Complicated Technology, Human Error, Lax Oversight

Posted June 24th, 2010

In the Wall Street Journal (June 16, 2010) an article about past disaster panel members contains something that people in hazardous industries should already know.  But we forget.  The panelists believe the Deepwater Horizon panel will find these causes:“an over-reliance on complicated technology that fails, human error, and lax oversight by regulators.” Those are similar causes to the Three Mile Island accident, the Challenger explosion, and other organizational accidents.  If you study accident reports, this is not surprising.

I recently saw some company manuals that stated: our system is protected by fail-safe devices. I recommended that term be removed.   Devices and systems fail.  As companies rely on complex technologies and the optimism of marketing and sales people, we can be lulled into a false sense of security.  Just because something can be done with technology does not mean it should be done.

To err is human.  A human error in a complex operation, like a space shuttle or a deepwater oil well, can lead to disasters.  It appears that the time pressure to get the job done might have led to the violation of accepted standards.  Pressure creates a mental conflict for workers on the front lines.  Ways to prevent human error include reliance on risk-based procedures, policies, and standards.  If the procedure is set aside because it is taking too long, accidents can occur.

Lax oversight is not only the purview of regulators.  Management on the job and in the upper ranks has some responsibility to oversee the daily work and the ongoing trends in safety and production statistics.  There should be a balance between emphases on safety and production.  It’s “both/and,” not “either/or.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Human Factors, In the News.