Title :
The latent causes of industrial failures how to identify them, and what to do about them
Author_Institution :
Failsafe Network Inc., Richmond, VA, USA
Abstract :
Hidden but powerful forces within organizations are causing people to make serious mistakes. Until someone deals with these forces, they will continuously, but unpredictably, snare people into doing things they should not do. These forces are like a “trap”, waiting to catch the next person. The most proactive of all industrial action might be to identify and remove these latent traps. But all attempts to identify and remove these latent causes of failure start at the human. Humans do things “inappropriately”, for “latent” reasons. In order to understand these reasons, one must first understand what “errors” are being made. This puts people at risk-especially the “culprits”. Once exposed, they are in danger of being inappropriately disciplined. This paper attempts to clarify the subject of latency. It addresses the root causes of all failure-the human. More importantly, it suggests what to do about the causes once they are identified
Keywords :
failure analysis; human factors; human resource management; management; reliability; human error; human performance; industrial failures; latent causes identification; latent traps; organizations; root causes; Delay; Fires; Humans; Probes; Tree graphs; Vehicles;
Conference_Titel :
Human Factors and Power Plants, 1997. Global Perspectives of Human Factors in Power Generation., Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE Sixth Conference on
Conference_Location :
Orlando, FL
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3769-7
DOI :
10.1109/HFPP.1997.624866