Language
Country/Area
No result found
Variability in human performance: Do you know what this means for safety culture?
Human error is widely recognized as a significant cause of accidents and disasters across a variety of industries. Whether it’s a nuclear power accident, an aviation disaster, or a medical error, unintentional aspects of human behavior can lead to the latest risk events. In a safety-driven culture, understanding the variability of human performance is critical, not only as a key to avoiding errors but also as an important factor in improving overall system reliability.
Human error is defined as a deviation in behavior that is not expected by the actor and does not conform to the norms of an outside observer, which takes a task or system beyond acceptable limits.
Definition and classification of human errors
Human errors can be divided into several categories. In terms of source, errors can be exogenous, which originate from factors outside the individual; or endogenous, which originate from within the individual. Further classification could also consider the different principles of situation assessment versus response planning, as well as the specific distinction between operational planning and execution errors. These factors are critical to managing risk and improving safety culture.
In the face of errors, in addition to incident investigation, adopting emerging resilience engineering concepts changes the way we understand and respond to errors, allowing us to learn from them and improve our safety culture.
Variability of human behavior and safety culture
Variability in human performance is not just about errors; it is about the positive impact of people in complex systems. This variability is driven by multiple factors, including judgment, memory, environmental influences and social interactions. Because of these factors, we should take a deeper look at how we can harness this variability to create a safer cultural environment.
How to deal with human error?
Many industries have begun to shift their view of human performance from accountability to more holistic risk management. In this regard, resilience engineering offers a new way of thinking, emphasizing that both success and failure are the result of variability in human performance. This perspective drives us to approach security-related problems differently and to adopt more flexible strategies when problems occur.
By understanding and managing this variability, organizations can not only effectively prevent errors but also improve the stability and security of their overall operations.
Focus of controversy
The right or wrong dichotomy of human behavior is often criticized as an oversimplification of this complex phenomenon. Many researchers realize that focusing on the variability of human performance and how to manage this variability may be a more fruitful path. Therefore, reexamining and adjusting our view of human performance will be an important step in improving safety culture.
Conclusion
When faced with human error and behavioral variability, we should not just stay on the surface of the error, but dig deeper into the factors behind it and its potential impact. By understanding and adjusting for these variability, can we build a more resilient safety culture and reduce future risks?
