THE CONTRIBUTION OF HUMAN FACTORS TO RISKS FROM RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL TRANSPORT

The use of probabilistic risk assessment to assess the safety of radioactive material transport operations is well accepted. However, quantitative risk assessments of radioactivl· material transport operations ~ave generally not explicitly considered human factors in estimating risks Given the high profile of human factors as the root cause of many serious transport incidents omission of an explicit consideration of human factors in a risk assessment could lead to assessments losing credibility. In addition, scrutiny of radioactive material transport incider.t databases reveals a large number of operational incidents and minor accidents that could have been avoided if more attention had been paid to human factors aspects, and provides examples of instances where improvements have been achieved. This paper examines the areas of radioactive material transport risk assessments (both qualitative and quantitative) which could be strengthened by further examination ot'the impact of human errors. It is concluded that a more complete and detailed understanding of the effects of human factors on the risks from radioactive material transport operations has been obtained. Quality assurance has a key part to play in ensuring that packages are correctly manufactured and prepared for transport. Risk assessments of radioactive material transport operations can be strengthened by concentrating on the key human factors effects.