Recognizing Significant Human-Related Factors Affecting System Reliability

System reliability can be affected by many factors, some of which are not machine-related. An important category of these non-traditional factors are human-related (HR) factors, such as expertise, collaboration, and motivation. Operational systems consist of machinery as well as human operators and decision makers. Therefore, a risk analysis is incomplete if the probability of human error is not considered. The paper discusses a method for recognizing human-related factors affecting the system reliability and evaluating their impact. Factors are analyzed to determine their significance. The insignificant ones are then eliminated. Various Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) techniques have been developed in order to identify factors that influence human and system reliability. Among the many HRA techniques developed for various applications, this paper uses Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM) due to its cognition approach for identifying the factors affecting human reliability. Once identified, factors are utilized in the Proportional Hazards Model (PHM), a well-known failure prediction and reliability analysis model. The inclusion of HR factors will expand the traditional focus of PHM, thus making it an all-encompassing approach.