Human factors: Maintenance error

Why is maintenance error important?

When we address human factors in relation to health and safety, we're aiming to optimise human performance and reduce human failures. Even experienced, highly-trained, well-motivated technicians can make simple slips and omissions, and such errors can initiate major accidents, as well as result in personal injury to maintenance personnel.

Maintenance quality is heavily reliant on human activity - many accidents and incidents have maintenance error as a root or major contributory cause. So, in addition to managing the safety of personnel undertaking maintenance, it is necessary to ensure that the actions and decisions of maintenance personnel do not leave the equipment or system in an unsafe state. Common maintenance failures include incorrect reassembly, wrong specification of replacement items, omission of a task step, re-commissioning errors, safety features left disconnected, instrument set-points incorrectly set or leaving tools inside.

However, human error in maintenance is largely predictable and therefore can be identified and managed. Furthermore, improvements in the reliability of maintenance will have business benefits beyond health and safety.

HSE expects all companies who undertake maintenance with the potential for severe consequences to be aware of the issue of human error and its importance. "Major hazard" or safety critical companies in particular will be expected to:

. . . and so be able to demonstrate how maintenance error is considered.

Key principles in maintenance error

More information on maintenance error

2021-09-29