An Engineer's View of Human Error

An Engineer's View of Human Error
Author: Trevor A. Kletz
Publisher: IChemE
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2001
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780852954300

This is an updated and expanded new edition of Trevor Kletz's work, including more examples of accidents caused by the various types of human error. It suggests to engineers how they might approach the problem of human error, and does so by describing accidents, which at first sight seem to be the result of human error. The author sets down his views on human error as a cause of accidents and illustrates them by describing a number of accidents that have occurred, mainly in the oil and chemical industries. He uses a pragmatic approach, rather than theoretical, to suggest new ways of looking at accident prevention.

An Engineer's View of Human Error

An Engineer's View of Human Error
Author: Trevor Kletz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2018-05-11
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1351467239

This title looks at how people, as opposed to technology and computers, are arguably the most unreliable factor within plants, leading to dangerous situations.

Guidelines for Preventing Human Error in Process Safety

Guidelines for Preventing Human Error in Process Safety
Author: CCPS (Center for Chemical Process Safety)
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2010-08-13
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0470925086

Almost all the major accident investigations--Texas City, Piper Alpha, the Phillips 66 explosion, Feyzin, Mexico City--show human error as the principal cause, either in design, operations, maintenance, or the management of safety. This book provides practical advice that can substantially reduce human error at all levels. In eight chapters--packed with case studies and examples of simple and advanced techniques for new and existing systems--the book challenges the assumption that human error is "unavoidable." Instead, it suggests a systems perspective. This view sees error as a consequence of a mismatch between human capabilities and demands and inappropriate organizational culture. This makes error a manageable factor and, therefore, avoidable.

The Field Guide to Human Error Investigations

The Field Guide to Human Error Investigations
Author: Sidney Dekker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2017-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351786032

This title was first published in 2002: This field guide assesses two views of human error - the old view, in which human error becomes the cause of an incident or accident, or the new view, in which human error is merely a symptom of deeper trouble within the system. The two parts of this guide concentrate on each view, leading towards an appreciation of the new view, in which human error is the starting point of an investigation, rather than its conclusion. The second part of this guide focuses on the circumstances which unfold around people, which causes their assessments and actions to change accordingly. It shows how to "reverse engineer" human error, which, like any other componant, needs to be put back together in a mishap investigation.

Ten Questions About Human Error

Ten Questions About Human Error
Author: Sidney Dekker
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2004-12-27
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1410612066

Ten Questions About Human Error asks the type of questions frequently posed in incident and accident investigations, people's own practice, managerial and organizational settings, policymaking, classrooms, Crew Resource Management Training, and error research. It is one installment in a larger transformation that has begun to identify both deep-rooted constraints and new leverage points of views of human factors and system safety. The ten questions about human error are not just questions about human error as a phenomenon, but also about human factors and system safety as disciplines, and where they stand today. In asking these questions and sketching the answers to them, this book attempts to show where current thinking is limited--where vocabulary, models, ideas, and notions are constraining progress. This volume looks critically at the answers human factors would typically provide and compares/contrasts them with current research insights. Each chapter provides directions for new ideas and models that could perhaps better cope with the complexity of the problems facing human error today. As such, this book can be used as a supplement for a variety of human factors courses.

A Human Error Approach to Aviation Accident Analysis

A Human Error Approach to Aviation Accident Analysis
Author: Douglas A. Wiegmann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2017-12-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1351962353

Human error is implicated in nearly all aviation accidents, yet most investigation and prevention programs are not designed around any theoretical framework of human error. Appropriate for all levels of expertise, the book provides the knowledge and tools required to conduct a human error analysis of accidents, regardless of operational setting (i.e. military, commercial, or general aviation). The book contains a complete description of the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), which incorporates James Reason's model of latent and active failures as a foundation. Widely disseminated among military and civilian organizations, HFACS encompasses all aspects of human error, including the conditions of operators and elements of supervisory and organizational failure. It attracts a very broad readership. Specifically, the book serves as the main textbook for a course in aviation accident investigation taught by one of the authors at the University of Illinois. This book will also be used in courses designed for military safety officers and flight surgeons in the U.S. Navy, Army and the Canadian Defense Force, who currently utilize the HFACS system during aviation accident investigations. Additionally, the book has been incorporated into the popular workshop on accident analysis and prevention provided by the authors at several professional conferences world-wide. The book is also targeted for students attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University which has satellite campuses throughout the world and offers a course in human factors accident investigation for many of its majors. In addition, the book will be incorporated into courses offered by Transportation Safety International and the Southern California Safety Institute. Finally, this book serves as an excellent reference guide for many safety professionals and investigators already in the field.

