Human performance in barrier thinking: problems with “human error” – post 1

What is the role of people in creating safety or failure? Is human variability (“error” and the like), a ‘threat’ in bow ties, or does it both challenge or ensure success of our controls?

This is post 1 of 3 exploring some tenets around human performance in barrier thinking, taken from the CIEHF manual.

First they provide some concerns about human and organisational factors in bow ties (image 1):

1.     It’s misplaced to add “human error” itself as a threat, despite this being common. A focus on error places focus on its elimination, rather than on establishing robust barriers and ensuring that they perform where and when needed

2.     Hence, human performance and variability are among many other factors that degrade or enhance barrier performance

3.     While there is frequently performance specifications and expectations set for equipment, rarely are these specs articulated for human performance [** yet we’re frequently surprised after the fact when people didn’t operate like a computer]

4.     Top events are frequently too far to the right – leaving less time for mitigating sequences. Problem-solving, bricolage and expertise are areas where people excel

5.     Too many barriers are identified, crowding out what’s important [In the ICMM’s CMM approach, barriers can be considered pretty equivalently to Critical Controls]

In image 2 we see some “unrealistic expectations in human performance”.

Namely, given the task’s cognitive complexity, a severe lack of time and financial incentives “made it unrealistic that any crew would have had a realistic chance of taking the expected action in time”.

Finally, images 3 & 4 from McLeod (2017) highlight that seeing people as a ‘threat’ paints a negative view of people which is usually that of creating safety.

Hence, we need to be specific on what performance we expect from people under what circumstances.

In the next posts, I’ll continue the theme of challenges and false assumptions in human and organisational factors, and then examples of specifying human performance expectations.

Refs:

Human factors in barrier management. Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, 1-64. 2016

McLeod, R. W. (2017). Human factors in barrier management: Hard truths and challenges. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 110, 31-42.

Study links:

1. https://ergonomics.org.uk/asset/A2F56D6D%2D6D62%2D4C0F%2D9BCAC72AB8888637/

2. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ronald-Mcleod/publication/312686756_Human_Factors_in_Barrier_Management_Hard_Truths_and_Challenges/links/60a7b57692851ca9dcd42dce/Human-Factors-in-Barrier-Management-Hard-Truths-and-Challenges.pdf

LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/benhutchinson2_what-is-the-role-of-people-in-creating-safety-activity-7185749634642817025–sko?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop