(2) Human Factors Flashcards
What is situation awareness?
Our mental picture of what is going on around us
Define human factors
All factors that influence people and their behaviour
E.g. at work = environmental, organisational, job factors, and individual characteristics
Give examples of SELF factors
Personalities (hierarchy, role, culture) Role confusion My ability to challenge Fixation Stress Cognitive bias
Give examples of people factors
Give examples of task factors
“I’ve always done this before”, self-belief
Fixation
Complicit, failure to challenge
Rules / policies / check lists / procedures
Communication
Give examples of context factors
Team working concerns
Respect and culture one another
Pressure
Systems
Give examples of work factors
Give examples of organisation factors
What contribution do human factors make to every day errors?
Describe the Swiss cheese model
Protection comes from a series of barriers in patient’s journey
- each barrier has weakness (latent conditions)
- these are ‘holes’ in the cheese
- errors can be avoided by recognising threats and situation awareness
- errors should be trapped
- failure occurs when all barrier weaknesses (holes) line up
What are latent conditions?
Errors found in the design of a system
E.g. poor training, inadequate supervision, poor communication, inadequate staffing, equipment problems, machinery design
What are active failures?
Incorrect actions by humans
E.g. slips, lapses, mistakes, violations
What is the communication gradient?
