Abstracts

Understanding operator engagement in safety-critical Chinese motorway traffic control rooms

by Linyi Jin

The influence of motorway control rooms on public safety is far-reaching. Finding ways to improve the safety of such control systems continues to be an important concern in human factor research. Human factor is focused on humans' interaction with technology, and this includes their experience at present. However, current research mainly focuses on facilitating efficiency and effectiveness in interaction with technology, but there is a lack of research from the perspective of considering enhancing operator engagement while using technologies. If an operator uses a system that has state-of-the-art technology and high usability with a negative working attitude, the intended effectiveness of the system will be reduced. Furthermore, this lack also leads to an incomplete research perspective, missing the opportunity for enhancing system safety from the perspective of experience. Because engagement is beneficial for improving operator performance and being willing to go the extra mile at work (e.g., doing additional work), which is very crucial to respond to unexpected risks in safety-critical control rooms. Moreover, existing research often emphasizes that the solution lies in excluding the defects of a system, such as reducing the error rate of the system and the fatigue caused by operator's workload. Instead of merely reducing the occurrence of negative aspects, such as failure and inefficiency, close attention should also be given to resilience and positive psychology encouraging the occurrence of more positive outcomes. This research proposes that work performance can also be enhanced by considering the operators' well-being and their experience of engagement. A key concept that is used in this research is full operator engagement, which can be defined as a positive, fulfilling, confident, concentrated and even enjoyable experience in the safety-critical control room. This work experience is beneficial to both the utilitarian aspects (e.g., work performance) and the well-being aspects (e.g., positive working mentality and personal development). In order to enhance full operator engagement in a detailed and targeted manner, this PhD project emphasizes the importance of interpretation and measurement of the dynamic nature of engagement. The research has been conducted over five years, across several motorway control rooms in southwest China and involved other institutions related to motorway control rooms, such as the company that designed the monitoring software and the department that managers motorway control rooms. The participants consisted of motorway operators, supervisors, monitoring software engineers and designers. The research approach combines qualitative and quantitative methods, and considering the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the investigation and improvement of operator engagement. Chapters 2 (Literature review) and 3 (Methodology) help to identify the ontology and epistemology of full operator engagement, and the corresponding approaches and methodologies used in this research. Building on the…