Working Group on Human and Organisational Factors (WGHOF)

Programme of work

The mission of this working group is (1) to improve the current understanding of human and organisational factors, (2) to advance the development and use of methods for assessing human and organisational factors and (3) to address emerging safety issues. The purpose of these activities is to maintain and improve the safety of nuclear installations in NEA member countries.

The group reports to the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI). The group collaborates and responds to requests from the CNRA and other working groups of the CSNI. The group also establishes arrangements with other international organisations operating in the same area for the purpose of identifying and creating synergy and avoiding duplication. The group may also consider relevant information and co-operate with non-nuclear organisations when appropriate.

Work in progress or recently finished

• A technical opinion paper on the management of change from a regulatory point of view has been published;

• The proceedings of the workshop Scientific Approaches to Safety Management (8-10 April 2003, Paris) have been issued, as has a report on systematic approches to safety management;

• A workshop on operating experience and human and organisational factors in the context of nuclear power plant modifications organised in collaboration with the Working Group on Operating Experience (WGOE) was held in October 2003 in Paris. The proceedings have been issued and a report was issued in 2004;

• The WGHOF co-organised a session on management of change related to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants during the NEA workshop Safe, Efficient and Cost-effective Decommissioning, held on 6-10 September 2004 in Rome, Italy. The full proceedings of the workshop are available on CD-ROM.

• The WGHOF studies how nuclear power plant maintenance may be carried out more safely and efficiently by enhancing human and organisational factors; a workshop was organised on the topic in Ottawa (Canada) in October 2005;
  
• WGHOF organised in Norway a workshop in co-operation with the Halden Reactor Project (HRP) during May 2006 to study future control room desings and human performance issues in nuclear power plants.

• Ongoing WGHOF discussion topics also include: advanced reactors; recent events with and the role for human and operational factors; investigation of incidents; and operator competence.
  
  
• The proceedings of the workshop on improving human performance in maintenance actions (Ottawa, Canada, 3-5 October 2005) have been issued as: NEA/CSNI/R(2006)7.

WGHOF workshops

Maintaining Oversight of Licensee Safety Culture - Methods and Approaches
Chester, United Kingdom, 21-23 May 2007

Workshop on Human Resource Management in Safety and Regulation
25-26 October 2005, Stockholm, Sweden

Better Nuclear Plant Maintenance: Improving Human and Organisational Performance
3-5 October 2005, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Related links

WGHOF overview

WGHOF mandate

WGHOF recent reports

Working Group on Risk Assessment

Working Group on Operating Experience

Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) overview

E-mail contact: Alejandro Huerta (alejandro.huerta@oecd.org)
These pages were last reviewed on 2 February 2008.