Working Group on Human and Organisational Factors (WGHOF)

Programme of work

The main mission of the Working Group on Human and Organisational Factors (WGHOF) is to improve the understanding and treatment of human and organisational factors within the nuclear industry in order to support the continued safety performance of nuclear installations and improve the effectiveness of regulatory practices in member countries.

The group reports to the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI). The group collaborates with 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

WGHOF has organised a workshop in co-operation with the IAEA in Chester, UK for September 2011 on the topic of An Analytical Review of Approaches to Maintaining Oversight of Leadership, Managing for Safety and Safety Culture, a Regulatory Perspective. This workshop is a follow-up to a previous WGHOF activity also in co-operation with the IAEA on Workshop on Maintaining Oversight of Licensee Safety Culture - Methods and Approaches in Chester, United Kingdom, in May 2007. The proceedings of the workshop were issued in July 2008.
WGHOF is currently working on a joint WGHOF/WGRISK task entitled Establishing Desirable Attributes of Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) Techniques in Nuclear Risk Assessment. A final report is due in December 2012.
WGHOF organised a workshop in March 2010 in Washington DC to discuss and prioritise a set of research topics that will enhance the state of knowledge related to the human and organisational factor (HOF) aspects of new and advanced nuclear power plants (NPPs).
The WGHOF continues to discuss the adequacy of licensee organisational structures in connection with their competencies. The working group organised a workshop on Justifying the Suitability of Nuclear Licensee Organisational Structures, Resources and Competencies in Sweden, in September 2008.
The WGHOF organised in co-operation with the IAEA a Workshop on Maintaining Oversight of Licensee Safety Culture - Methods and Approaches in Chester, United Kingdom, in May 2007. The proceedings of the workshop were issued in July 2008.
The WGHOF organised a workshop in co-operation with the Halden Reactor Project (HRP) in May 2006 in Norway. The workshop looked at Future Control Room Designs and Human Performance Issues in Nuclear Power Plants. The proceedings of the workshop were issued in 2007.
The WGHOF studied 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; the proceedings of the workshop were issued in 2006. The Technical Opinion Paper based on the workshop's results has been published in 2009.
A Technical Opinion Paper on The Management of Organisational Change from a Regulatory Point of View was published in 2004.
The WGHOF co-organised a session on The 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.
A workshop on Operating Experience and Human and Organisational Factors in the Context of Nuclear Power Plant Modifications was organised in collaboration with the Working Group on Operating Experience (WGOE) and was held in Paris in October 2003. The proceedings and report were issued in 2004. A Technical Opinion Paper on this topic has been published in 2009.
The proceedings of the workshop Scientific Approaches to Safety Management held on 8-10 April 2003 in Paris have been issued, followed by a state-of-the-art report on Systematic Approaches to Safety Management.

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.