Human factor analysis inside a peculiar job environment at the Gran Sasso mountain underground laboratory of Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics

Abstract

Due to the high social, economic and image costs associated with every single incident, the first in-depth studies on the importance of the Human Factor (HF) have been carried out since the 70s in the field of aviation, both military and civilian, and in the nuclear field. To date there are several methodologies by which it is possible to estimate the human error probability. However, all these techniques have the disadvantage of not being able to analyse the unconscious component involved. Therefore, the aim of this research is to integrate into the analysis of the human factor some psychodynamic investigation techniques, capable, indeed, to stress the unconscious component of potential sub-threshold disorders and further assess what does it mean to work in a particular working environment such as the Gran Sasso mountain underground laboratories (LNGS or Gran Sasso National Laboratory) of Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN).