Operator Responsibility for Outcomes: A Demonstration of the ResQu Model

TL;DR

This paper introduces the ResQu model to quantify operator responsibility in automated systems, comparing objective responsibility with subjective assessments in a dairy factory setting.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates the application of the ResQu model to measure operator responsibility and highlights discrepancies between objective and subjective responsibility assessments.

Findings

Objective responsibility was zero when automation exceeded human capabilities.

Observers assigned higher responsibility to operators despite automation's dominance.

The model helps clarify operator accountability in automated environments.

Abstract

In systems with advanced automation, human responsibility for outcomes becomes equivocal. We developed the Responsibility Quantification (ResQu) model to compute a measure of operator responsibility (Douer & Meyer, 2020) and compared it to observed and subjective levels of responsibility (Douer & Meyer, 2019). We used the model to calculate operators' objective responsibility in a common fault event in the control room in a dairy factory. We compared the results to the subjective assessments made by different functions in the diary. The capabilities of the automation greatly exceeded those of the human, and the operator should comply with the indications of the automation. Thus, the objective causal human responsibility is 0. Outside observers, such as managers, assigned much higher responsibility to the operator, possibly holding operators responsible for adverse outcomes in situations in which they rightly trusted the automation.