The human factors approach relies on understanding the properties of
human capability and limitations under various conditions and the application of that
knowledge in designing and developing safe systems. Following the principles of
MTO (Man Technology Organization) approach, emphasis should be given to the
way people interact with technical as well as organizational systems.
A model describing human factor influences in relation to the performance shaping
factors and their effect on the manual ultrasonic inspection performance had been
built and a part of it empirically tested. The experimental task involved repeated
inspection of 18 flaws according to the standard procedure under no, middle and
high time pressure. Stress coping strategies, mental workload of the task, stress
reaction and organizational factors have been measured. The results have shown that
time pressure, mental workload and experience influence the quality of the
inspection performance. Organizational factors and their influence on the inspection
results were rated as important by the operators. However, further research is
necessary into the effects of stress.
The inspection of the sealing weld is an important phase for the evaluation of the acceptability of final disposal canister, but the weld is only a part of the 3D shielding of copper shell. The main tasks for reliable NDT evaluation requires an extensive evaluation of the parameters which contains typical inspection related items like repeatability, S/N ratio, POD, setting up the equipment for inspection, and all practices for inspections. The other parameters are material parameters, their variation must be taken into account in the evaluation of NDT reliability. Further parameters include human factors, i. e. human inspectors and their interaction with technical systems; their effects were studied on an example of the evaluation of eddy current data. Final parameters are related to evaluation of detected defects, which means sizing and base for acceptance and this can be done in different ways. Some examples are given and results are compared with different methods for instance between radiographic testing and ultrasonic testing by raw data analysis and PA-SAFT results. Also, preliminary curves for the evaluation of metallographic results of 55 defects will be shown by EB weld measurements. Some practical items concerning copper inspections will be also discussed related to acceptability.