Year
1988
Abstract
This paper describes a human engineering design and analysis effort for a major security system upgrade at a DOE facility. This upgrade was accomplished by replacing an obsolete and poorly human engineered security screening booth with a new, user oriented, semiautomated, computerbased access control system. Human factors engineers assisted the designer staff in specifying a security access interface to physically and cognitively accommodate all employees which included handicapped individuals in wheel chairs, and several employees who were severely disabled, both visually and aurally. The new access system was intended to control entry into sensitive exclusion areas by requiring personnel to enter a security screening booth and interact with card reader devices and a-simple-to-operate access control panel system. Extensive man-machine testing with prototype mock-ups was conducted to assess human engineered design features and to illuminate potentially confusing or difficult-to-operate hardware placement, layout, and operation sequencing. These evaluations, along with the prototype mock-ups, provided input which resulted in a prototype which was easy to enter, operate, and understand by end users. This prototype later served as the design basis for the final systems design.