A MCDM-based methodology to evaluate the mutual influence among performance shaping factors

Abstract

In recent decades, risk analysts have widely focused on Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) methods to assess the contribution of human errors to system failures, also considering contextual and cognitive factors named Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs). Initially implemented in the field of Nuclear Power Plants (NNPs), HRA methods have been extended to different sectors in recent years. Despite that, the majority of contributions in the field assume the independence among PSFs, which may result in an over or under estimation of the Human Error Probability (HEP). Therefore, the present paper proposes a DEMATEL-based approach to evaluate the mutual influence between PSFs proposed by the SPARH method. A case study related to the agri-food sector is presented.