Safety critical task analysis
Safety Critical Task Analysis is a core Human Factors method.
It helps to predict potential human errors and their impact on safety critical activities.
It focuses on understanding why and how error may occur, and determining effective ways of preventing or managing human error.
It is recognised good practice and a regulatory requirement in many major hazard sectors, to identify and assess all safety critical tasks.
Services include:
Identifying and assessing safety critical tasks
Training in safety critical task analysis
Advice on safety critical task analysis methods
Human Factors of incident investigation
It is recognised good practice to learn from experience, including near misses and incidents, for the sake of improving safety.
However, in practice many investigations still attribute events to error or non-compliance and apply consequence management to individuals.
The analyses do not go deep enough, do not adequately identify human factors issues or the context of behaviour. Investigators can be biased in their search for evidence and assessment of causes.
It is recognised good practice to apply Human Factors principles and methods to develop a deep understanding of error and behaviours that occur.
Services include:
Conduct of Human Factors assessment of causes of incidents
Mapping mindsets of people involved incidents
Human Factors analysis of barriers
Fatigue investigation
Assessment of “violations”
Developing Human Factors improvements
Application of As Low as Reasonably Practice principles to Human Factors of recommendations
Fatigue risk management
Fatigue is a commonly cited factor in many major accidents.
Fatigue is often caused by excessive working hours, poorly designed shift systems and demanding workloads.
An advanced fatigue risk managemet system is required for organisations that are engaged in safety critical activities, especially if they operate shift systems or call people out on standby.
This includes fatigue policy and procedures, fatigue risk assessment, fatigue management training, audit, review and KPIs.
Services include:
Benchmarking current fatigue risk management policy and procedures against recognised good practice and regualotory requirements.
Advice on design of shift and standby working patterns
Fatigue risk assessments of current or proposed working patterms.
Development of fatigue risk management policy and procedures
Investigation of fatigue in incidents.
Human Factors design
The design of all equipment and systems used by people needs to be optimised.
Design should meet users’ and task requirements. It should be easy and intuitive how to operate controls and interpret instrumentation. Simple and uncluttered controls. Well lit, suitably laid out workspaces with moderate noise, temperature and humidity.
It is recognised good practifce to integrate Human Factors into the design and evaluation of equipment and systems.
Services include:
Review of design of control rooms and control systems, field equipment and local control systems.
Comparison against recognised good practice and standards
Early Human Factors Risk Analysis
Advice on Human Factors design
Outline of user needs and Target Audience Descriptions.
Human Factors of procedures
It is common to have a written procedure for all safety critical tasks. Procedures are intended to provide an agreed safe way of performing a task.
However, in practice procedures are often unusable and do not match how tasks are actually performed. This can contribute to people improvising how to perform a task, or making errors.
Sometimes procedures can be wrongly used as a way of blaming people who have made an error - by saying they violated the procedure.
There is extensive guidance on the Human Factors of procedures. This covers the process of development, their content, design and use in training, competence assessment and in supporting operations and maintenance.
Services include:
Benchmarking procedures against recognised good practice;
Provision of procedure templates;
Training staff in procedures development.
Human Factors of competence
Competent personnel are essential for any safety critical operation. Understanding how to perform tasks, being skilled in task performance, being aware of hazards and how to manage faults and unexpected events are all critical.
However, gaps in competence are cited in numerous major accidents.
Equipment is changed without updating training.
Operators are not trained in how to handle equipment failures.
Training is “parrot” fashion.
Training lacks education on how the process works, what the hazards are and the function of equipment and devices.
Assessment is often non-existent or basic. It is assumed that if someone has been trained then they are competent.
Good Human Factors includes a systematic process of determining learning needs and matching training to these learning needs - covering knowledge, skills and attitudes.
A rich range of learning methods need to be matched to competences - hands on practice for skills, education for knowledge and behavioural role modelling for attitudes. Assessment methods should effectively test knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Services include:
Benchmarking training and assessment against good practice;
Advice on improvement of training and assessment methods;
Train the trainer.
Human Factors policies and management procedures
Human Factors needs to be implemented in a systematic and proactive way.
The Human Factors of all safety critical operations should be optimised.
This may start with identifying safety critical tasks, assessing their vulnerability to human failure, and then determining how best to support successful human performance.
Human Factors should be integrated into all stages of design and engineering projects, including initial concept and outline design.
Early Human Factors Analysis can identify issues, risks and opportunities.
A concept of operations can map out user roles.
User needs analysis and task requirements analysis can help develop system specifications.
Task analysis and Human Factors standards can support detailed design.
User testing can check usability and user acceptance.
Services include:
Review of current implementation of Human Factors;
Scoping and development of Human Factors policies and management procedures;
Advice on development of in-house Human Factors capability;
Training in the management of Human Factors.
