Disinheriting Fitts and Jones `47 (2001 Sid Dekker article)

A 2001 article from Sid Dekker discussing a contemporary view of human performance and organisational failure. You may recognise parts of this from Dekker’s later article ‘Is it 1947 yet?’. Too much to cover. And I’m relying heavily on quotes.  Dekker reverts back to Fitts and Jones’ 1947 article which “laid the foundation for aviation… Continue reading Disinheriting Fitts and Jones `47 (2001 Sid Dekker article)

Importance of understanding work-as-done: Fascinating extracts from CEO due diligence prosecution

Understanding work-as-done seen as critical for PCBUs and CEOs/Officers, according to this prosecution of a CEO who failed to exercise due diligence relating to a work-related fatality (Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL). Extracts: ·        “[234] “Work as done” is the reality of work as it is actually carried out by the workers on the shop floor.… Continue reading Importance of understanding work-as-done: Fascinating extracts from CEO due diligence prosecution

Root-Causal Factors: Uncovering the Hows & Whys of Incidents

This 2016 article from Fred Manuele explores some facets of causality in investigations. It’s based mainly on two key sources: Hollnagel’s 2004 ‘Barriers and accident prevention’ and Dekker’s 2006 ‘Field Guide to Understanding Human Error’. Won’t be much new for most but has some nice arguments from authors like Hollnagel, Dekker and Leveson. First he… Continue reading Root-Causal Factors: Uncovering the Hows & Whys of Incidents

Human Performance Tools: Engaging Workers as the Best Defense Against Errors & Error Precursors

This article covered a more progressive view on human performance, with suggestions on some tools. Too much to cover, so just a few points. They start by saying to consider three truisms: “To err is human. Workers are fallible. Errors are inevitable (as well as predictable)”. These are fundamentals to understanding the human performance approach… Continue reading Human Performance Tools: Engaging Workers as the Best Defense Against Errors & Error Precursors

Procedure excellence: Changing paradigms to enable human reliability

This paper from Elliot Wolf-Stokes and Rob Fisher may interest peeps – around orientating towards operational excellence. Covers a lot of ground – systemic drivers to procedural departures, error drivers in written guidance, mental models, enablers of human reliability and more. I’ve skipped HEAPS, so just a few extracts (link to full paper in comments):… Continue reading Procedure excellence: Changing paradigms to enable human reliability

Foundation of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and complex systems pt2

Post 2 from ch.11 of the Foundations of Safety Science, exploring Resilience Engineering (RE) and the adaptive perspectives. Some extracts: ·      RE sees failures not necessarily as breakdowns or malfunctioning of normal functions, but “the converse of the adaptations necessary to cope with the real world complexity” ·      Performance of individuals and organisations across all level “must… Continue reading Foundation of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and complex systems pt2

Human Factors and New Views of safety applied to management systems: A systematic literature review

This conference paper from Leonidas Brasileiro, Julio Cesar de Faria Alvim Wasserman and Gilson Brito Alves Lima may interest you. It explored how different concepts under HF and New View have been applied to management systems via literature review (2000 – 2023). Note: I’ve skipped a lot, so check out the paper. Some extracts: ·      “New… Continue reading Human Factors and New Views of safety applied to management systems: A systematic literature review