No matter how skilled or well-trained your staff are, mistakes can and do happen in every workplace. In fact, human error is often cited as the underlying cause of the majority of accidents and incidents at work, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Everyone makes mistakes, to ‘err is human’ after all. Given this eventuality, how to prevent human error in workplace? While it is perhaps impossible to prevent people from ever making mistakes, steps can be taken to decrease instances of human error and improve your employees’ health and safety overall. By being aware of the underlying causes of human error, employers and supervisors can act to reduce risk factors and create safer work environments.
In this article, we will go over the impact of human error on workplace safety, look at what causes human error and provide you with effective measures you can take to reduce the risk of accidents caused by human error at your place of work.
What is human error in safety terms? The answer is not as straightforward as you may think.
Human error is often defined as any accident or incident caused by the actions of a person and not by the failure of machinery, equipment, tools or surroundings. However, this definition is overly simplistic.
HSE guidance explains that human failure can contribute to accidents and incidents, but it should not be viewed simply as “operator error”. Employers should also consider the task, equipment, working environment, procedures and organisational factors that influence how people perform.
The concept of human failure can be divided into two main categories:
Human error: A person whose actions or decisions results in unintended consequences.
Violations: A person who has deliberately deviated from health and safety rules or procedures or best practices.
It should be noted that violations can often be well-intentioned and are not always the result of malicious non-compliance. Workers that take ‘short-cuts’ to improve efficiency can violate health and safety procedures and cause accidents, despite having the best of intentions.
The difference is that violations are intentional, while accidents and incidents caused by human error are unintentional.
The three main types of unintentional human error described in HSE guidance are:
Slips: A slip is when a worker does not perform an action in the correct manner
Lapses: Lapses happen when a worker forgets to perform a task or performs a sequence of tasks in the wrong order
Mistakes: Mistakes are when a worker fails to make the right decision because of a lack of knowledge about their task or about the rules surrounding their duties
Common causes of human error include:
- Insufficient health and safety training
- Inadequate work instructions
- Fatigue from overwork
- Distractions from co-workers or the public
- Boredom from performing repetitive tasks
- Unrealistic deadlines that create time pressure
- Issues with equipment or machinery
- Organisational problems
- Poor working environments
- Personal stressors, such as drug or alcohol abuse, family issues, poor health, etc
Slips, lapses and mistakes most commonly occur because of a range of factors involving training, working conditions, and health and safety procedures. Human error can be influenced by inexperience, inadequate training, high workload, fatigue, repetitive work, unclear procedures, poor equipment design, distractions, time pressure or ineffective communication.
What are some examples of human error? It is instructive to look at examples of human error from each of the three main categories:
- Common slips can include starting equipment before putting on the appropriate safety gear, operating equipment in the incorrect manner, or applying a correct procedure to the wrong object
- Examples of lapses are when workers forget to secure hazardous equipment such as scaffolding, confuse similar tasks, do not follow the correct steps when completing a task, or overlook crucial details
- An example of a mistake could be overloading a piece of machinery, inadvertently performing a task incorrectly, or misunderstanding instructions and causing damage to equipment or injury to oneself or co-workers
Accidents and incidents that arise because of slips, lapses, and mistakes can have severe health and safety consequences. What are the four consequences of human error?
- There may be an impact on the quality of ongoing work
- There may be equipment or machinery that must be replaced
- The financial cost of the accident or incident may have a negative effect on the business
- There may be a significant human impact from the accident or incident. Workers may be injured, fatalities may occur, and witnesses and victims may be left psychologically traumatised
Human error is not random. It is based on normal behaviours that can be predicted, identified, and managed. Understanding the factors that cause slips, lapses and mistakes can greatly assist employers and managers in identifying why human errors occur. This knowledge can lead to the implementation of better health and safety procedures and more effective control measures.
You can manage human error in workplace by ensuring that staff are issued with clear instructions on how to perform their tasks and that they fully understand what is expected of them. Tasks should only be assigned to employees who are skilled and experienced enough to handle them.
Deadlines should be reasonable and achievable. Workers may require rotating duties to avoid burnout or boredom. Equipment, machinery and personal protective gear (PPE) should be regularly inspected and maintained to ensure they are in proper working order.
The work environment should be made as comfortable as possible. Workers should receive appropriate supervision and be able to get assistance if needed. Distractions and interruptions should be minimised or eliminated where possible.
A crucial aspect of reducing human error is to provide appropriate health and safety training as part of a wider approach that also considers task design, equipment, supervision, workload, procedures and the working environment.
Health and safety training helps supervisors, managers and employees identify and manage workplace risks, but it should be supported by effective risk assessment, practical procedures, suitable equipment, supervision and well-designed systems of work.
Where workers have received appropriate first-aid, emergency-response or task-specific training, they will be better prepared to assist injured colleagues or respond safely to a hazardous situation.
