Accidental risk division
RISKMAN - RA3
Human-Technology Interaction
INERIS – SUBPROJECT PROPOSAL
1.1 Subprojet full title :
A Human-Technology Interaction Grade, input to SRMG
Design of a knowledge system collecting the experience of industrial world providing the
required information for creating a new human and technology interaction grade
focused on major hazard prevention
1.2 Subproject Acronym : HTIG (Human Technology Interaction Grade)
1.3 Riskman Research Area : RA 3 Human – Technology Interaction
2.1 Proposing organisation : INERIS
2.2 Contact person name : Olivier SALVI
Bruno GIOVANNINI
Emmanuel PLOT
Jean-Christophe LE COZE
2.3 Address :
INERIS
Institut National de l’Environnement Industriel et des Risques
Parc Technologique ALATA B.Pn°2
Verneuil-en-Halatte
France
2.4 Tel :
03 44 55 65 92
2.5 Fax :
03 44 55 62 95
2.6 Email :
bruno.giovannini@ineris.fr
emmanuel.plot@ineris.fr
jean-christophe.lecoze@ineris.fr
olivi.salvi@ineris.fr
2.7 Web site :
http:/www.ineris.fr
2.8 Participating organisations and companies, name and country :
3. PROPOSAL SUMMARY
Problems to be solved :
The growing activity in industry (Chemical processes operators, powers plants operators,
railways and aeronautics operators, food industries…) increases the human productivity
capacity. This growth is followed by new kinds of accidents that are threatening human
activity and its environment. These accidents are said to be major because they represent
serious hazards on human health and/or for the environment, immediate or delayed, inside or
outside the establishments where hazardous industrial activities are carried out.
For ethical reasons, as well as economical, political and social, the operators of these
industrial activities must control them.
For that purposes numerous regulations, coming from the European union and from national
initiatives, have been enacted for the last 20 years.
Among the risk factors that the operators must manage, there are technical factors, like the
ageing of the installations and equipment, and human factors. Human factors, because the risk
control is organised by people, and that people sometimes do not allow the organisational risk
control to be as efficient as expected. People do make mistakes. For instance, in May 1998,
the MARS database, in charge of collecting major accidents (Seveso II) within the European
community indicates that the human contribution represents 64% of the root causes of the
declared accidents.
Today industry needs to integrate human factors in the risk management systems. However,
there is no tool to do that clearly. The HTIG project is a contribution to solve this
requirement.
Scientific objective and approach :
The recent scientific progress in the field of major risk management allows the HTIG project
to be developed. These progresses carried out hybrid qualitative / quantitative assessment
methodologies integrating the human factor dimension (formal and informal) of major hazard
prevention.
For example, one of these methodologies carried out, related to Seveso II directive, is
ARAMIS (Accidental Risk Assessment Methodology for Industries), co-ordinated by
INERIS, developed in the field of the European 5th framework programme. ARAMIS goes
further on several existing applied research programs : I RISK (4th framework program with
the participation of Safety science group, Netherlands), MIRIAM (French applied research at
INERIS, France), Model of safety culture (from the Risoe laboratory, Danemark). This
methodology refers as to the commonly used management TQM, Total Quality Management
–EFQM-, ISO 9000, 14000, OHSAS 18000 …). ARAMIS has been developed using various
insights from various disciplines such as psychology, sociology and ergonomics and has been
designed to be able to articulate the different paradigms and assessment tools of these human
science disciplines involved.
The scientific progress (in the field of chemical processes operators, powers plants operators,
railways and aeronautics operators, food industries…) allowed to create an efficient
representation that helps to analyse the human factor influence on the major hazard
prevention.
The natural next step of this work is the development of the existing theoretical frameworks,
in order to create a knowledge system collecting the experience of industry providing the
required information to create a grade. This is the objective of the HTIG project.
HTIG project will therefore create a new tool for measuring the human factor influence on the
organisational risk control focused on major hazard prevention. This tool will be suitable for
any industrial companies that need to assess the level of organisational risk control through a
human factor perspective. It will take into account the various organisational activities
participating to the risk control, at several inner levels of the companies (from the production
level to the production management levels, considering the interaction between the levels),
but including the outer context of companies too (found in the idea of governance).
4. OBJECTIVES
The objective of HTIG is to build up a knowledge system collecting the experience of
industry providing the required information to create a new human and technology
interaction grade, as an input to the SRMG.
The HTIG will be measured according to a methodology which will be useful as a promoting
tool for prevention within the industrial world. Human and technology interaction is
acknowledged to be important, but difficult to address as it remains a rather vague concept in
the industry. The HTIG will structure it and make human and technology interaction clearer.
This methodology is also seen as a contribution to speed up the harmonised implementation
of European directives on major accident prevention. Accordingly, this tool should be flexible
enough to take into account the different national cultures in the risk assessment field, so that
the new methodology could become a recommended and harmonised tool used by risk experts
and endorsed by the risk decision-markers in the whole EU.
This approach supports the European Research Area concerning the improvement of the
knowledge, encouragement of the Science-Industry dialogue and harmonisation in decisionmaking process.
In technical terms, HTIG aims at :
1. Building up a knowledge system of the human factor influences on organisational risk
control :
- State of the art of the accident data bases and the existing knowledge on the
organisational and human factor side of the accidents,
- State of the art on major hazard prevention with the organisational risk control seen
through the influence of human factors,
- State of the art in other research fields but transferable to the major hazard prevention
field,
-
Data base creation in order to record and make usable these experiences in order to
elaborate a new grade of the influence of human factors on major hazard prevention,
through the organisational approach, integrating three levels of risk control :
production processes, production management processes, and governance processes.
