Human Error, Skilled Performance, and Safety

Most accidents in aviation and adverse events in medicine and other areas of skilled performance are attributed to human error, but this is a misleading conclusion for multiple reasons. It is true that even the most skilled of professionals sometimes make errors performing familiar tasks, a manifestation of the inherent nature of cognitive and perceptual processes. But blaming human operators for errors contributing to accidents overlooks the roles of incomplete and sometimes confusing information, problematic machine-operator interfaces, conflicting organizational goals, and task requirements for which no perfect solution exists. It is true that computers are far more reliable than humans--in the sense of consistent response to well-defined inputs--but for many tasks human judgment and decision-making are still essential. In our work we take a systems approach to understanding the roots of human error and its relationship to the demonstration of skilled performance and safety.

> Go to Human Error, Skilled Performance, and Safety Publications