What is Human Error?

Foreword

This article is contemplating on the most prevalent  theories & ideas shared in relation to the subject  Human Error, while exploring and deciphering the academic insights on defining the particular term. The intention behind this work is to disclose the means & reasons behind this factor exposing few schemes & strategies to avoid negative consequences it could cause on the organizational performances. Moreover, to secure the authenticity of the facts and theories shared in this work, the references to the sources and channels associated to construct this article have been listed at the end.

How to define Human Error?

There have been no specific definition found for this term, yet it has been identified under certain traits to be categorized for academic purposes. However, this phenomenon is regarded as the unintentional negative behaviors & actions of individuals, to cause accidents and errors within the organizational operations. Evidently, the key characteristics behind this occurrence turn out to be : inattentiveness, poor judgment, lack of focus, lack of capability & negligence (Furst, 2010) ,and the individuals to posses  these traits could course substantial damages with negative consequences.

In addition, the work places are frequently known to host wide assortment of human errors; and some of which could be relatively harmless whereas the rest could be detrimental. For the 90% of work place negative scenarios, ranging from accidents with higher costs, through losing of time to forcing down the productivity, human errors are to hold primarily responsible (https://humanerrorsolutions.com/). 


How to Manage Human Error? 

As to elaborate more on the subject, there exists a recent incident which could be attributed to a result of  human error(s). It is said that the implosion of the submersible-Cyclopes 1 launched by Ocean Gate in July 23, with 05 passengers on board, are due to errors made regards to poor judgement in constructing the hull with carbon fiber rather than with a stronger material; and the negligence over the warnings since 2018 (https://www.insider.com/). However, those errors had costed the lives of all 05 passengers on board.

According to  Furst , there are two ways to prevent human error from affecting performance. The first is to stop people form making mistakes or keeping the mistakes from impacting the system; these two schemes are introduced with the terms of avoidance & interception. In order to act out these two scenarios, the prior knowledge of the potential errors before they could occur, is vital. Moreover, these techniques come with design, automation, reduction of exposure time, error proofing, training etc. When it comes to training, it has to be more effective with concepts ( education)  than only with practices & procedures.

What awaits next in the line is developing of error tolerance, which is critical in optimizing the performance minimizing the consequences of errors. As explained by Furst, this can be achieved by two ways : 

01. 'For systems where error that cannot be designed out or blocked, there should be a way to detect errors early, and mechanisms developed to recover from them without significant impairment of performance.'

02. 'Deviations or errors that are not detected or detected "late" are going to have consequences. The minimization of these unexpected and undesired outcomes must be dealt with effectively so as not to adversely impact performance. Such a process will keep an error from escalating into a major undesirable event.'

The final element for managing human error, is the resilience of the organizations & their systems. This scheme is about the organizations having built -in mechanism to deal effectively with errors and changing conditions while recovering from adverse situations. Furthermore, to be effective in  resilience, there are key vital elements that need to inherit : leadership, culture, peoples, systems and the work environment (Furst, 2010).


Conclusion

The details furnished above are to disclose the key theories on the addressed subject and to introduce the repellents to restrain the negative consequences from harming the organizational performances. Moreover, this work has been constructed with a reference to a true occurrence related to the subject, in order to inform and educate the society about the importance of the matters illustrated in this article.


References

Peter Furst : 2010 - Performance Management and the Human Error Factor: a New Perspective.https://www.irmi.com/ 

https://humanerrorsolutions.com/

https://www.insider.com/



Comments

  1. Usually, resiliency in systems is more factored towards recovering from the system-related problems. For human errors, we usually look at the human factor only and try to find ways to improve it. But looking at the other side, building resilient systems to withstand human error is a very interesting way to approach this problem. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. It is a good article that gives a detailed explanation about human errors, according to the article, the most important factors that affect this problem are carelessness, poor judgment, lack of attention and lack of care.

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  3. Human failure is normal and predictable. It can be identified and managed. Industry should tackle error reduction in a structured and proactive way, with as much rigour as the technical aspects of safety. Managing human failure should be integral to the safety management system.

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  4. Managing human errors is a vital area in the modern corporate world as small human mistake may lead to huge impact in the organization in many ways. Organizations have implemented many strategies in order to reduce the human errors. Implementing advanced systems, using check lists, conducting regular audits, providing training programs, and implementing a better working environment are some of strategies which assist to reduce human errors.

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  5. Certainly. Typically, resilience within systems focuses more on recovering from issues related to the system itself. Your insights are appreciated and thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing!

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  6. A human error is an action or decision which was not intended. A violation is a deliberate deviation from a rule or procedure. Human error and performance are two sides of the same coin.

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