The Customer:

Members of the CSR have performed work on internal weapons systems programs since the early 1980s. Customers include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Laurence Livermore National Laboratory, and Mason Hanger (contractor who performs final assembly). The customers have been teams assigned to advanced development projects, war reserve programs, groups designing stockpile testing programs, and teams investigating anomalous findings in the stockpile.

The Work:

In weapons development, the work typically involves assisting component designers develop user interfaces that are conducive to assembly, test, and use. A manual preflight control panel is a good example of a physical human interface on a weapon. Handling gear used to lift, transport, assemble, and test weapons also need attention so that mistakes are minimized and damage to the weapons is avoided. Human factors personnel sit through all military weapon handling and modification operations developed by the national laboratories to ensure that the equipment is designed appropriately and that the manuals explain the operations clearly. When damaged equipment is found in the field, human factors specialists are included in the investigation of causal factors. Human reliability specialists are included in estimating the potential for the existence of additional field anomalies, if causal factors include human errors.

Ergonomic redesign of a field weapons tester uses logical, procedure-based layout.

Key Benefits:

• Improved usability of weapons and related handling gear
• Improved reliability of weapons related tasks
• Improved readability and clarity of written weapons manuals
• Quantitative analysis of human reliability applied to weapons-related tasks

Results:

• Weapons that are more reliable and safe to handle
• Accurate quantitative assessments of stockpile readiness
• Accurate and reliable test results
• Safe and reliable stockpile