Human factors: Managing human failures
This Key Topic can be addressed from two perspectives – proactively through risk assessment, or reactively following an incident or accident.
Human failures can be managed as part of a risk assessment, where
- different types of human failures that could occur are identified,
- the factors that make these failures more or less likely are identified - Performance Influencing Factors or PIFs and
- control measures are devised and implemented, bearing in mind the hierarchy of control.
Alternatively, human failures can be reviewed in an incident investigation. Again, this involves identifying those factors that influence behaviour – PIFs.
In both of these activities, HSE expects organisations to:
- Use a structured approach;
- Consider the role of humans in initiating and mitigating incidents;
- Consider the different types of human failures (unintentional & decision failures, as well as intentional & action failures);
- Involve operators.
