Form 0920-20IU Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) Interview Guide

Attachment b

Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) Interview Guide

Subject ID: _________________

Interviewer: _________________________________

Date: _______________

Demographics

1. Job title _________________________________

2. Number of years mining experience__________

3. Number of years at this mine site__________

4. Number of years of haul truck operating experience (total) ____________

5. Number of years of haul truck operating experience (at this site) ____________

Reminder: To help protect identifiable information, please avoid using the names of individuals or specific work locations. For example, in describing an operator of another vehicle, use the term “operator” or “driver”. When describing a work location use generic terms such as haul road or shop area and avoid using specific names such as “Cochran’s Mill Road”.

NOTE: Each section of the interview guide contains multiple questions that may be used to probe the same underlying construct. For example, the job overview section has multiple questions that could be used to get an idea of the participant’s job role. The interviewer will have discretion over which questions to use during the interview. Haul Truck Operator Questions are in black. Supervisor specific questions are in red. Safety Supervisor and Manager level questions are in green.

Public reporting burden of this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to - CDC/ATSDR Reports Clearance Officer; 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS D-74, Atlanta, Georgia 30333 ATTN: PRA (0920-1154).

Job Overview

I am going to ask you a few questions about your job. These questions are about your day to day work routine, what you typically have to do, who you typically work with. I’m interested in knowing about your normal routine.

1. What are your primary responsibilities during a shift?

2. What does a typical shift look like?

3. What are your goals on a typical day?

4. Who are you working with directly?

   1. Who do you need to coordinate with to meet your goals?

   2. Why is this critical?

5. What changes from day to day?

6. What are the most complicated parts of the job?

   1. What stresses you out most on a day to day basis?

7. What does a “great day” look like for you, in terms of performing your job?

Task Deep Dive

The goal of this section is to get miners to think about the key steps or key aspects of the task. This can be interpreted as procedural tasks or categories of tasks. It is up to the individual to make that determination. If the subject talks for a long period of time, be sure to go back and clarify what they have said (i.e. I heard you say the main points are…Is this accurate?). Each of these sections should take about 10 minutes to complete.]

1. Think about your typical routes, can you break the task down into less than six but more than three critical steps?

Skills and Expertise

1. Thinking about these steps, which are the most cognitively challenging?

2. Which steps are most likely to cause mistakes?

3. If there are higher than usual time or production pressures, which aspects of the process become most overwhelming?

4. In what situations is your expertise most likely to be challenged? What are the unknowns?

5. What’s the hardest part of the job?

6. What is most likely to cause a breakdown in performance of the crew?

   1. What role does good communication play in achieving the targets for your shift? (if they mention communication, follow up with it, if not, introduce it)

   2. How many people are interacting on a typical crew?

7. What differentiates someone who is an excellent at your job from a poor performer?

   1. What typifies higher level leaders versus lower level leaders?

   2. What differentiates an excellent haul truck operator from a poor performer?

8. In your job, are there ways of working smart or doing more with less – that you have found especially useful?

   1. What are some unique ways of working you have found helpful that not everyone uses?

9. What are the skill sets that are most valuable for carrying out your job?

   1. What are the skill sets most valuable for a good haul truck driver?

10. How do you track or measure success?

    1. Of supervisors?

    2. Of haul truck operators?

    3. How is performance formally evaluated?

Hazards and Disasters

1. What are the common, everyday risks?

   1. What are you most worried about on a day to day basis?

   2. If you had an apprentice, what you be pointing out first for them to watch for?

   3. How are common safety incidents addressed? How are they reported?

2. In your opinion, why do these common incidents occur?

3. What is an overlooked risk that causes safety incidents?

4. What are the uncommon challenges?

5. What are the bigger, disastrous risks?

6. What are the most dangerous hazards?

7. What are the most catastrophic scenarios?

Current Training

1. Take us through some of your current training procedures.

2. Where are the gaps?

3. What are the situations that are most likely to cause you to deviate from protocol?

   1. What are the situations in which haul truck operators are most likely to deviate from protocol or procedure?

4. How well prepared do you feel you were when you first started your role?

5. How was the job different than you expected?

6. What were you most unprepared for?

   1. What is the crew often most unprepared for?

7. What are you most unprepared for now?

   1. What is the crew most unprepared for now?

8. If you could change anything about the current training, what would it be?

Safety and Manager Specific Questions

We’re looking to get a sense of when you feel incidents among haul truck operators, why they occur and what are some of the ways in which common protocols breakdown to create the conditions for risk.

1. First, let’s get a sense of your roles and responsibilities. What do you see are your primary responsibilities in terms of managing the crews?

2. What are the most common safety incidents you see?

3. Under what conditions are common haul truck incidents likely to occur?

4. What are the current risks in everyday operations that keep you up at night?

5. To what extent do you feel current protocols and procedures are understood by the crews?

6. How often and under what conditions are operators are most likely to deviate from procedures?

7. What kind of models do you use to identify and assess risks?