Emotions, Readiness for Act, and Safe/Unsafe Acts in Safety Critical Systems: A Position Paper

Safety-critical systems (SCS) are systems whose failure may cause death or injury to humans. It is no surprise that many of these systems are still operated by humans, who are expected to make critical decisions in real-time. Although such decisions are influenced by humans'/operators' readiness for act, where emotions are central, current approaches for designing SCS do not sufficiently consider operators' emotions and their important role in predicting operators' ability for conducting safe acts. This position paper presents the author's perspective on the role of emotions in predicting operators' readiness to act safely, specifically in the context of identifying safe and unsafe acts for SCS, particularly within the automotive industry. The paper intends to inspire and outline a research agenda that tackles the challenges associated with considering the role of emotions in recognizing and addressing potential unsafe acts performed by operators of SCS.