Automation and security

The increased automation of industrial systems has led to an imbalance between the various human and social components of these systems.

After a brief review of the main characteristics of automated systems, this dossier highlights some of the paradoxes of automated systems in relation to human activity and safety, drawing on an extensive bibliography.

It underlines the fact that taking safety into account in automated systems inevitably means factoring in human activity requirements and organizational factors right from the design stage.

As a result, he recommends broadening the scope of design to include the implementation, operation and decommissioning phases, and thus going beyond technical knowledge alone.

In addition to complying with the relevant regulations (Directive 89/391/EEC transposed into French law by Law no. 91-1414 and its implementing decree no. 2001-1016, see [Doc. AG 3 530] ), this requires participative ergonomics and the application of the new approach to standardization. Design logic must strike a balance between the autonomy essential to the human operator (adaptability, initiative, etc.), to cope with unforeseen situations, and the rules and procedures structuring the work as a whole.