Human factor management

Assessing and Managing Human Factors Risks - Practical Examples in the Australian Rail Context... 

In this chapter, three examples of assessing and managing human factors risks are presented. They are all examples in the Australian rail context. 

Services, the principal Air Traffic Control organisation in the UK, managing Human Factors staff and contractors. He extended the traditional HF work in NATS to consider human error and various safety aspects of new and existing projects and systems, as well as feeding more human factors into the design of new systems. His most recent move has been to Eurocontrol, in Brussels and Paris, working on a number of projects concerned with the future automation tools aimed for 2005 onwards. He has published two textbooks (on task analysis and human reliability assessment) and various articles. 

The phase-gate approach to project management is described in Process Risk and Reliability Management. Human factors issues are generally addressed in the first three phases of a project. 

Bourne, A. Managing Human Factors in London Underground. lEE Colloquium... 

From a broader perspective, the Abnormal Situation Management Consortium is working to apply human factors theory and expert system technology to improve personnel and equipment performance during abnormal conditions. In addition to reduced risk, economic improvements in equipment reliability and capacity are expected (Rothenberg and Nimmo, 1996). 

Human Factors, 7) Chemical Safety Networking, 8) Molecule of the Month, 9) Risk Management rterly, 10) Chemical Safety is, 11) Other Chemical rmation Links, 12) PRF >onse Group, and 13)... 

The CPI would benefit from the application of human factors principles to improve safety, quality, and productivity. These arise from applying quality management to get at the underlying causc-.s of errors rather than after-the-fact blame or punishment. Crosby (1984) advocates error cause... 

In the course of assessing your company s current PSM status, you and your team have almost certainly gained a clear sense of which facilities pose the greatest risk, whether by virtue of inherent process hazards, human factors, management systems, or a combination. As you set priorities for implementation you should closely review information gleaned from the assessment tasks. In addition, you should try to validate or flesh out your impressions through some more quantitative analysis that can help to identify priority facilities. 

The application of the science of human factors to eliminating error in all aspects of process design, management, operation, and maintenance is the focus of this work. Human error has been a major cause of almost all of the catastrophic accidents that have occurred in the chemical process industries (CPI). If one adopts the broad view of human error as being the result of a mismatch between human capabilities and process demands, then clearly management s role is critical in the following areas ... 

The book begins with a discussion of the theories of error causation and then goes on to describe the various ways in which data can be collected, analyzed, and used to reduce the potential for error. Case studies are used to teach the methodology of error reduction in specific industry operations. Finally, the book concludes with a plan for a plant error reduction program and a discussion of how human factors principles impact on the process safety management system. 

Chapter 8, A Systematic Approach to the Management of Human Error, explains how the manager and safety professional can use human factors principles in the management of process safety. This chapter also provides a practical plan for a plant human error reduction program that will improve productivity and quality as well. 

The major benefits that arise from the application of human factors principles to process operations are improved safety and reduced down time. In addition, the elimination of error has substantial potential benefits for both quality and productivity. There is now a considerable interest in applying quality management approaches in the CPI. Many of the major quality experts em-... 

The other global dimension of the systems approach is the need for the existence of policies which address human factors issues at senior levels in the company. This implies that senior management realizes that resources spent on programs to reduce error will be as cost-effective as investments in engineered safety systems. 

Although the main thrust of the HSE work is directed to providing inputs to the CPQRA process, the audit procedure generates valuable qualitative information regarding both the quality of the overall plant management and also the specific human factors dimensions which affect risk. 

These publications contain information on twelve key elements of chemical process safety management. In this section, seven of those elements that can be significantly impacted by paying careful attention to human factors principles are addressed. These are ... 

The final element in management s communication of a desire to reduce human error is the identification and elimination of error-likely situations. Every task is an opportunity for a human error, but some situahons represent greater risks than others. Identifying these high-risk situations is not easy and an expertise in applying human factors principles to the workplace is an essential prerequisite for this identification. Eliminating these hazardous situations is often relatively simple once they have been identified. In some cases it may be appropriate to provide error-tolerant systems, which are those that facilitate identification of and recovery from the errors. 

Management must modify the culture and develop human factors awareness in the hazard identification teams so that they will be capable of identifying the potential for human error. A good practice is to involve operators in the hazard identification team. 

Bishop, J., Larhette, R. (1988). Managing Human Performance—INPO s Human Performance Enhancement System. Conference Record for the 1988 IEEE Fourth Conference on Human Factors and Power Plants 88CH2576-7. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers New York. Pp. 471-474. 

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