INTRODUCTION

Human errors have contributed to a number of major industrial accidents with many leading to multiple fatalities and almost every accident analysis usually uncovers human related errors and deficiencies. The root cause of these deficiencies is typically inadequate application of human factors in the development or application of various standards, procedures and management systems. Therefore, it is useful to understand where the deficiencies lie and where simple human fallibility can prove critical to safe operations. To accomplish safety improvements, human factors must be effectively applied and managed within an organization. The benefits of taking human factors into account for an organization are, fewer accidents and near misses, reduced potential for human error and its consequences, improved efficiency, lower lifetime costs associating with maintaining and re-engineering systems and a more productive workforce. Its proper application can result in improved operating effectiveness and reliability. Proactive integration of Human Factor throughout the life – cycle of an asset – from the design stage, through commissioning, operation and maintenance and looking ahead to decommissioning – is critical. Quite simply, the success of any organization depends on the performance of humans because every facet of any industrial organization involves human factors.

The course is about explaining how human factor influences human behavior in a way which can affect process safety performance at all levels of an organisation. The course covers topics on human factors’ key issues, factors affecting human performance and systematic approaches in predicting and reducing human error. The course will also include case studies to assess human error in the process industry and propose human error prevention techniques to enhance process safety.