Measuring Behavior 2005: Liu

A system for monitoring abnormal operator behaviors

H. Liu

Department of Industrial Engineering & Management, Ming Hsin University of Science & Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Abnormal operator behaviors can create product quality or system safety problems for industrial survival. These abnormal behaviors were controlled through developing appropriate measurements based on the analyzing results of corresponding outcomes. To ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the control mechanism, this plan-do-check-action cycle is repeatedly initiated by encountered problems, which usually already cause some damage to system operations. As a result, extra costs occur.

In this study, a common PC-based computer program is developed, based on the technique of Human Error Identification System Tools (HEIST), to help industrial managers create a monitoring system for abnormal operator behaviors. The abnormal behavior is defined as the deviation from standard operation. The standard operation procedure is used as input data of this program. An interactive process is initiated to guide the users to develop the potential abnormal behavior tables, which are transformed into abnormal behavior observation checklists. Work Sampling Technique is incorporated to generate the schedule to collect the line workers’ abnormal data. An alarm level of abnormal behavior is set through the Control Chart Technique. An industry is carried out to illustrate the application of this system.

Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5^th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands.