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HUMAN FACTORS
Managing change
Safety-critical communication
Designing for people
Staffing and workload (including supervision)
Training and competence
Human factors
Usable procedures
Managing human reliability
Fitness for work
Health and safety culture
Maintenance, inspection, and testing
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN FACTORS IN MAJOR HAZARD SAFETY Human factors have been identified as contributing factors in nearly every major process safety incident. Human factors include staffing and workload, managing human reliability, training and competence, and safety-critical communication.
WHY IS UNDERSTANDING THESE FACTORS IMPORTANT? Being able to identify and address situations where human factors are likely to create a sequence of events that will lead to an incident is one of the most fundamental safety processes we have. To do this effectively, human factors need to be integrated into safety management systems. People performing normal work continually adapt and overcome unexpected situations, detect changes in risk, are flexible in managing and linking multiple tasks, apply knowledge and judgement to identify patterns and understand impacts of actions, and manage complex communications. Humans manage the normal variability of work. Therefore, human performance plays a significant role in preventing initiation, mitigating the impact, preventing escalation and improving recovery efforts of major incidents or events.
| 18 | ThinkSafe vol. 3 no. 2 September 2021
