THE CONTRIBUTION OF KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION TECHNIQUES TO THE ASSESSMENT OF TRAINING NEEDS

The process of improving safety in modern industrial systems continues to stimulate considerable debate. One way this issue is being addressed is through the expansion of training programs and the use of other behavioural interventions. The success of this depends on the identification of appropriate interventions. By considering the problem as one in which we wish to understand the knowledge and beliefs associated with a task, the problems faced by those involved in the assessment of training needs and other behavioural interventions can be seen as those already familiar to knowledge engineers involved with the construction of intelligent knowledge based systems. It is argued that the experience gained in addressing the problems associated with knowledge acquisition, can be equally well applied to the process of safety assessment. Two simple pilot studies are described to illustrate one way in which knowledge acquisition could be used to identify potential safety training needs.