Repères pour la conception d'un terminal informatique nomade d'aide aux agents de terrain du nucléaire

Abstract

This study contributes to a design project aiming at implementing a new mobile computer device dedicated to field operators in nuclear power plants. It originates from a demand of the project manager who expects a comparative study of two field inspection computer programs in order to identify the most useful features and to integrate them. A first ethnographic kind of observation leads to move the focus of the study on the overall field operators' work practices and to consider field inspection as just a part of them. A detailed analysis of actual field operators' work practices, based upon systematic observations and self-confrontation interviews, is carried out. Eventually, information useful to the specifications of the future computer device is provided. This study thus shows the practical value, for design, of work practices ergonomic analysis.