Human Errors, Major Steps Towards Building Knowledge

Human Errors, Major Steps Towards Building Knowledge 

It is widely known that 70 % of accidents have a human cause related to operator errors. Equally, if one adds to this the contribution of designers and managers to what are called technical errors (breakdowns) or organisational errors (management decisions, social climate), 100 % of accidents actually have direct or indirect causes associated with human factors. 

Due to these figures, it is a natural priority to understand human errors in order to reduce them, while common sense suggests that reducing errors will necessarily lead to a reduction in accidents. 

The reality is far from being as simple as that. This chapter sets out four observations (1) errors occur even more frequently than people think, at a rate of several per hour, (2) but these are largely self-detected and recovered, so that the 

Amalberti, Navigating Safety, SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology, DOl 10.1007/978-94-007-6549-8 2, The Author(s) 2013 

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