Browsing by Subject "vaaratilanteet"

The aim of this current study is to increase awareness and to provide insight into the human psychological constraints and their contribution on hazardous situations at work as well as to provide new tools for the further development of occupational safety. Interruptions at work are common and may result in hazardous situations. The accident risk caused by interruption is often based on the employee's work experience converted into automatic cognitive processing. We know very little about the impact of interruptions on the automatic processing. In addition to other adverse effects it may cause, interruption may result also in cognitive bias. Interruption may lead to a situation, where we falsely believe that what has been started, has also been done. The case study used data that has been screened in international and national fatality investigation databases. The selected cases were analysed by applying a cognitive analysis of interruption method. From the available literature, research and analysis of the cases, it appears that the automatic cognitive processing is very vulnerable to interruptions. Vulnerability was manifested especially in situations where the attention demanding controlled processing broke off automatic performance. Automatic processing can also lead to situations with significant risk when unexpected change in the environment is occurred or if environmental conditions no longer reflect the current automatic cognitive processing. In automatic work process, which includes subtasks operated always in same specific order, case analysis gives a clue to the emergence of cognitive bias. This is manifested in a situation where already started subtask or part of the started work, which is perceived as a whole, is interrupted. However, more research is needed to determine the exact mechanisms behind this phenomenon. The damage interruptions might cause during an automatic work performance can be reduced by the use of external cognitive tools to increase attention and to ensure situational awareness especially when disengaging and/or resuming the original task and by the development of technical security solutions.