2. Using the knowledge system, elaborating the new grade with 15 test sites. The grade
should enable :
- the assessment of the influence of human factors on organisational risk control. It will
be required to build up grades that will be suitable for the different processes of the
organisational risk control, it will be therefore required to find solutions that help this
mapping approach of the existing modelling
- an integrated assessment including the various human factor dimensions (psychology,
sociology, ergonomics) et eliminating as much as possible the judgement based only
on experience of the assessor, but in making clear what are the parameters taken into
account
- to find solutions according to the results of the assessment, the grade will therefore be
articulated with the possible enhancement solutions of the major accident prevention
The completion of the work and the accomplishment of these objectives will be measurable
and verifiable through the deliverables including interim reports all the project long and final
report, which are directly related to the above-mentioned objectives. The impact of the work
will be also measurable and verifiable through the proceedings of the workshops and the
results available on the web site.
5. DELIVERABLES
New products :
- A new Human-Technology Interaction Grade based on experience of industrial world,
input to SRMG
- A new hybrid qualitative / quantitative assessment tool of the human factor influence on
organisational risk control allowing to have an access to the jurisprudence of the major
hazard prevention according to the existing methodologies (like ARAMIS)
- IT solutions to help to :
- manage of knowledge coming from experience and analysis of experience
- implement of the mapping of the modelling on the organisational risk control
- assess the influence of human factor on organisational risk control
- find solution according to te results of the assessment
New processes and services :
see Wp3 : Valorisation and dissemination
Radical innovations :
Building up a knowledge system and a new human and technology interaction grade based on
integrated human factor approach, articulated around various industries, disciplines, and
levels of organisational risk control.
6. JUSTIFICATION AND POTENTIAL IMPACT
The HTIG will help risk managers to develop strategy to improve risk control by combining
not only safety technologies, but also human and organisational performance.
7. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK

Six Work-packages :
-
Wp0 : Subproject Management
Overall co-ordination and management of the subproject, monitoring of
subproject progress against its work plan, organisation of meeting, support of
communication between partners, problem resolution, complete – consolidation
and timely reporting.
-
Wp1 : Preparation of the work
- Wp1A : screening of the partners approaches
- Wp1B : negotiation of the framework for the knowledge system and the grade
design
-
Wp2 : Building up of the knowledge system
- Wp2A : accident analysis
- Wp2B : works and researches on risk management
- Wp2C : other transferable works
- Wp2D : IT solution development (data base)
-
Wp3 : Grade design with 15 test sites
- Wp3A : organisational processes mapping
- Wp3B : integrated assessment tool
- Wp3C : articulated assessment/solutions
- Wp3D : IT solution development (assessment tool)
-
Wp4 : Valorisation and dissemination
- WP4.A Definition of the needs of potential users
This involves the following steps: a/ delivering information about HTIG to a
Review Team including representatives of stakeholders, including Authorities and
industrial companies ; b/ development of a questionnaire to distribute to the
Review Team on the expectations on the tool to be developed under HTIG ; c/
analysis of the responses given to the questionnaire and use as input to the
technical team.
- WP4.B Developing and maintaining a project web-site and integrating HTIG
methodology into this site.
At the beginning of the project a web site will be developed and operated
throughout the project duration to promote the HTIG project and disseminate the
public results: publishing a brochure presenting the project ; publishing every six
months a newsletter written by the project manager ; releasing the public results
At the end of the project, the HTIG tool will be integrated as a software based
application together with an input data support tool into the web-site. The tool will
be available on the web-site for free downloading as well as on a freely available
CD-ROM so that its wide distribution is ensured.
- WP4.C Organising 2 workshops on "HTIG - Practical Application of a New
Supportive Tool to Promote Safety in the EU" with the participation of EU
-
-
-
Competent Authorities, Industrialists, Risk consultants, Students in risk, safety and
environment. The proceedings of the 2 workshops will be published
WP4.D Training package : a training programme will be build up to help
universities to transfer the concept and tools to the students, but also a training
with adequate supports will be developed to disseminate the tools and the
methodology towards the industry, in particular SME’s.
WP4.E Technological implementation plan (TIP)
A complete draft version of the TIP will be submitted 3 months before the end of
the project duration.
Wp5 : Parallel review
- WP5.A Constitution of the parallel Review Team
To ensure that the risk assessment tool developed under HTIG becomes a realistic
practical tool that will be applied by the authorities and by industry, a Review
Team parallel to the technical project work is constituted. This team will gather
specialists and practitioners in risk related decision-making from EU Member
States Competent Authorities and Industry.
- WP5.B Performance of the parallel review
The Review Team should make a critical review of all project development phases
and comment on the applicability and usefulness of the results achieved by the
technical team. The main purpose is to include the views and concerns of risk
experts and risk related decision-makers from both industry and authorities from
the beginning in order to ensure:
 that the technical team is aware of important concerns of industry and
authorities that may have an impact on the technical development under
HTIG, and
 a wide acceptance of the approach developed in HTIG.
Specifically, the Review Team will be consulted in order to:
 define the needs from industry and authorities,
 validate the HTIG methodology with regard to existing regulatory and
industrial demands in the respective EU Member States,
 support dissemination of the results to authorities and industry.
To ensure proper work monitoring and endorsement, the team will meet once or
twice a year throughout the project duration.
- WP5.C Proposal of HTIG applications for risk related decision-making
The purpose of this task is to define the functionality and limitations of the HTIG
tool for the end-users (industry, competent authorities, insurance).
8. PARTNERS INVOLVED


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Industrial partners (Chemical processes operators, powers plants operators, railways and
aeronautics operators, food industries…)
Research laboratories specialised in risk management (Tu Delft, TNO, RISOE, SINTEF,
CETIM, INERIS, …)
Research laboratories specialised in human sciences (CNRS / CSO, PARIS 5, UTC,
UPJV, …)