CONSULTANCY

Meet the Consultants - Information on project experience

Clients have employed Human Reliability in situations where human error has been highlighted as a significant causal factor in a serious incident. We are also used when it has already been recognised within an organisation that Human Reliability issues are critical to achieving safety, quality or availability goals. Consultants may then be involved in problem identification and analysis, typically using techniques such as task, error and criticality analysis. Appropriate interventions such as training, revised procedures or improved interface design are then specified and applied.

There is growing recognition that many human performance problems stem from a failure within organisations to develop an effective policy for managing Human Reliability. Human Reliability is therefore increasingly involved in carrying out audits and evaluations which look beyond the immediate manifestations of a problem to diagnose more fundamental failures in a company’s quality or safety management strategy.

Particular areas of expertise include:

• Qualitative and quantitative prediction of human error
• Human Reliability aspects of the introduction of new technology
• Control room and interface design
• Incident investigation and root cause analysis
• Development of data collection and incident reporting systems
• Human Reliability management auditsOrganisational analysis and the management of organisational change
• Preparation of Human Reliability and human factors guidelines
• Design of operating, maintenance and emergency procedures
• Human Reliability aspects of quality improvement programmes
• Risk assessment and reliability analysis