Organizational effects, human factors

Secondly, Platypus provides insight into the factors that influence the frequency of LoC events before accidents have taken place, whereas traditionally that information could only be derived from historical data. In Platypus, technical, organizational and human factors elements are integrated which enables an in-depth analysis of causes of LoC and the effectiveness of measures. This paper demonstrates how easy it would be to perform such an analysis. 

Human Factors means those biomedical, psychosocial, work place environment, and engineering considerations pertaining to people in a human-machine system. Some of these considerations are allocation of functions, task analysis, human reliability, training requirements. Job performance aiding, personnel qualification and selection, staffing requirements, procedures, organizational effectiveness, and workplace environmental conditions. 

Human factors errors within aviation maintenance industry can be more effectively managed by applying proactive monitoring and early error detecting techniques at both organizational and individual levels ... 

The traditional knowledge bases that undergird the work of health care cannot provide the guidance needed to understand failure in the complexity of the health care system. To build applications that will effectively mitigate harm to patients, a distinct science of patient safety that builds on bodies of knowledge outside health care, primarily human factors and organizational analysis, is needed. 

In order to perform integrated HOF assessment, it is important to identify and quantify the effect of different organization factors on human factors. Table 5 illustrates the effect of different organizational factors on human actions. 

Table 5. Effect of organizational factors on human factors.

The curve with minimum level of organizational effect (P = 0) has lowest risk, while curve with the maximum level of organizational effect (P = 1) has the highest risk. The extent of change in risk with change in organizational level is determined by the calibration term in Equation 1. This calibration term is calculated from the analysis of past accidents across selected five type of human factor taxonomy. 

Discussion of and research into human error focusses on slips, mistakes, incidents and accidents and their internal and external mechanisms. Research on accident liability centers on work- or traffic-related accidents emphasizing personal variables as an explanation of the occurrence of accidents. Systems variables such as workplace design or work environment are not considered systematically. Modern human factors approaches examine the joint effects of personal, organizational and technical factors on human reliability, employing accident-independent as well as accident-centered safety analysis methods. 

The first area focuses on the cultural and organizational factors that will have a major influence on the effectiveness of a human error data collection system and how well the information derived from such a system is translated into successful error reduction strategies. Regardless of how effectively the technical issues are dealt with, the system will not be successful imless there is a culture in the organization which provides support for the data gathering process. No data collection system aimed at identifying human error causes of accidents will be workable without the active cooperation of the workforce. 

Another of James Reason s books—Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents—is a must read for safety professionals who want an education in human error reduction. It was published in 1997 and has been reprinted five times. Reason writes about how the effects of decisions accumulate over time and become the causal factors for incidents resulting in serious injuries or damage when all the circumstances necessary for the occurrence of a major event come together. This book was referenced in Chapter 3, Serious Injury Prevention, because it stresses the need to focus on decision making above the worker level to prevent major accidents. Reason writes this ... 

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