Behind Human Error

Behind Human Error
Author: David Woods
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1317175530

Human error is cited over and over as a cause of incidents and accidents. The result is a widespread perception of a 'human error problem', and solutions are thought to lie in changing the people or their role in the system. For example, we should reduce the human role with more automation, or regiment human behavior by stricter monitoring, rules or procedures. But in practice, things have proved not to be this simple. The label 'human error' is prejudicial and hides much more than it reveals about how a system functions or malfunctions. This book takes you behind the human error label. Divided into five parts, it begins by summarising the most significant research results. Part 2 explores how systems thinking has radically changed our understanding of how accidents occur. Part 3 explains the role of cognitive system factors - bringing knowledge to bear, changing mindset as situations and priorities change, and managing goal conflicts - in operating safely at the sharp end of systems. Part 4 studies how the clumsy use of computer technology can increase the potential for erroneous actions and assessments in many different fields of practice. And Part 5 tells how the hindsight bias always enters into attributions of error, so that what we label human error actually is the result of a social and psychological judgment process by stakeholders in the system in question to focus on only a facet of a set of interacting contributors. If you think you have a human error problem, recognize that the label itself is no explanation and no guide to countermeasures. The potential for constructive change, for progress on safety, lies behind the human error label.

Computer Control and Human Error

Computer Control and Human Error
Author: Trevor A. Kletz
Publisher: IChemE
Total Pages: 146
Release: 1995
Genre: Accidents
ISBN: 9780852953624

Examines some of the unforseen incidents which have occured in computer-controlled process plants, and suggests how the risk of such incidents happening again can be minimized. The text describes how Hazop studies can be used to detect hazards in computer-controlled systems.

To Engineer is Human

To Engineer is Human
Author: Henry Petroski
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2018-10-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1250228077

“Though ours is an age of high technology, the essence of what engineering is and what engineers do is not common knowledge. Even the most elementary of principles upon which great bridges, jumbo jets, or super computers are built are alien concepts to many. This is so in part because engineering as a human endeavor is not yet integrated into our culture and intellectual tradition. And while educators are currently wrestling with the problem of introducing technology into conventional academic curricula, thus better preparing today’s students for life in a world increasingly technological, there is as yet no consensus as to how technological literacy can best be achieved. " I believe, and I argue in this essay, that the ideas of engineering are in fact in our bones and part of our human nature and experience. Furthermore, I believe that an understanding and an appreciation of engineers and engineering can be gotten without an engineering or technical education. Thus I hope that the technologically uninitiated will come to read what I have written as an introduction to technology. Indeed, this book is my answer to the questions 'What is engineering?' and 'What do engineers do?'" - Henry Petroski, To Engineer is Human

Trevor Kletz Compendium

Trevor Kletz Compendium
Author: Andy Brazier
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2021-01-21
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0128194480

Trevor Kletz has had a huge impact on the way people viewed accidents and safety, particularly in the process industries. His ideas were developed from nearly 40 years working in the chemical industry. When he retired from the field, he shared his experience and ideas widely in more than 15 books. Trevor Kletz Compendium: His Process Safety Wisdom Updated for a New Generation introduces Kletz's stories and ideas and brings them up to date in this valuable resource that equips readers to manage process safety in every workplace. Topics covered in this book include inherent safety, safety studies, human factors and design. Learn the lessons from past accidents to make sure they don't happen again. - Focuses on understanding systems and learning from past accidents - Describes approaches to safety that are practical and effective - Provides an engineer's perspective on safety