| 1. |
- Gotcheva, Nadezhda, et al.
(författare)
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Managing safety culture in design activities: evidence from the Nordic nuclear power domain
- 2014
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Ingår i: 7th international conference of WOS.net (Workingonsafety.net), Glasgow, Scotland, UK, Sept 30-Oct 3, 2014.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The importance of safe and functional design is growing with the new nuclear builds across the globe. The existing literature on design emphasises the typical tensions of design activity but pays little attention to their relation to safety. The functional requirements can be met in many different ways, some safer than others. This conceptual paper aims at understanding how designers as humans affect safety in the nuclear industry. Rather than merely evaluating the quality of the design outcome, we argue for the need to study design processes from organizational perspective as they pose a variety of nuclear safety implications. We carried out a follow up study and content analysis of interview data with designers in the Nordic nuclear domain to shed more light on the specific cultural features, assumptions and norms that guide designers’ work processes. These cultural assumptions seem to be well in line with the six safety culture criteria of the DISC model. Managing the overall design project and understanding the big picture is seen as one of the main issues as the networked aspects of the design work are gradually acknowledged. This paper provides new insights on managing overall system safety and thus safety culture in design, suggesting that organizational culture can be systematically affected by management and organizational solutions.
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| 2. |
- Gotchevaa, Nadezhda, et al.
(författare)
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Cultural features of design and shared learning for safety: A Nordic nuclear industry perspective
- 2016
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Ingår i: Safety Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-7535 .- 1879-1042. ; 81, s. 90-98
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Safe and functional nuclear industry design is a topic of growing interest due to new builds and modernization projects in the operating nuclear power plants. Provided that good design of components and systems is critical for safe operation of the plants, understanding what influences the process of learning for safety in design activities is of utmost importance. The existing literature emphasizes tensions of design activity but pays insufficient attention to the culture of design and its relation to safety and learning. This paper aims at identifying cultural features of design organizations, such as shared conceptions, assumptions, norms, beliefs, and exploring their influence on the process of shared learning for safety. Case studies were carried out in Finland and Sweden to generate insights on cultural characteristics of design in the nuclear domain. The paper indicates the importance of requirements as a media for sharing knowledge and learning in nuclear industry design projects. As the networked aspects of the design work are gradually acknowledged, the need to learn how to systematically manage the requirements and understand the big picture of the overall design project are highlighted.
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| 3. |
- Luigi, Macchi, et al.
(författare)
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Improving design processes in the nuclear domain–Insights on organisational challenges from safety culture and resilience engineering perspectives
- 2014
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Ingår i: NKS (Nordic Nuclear Safety Research) Article Series. ; NKS-301
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Design flaws have been contributing to major industrial accidents. However, design activities are understudied in human and organisational factors studies. In the nuclear power domain, both pre-operational design and design of modifications depend on a network of organizations, and aim at developing solutions which meet different criteria. Nuclear power companies often outsource the design work to organisations, which might not be hitherto familiar with the safety requirements of nuclear industry. The final phase of SADE project focused on testing and evaluating the results of the first two phases through in depth analysis of case studies conducted in Finland and Sweden. The study aimed at providing insights on the inter-organizational challenges related to design activities, which could potentially affect safety of the Nordic nuclear power plants. In 2013 we carried out 14 semi-structured interviews with representatives of power plant organisations, design organisations and regulators. Interviews of the Finnish case studies were complemented by one group interview each. The study indicated that design-related challenges in the nuclear domain are mainly inter-organizational. This implies that safety management and safety culture approaches should take better into account the inter-organisational nature of work processes. For some of the challenges (e.g. coordination) many coping practices exist throughout the network, whereas for others (e.g. shared understanding) just a few were mentioned. This signifies that design organisations have learned the consequences of insufficient coordination in previous projects, while reaching a shared understanding proves to be challenging. The design process involves both rational and creative approaches to deal with real-life problems. In nuclear industry, designers face the need to balance between fulfilling requirements and doing an extensive amount of paperwork, and creating new, safe and functional solutions. To better manage safety culture in design activities in a networked context, nuclear power companies and design supply chains need to reach a shared understanding on achieving this balance. Finally, the study provides a set of recommendations to support and improve the design process and to help anticipate emerging risks in the nuclear industry.
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