Another look at Slips, Lapses, Mistakes, and Violations

Even though this Human Factors model is going on 30 years old, it is still the most widely used and recognizable today.  In my process safety career, Human Factors were intended to be part of all Process Hazard(s) analyses; and although the chemical industry adopted some really good checklists to aid in these analyze’s, they never really drove HF engineering as I had hoped.  Having graduated with my BS in OSH in the early 90’s, James Reasons was just getting recognized in his HF work, including his Human Failure model.  By the time I completed my MS in SE in 1996, his work was ingrained in much of the curriculum.  So yes, I am “old school” when it comes to HF as, this model just makes too much sense and has been proven time and time again to be an accurate view of how our workers make their decisions AND how we can best affect that decision making.

Here is an updated view of this model, provided by The Energy Institute.  If you are not familiar with this organization – you should get to know them and their materials.  Absolutely the best source for advanced safety management, leadership, and technical SE matters such as HF.

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