehand all situations which may
effect negatively on operator’s reliability. Therefore, working out the methods of human
reliability management or, in other words, human error management immediately during space
flight is very important.
One of reasons of human error is aggravation of his/her psychophysiological state (PPS) under
influence of environmental factors. In our previous investigations on basis of the analysis of the
data collected during nine “Mir” station missions (18 Russian cosmonauts, 226 flight weeks, 194
crew errors (CE)) the significant (p<0.05) correlation between PPS aggravation and CE
frequency has been found. Among the factors affecting PPS we paid special attention to disorders
of sleep-wake cycle and surplus workload since these deviations from the nominal work-rest
schedule (WRS) of crew are typical for station operation. As a result of data processing the
significant (p<0.05) dependence of cosmonaut’s PPS on WRS intensity has been established. It
means that WRS intensity may be regarded as “the controlling factor” in respect of cosmonaut’s
PPS and – indirectly – of CE. On this basis the method of crewmembers’ PPS management has
been developed to reduce CE likelihood.
However, large quantity of the parameters used for assessment of cosmonaut’s PPS and WRS
intensity posed problems in utilization of this method. As a result of in-depth data analysis the set
of these parameters has been reduced and technique of CE management has been simplified.
The technique and the algorithm of crewmembers’ errors management are considered in the
paper.