The Role of Inherently Safer Design on the Reduction of Human Error

Error must be accepted as a normal component of human behaviour. Humans, be they pilots, engineers or managers, will from time to time commit errors. Exhortations to ‘be professional’ or to ‘be more careful’ are generally ineffective, because most errors are committed inadvertently by people who are already trying to do their job professionally and carefully. They did not intend to commit the errors. Classes of Human Error consist of Errors of Commission, Errors of Omission, and Cognitive Task Errors. Many Factors Influence Human Operator Failure Probability that some factors are physiological (‘not doing what you meant to do’), some factors are psychological (i.e. making the wrong decision).and some are both. It should be stressed to the site that we are concerned with how human failures can impact on major accident hazards, rather than personal safety issues. It has been well understood by safer professionals that human factor greatly contribute to success or failure of process safety programs in the chemical process industries as well as represent the area needing the most emphasis to reduce risk. Well- designed human systems can produce inherently safer plant designs and operating procedures. If we understand how humans work and how human error occur, we can design better systems for managing , supervising , designing , training , auditing and monitoring. This paper will provide insights into current knowledge of human error and how it can be reduce by inherently safer design.

Keywords:

human error , hazards , reduction of risks , inherently safer design