Customer Reviews

Human Error

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone with any interest in error reduction, or in the way humans interact with technology should start here. The psychological analysis of how and why we commit errors is fascinating, and influences the way one thinks about daily events. I find myself saying "Aha, that was a capture error," and "Damn! I've fallen for the fundamental attribution error again." The real lesson is that errors derive from the very nature of human behavior--the mechanisms which enable us to solve complex problems also make errors inevitable. This realization changes entirely one's concept of industrial accidents and medical mistakes.

This is a wonderful book; it's lessons will be appreciated by everyone who has experienced working with complex systems and the problems they create for managers. I have used it for many years to introduce residents in Pathology to human errors in clinical laboratories. The classification of errors which Reason presents is applicable to all areas of human activity. I am constantly reminded by this book and by personal experience of the old adage.. "No one can think of all the answers that come to fools." This book provides a deep insight into the psychological mechanisms all of us use in the decision making process. Accidents are one of the types of human error covered in great detail. Several examples from the nuclear power industry are presented and the clear message is that that accidents begin in conventional ways but rarely proceed along predictable lines. One can only marvel that there has been no reported major accident involving nulcear weapons--yet. What applies to the nuclear power industry appears to have broad application and suggests to me that our species has not descended as faras it needs to since automatic behaivor is so prevalent and persistent.

An excellent treatise on the subject of human error, written with a cognitive psychology approach. The treatment of the subject matter is more theoretical and less practice-oriented. The book begins with clear definitions, classifications and explanations on the different types of errors, quickly runs through the relevant literature and scientific studies and expands on the typology using Rasmussen's classification as a base. The author then goes on to describe his well-known Swiss Cheese model and provides an excellent overview of accident causation from a system-thinking perspective. He ends with a note on the methodological assessment of error risks which is perhaps more relevant to safety practitioners. The entire book is written in clear simple language that is easily understood, fascinating and intellectually stimulating, even to non-psychologists.

This book is a must have resource for the serious failure analyst. I am responsible for root cause analysis of events at a nuclear power station and we have this as required reading for our root cause analysts.

Furthermore, my experience with other companies who specialize in failure analysis and nuclear industry oversight agencies indicates that the information presented in this book is widely used and respected. More than that - the information helps you to prevent events and solve recurring problems because you get to the latent organizational and human roots.

My copy has gotten dog-eared and has all kinds of notes in the margins. It's absolutely indespensible as a resource for any organization where a strong safety culture (for your employees and your customers) is a necessary part of your business.

This is a seminal work for anyone working in hazardous industries. I work in the aviation industry and I found this book to be so enlightening and useful. Whilst industry should always strive towards ensuring that errors do not occur in the first place, it will never be possible to eradicate them totally. Therefore all organisations should aim to `manage' errors. Professor Reason refers to the two components of error management namely error containment and error reduction.

To prevent errors from occurring, it is necessary to predict where they are most likely to occur and then to put in place preventative measures. Incident reporting schemes do this for the industry as a whole. Within an organisation, data on errors, incidents and accidents should be captured with a Safety Management System (SMS), which should provide mechanisms for identifying potential weak spots and error-prone activities or situations. Output from this should guide local training, company procedures, the introduction of new defences, or the modification of existing defences.

According to Reason, error management includes measure to reduce the error susceptibility of particular tasks or task elements; determine, assess and then remove error-producing factors within the workplace; identify organisational issues that generate error-producing factors within the individual, the team, the task or the workplace; improve error detection; increase the error tolerance of the workplace or system; make latent conditions more visible to those who operate and manage the system; improve the organisation's intrinsic resistance to human fallibility.

It is important that organisations balance profit and costs, and try to ensure that the defences which are put in place are the most cost-effective in terms of trapping errors and preventing catastrophic outcomes.

Reason teaches that error management seeks to prevent errors from occurring and eliminate or mitigate the bad effects of errors. One of the things likely to be most effective in preventing error is to make sure that people follow procedures. This can be effected by ensuring that the procedures are correct and usable, that the means of presentation of the information is user friendly and appropriate to the task and context, that employees are encouraged to follow procedures and not to cut corners.

This is a well written book that is a must read for anyone working in hazardous industries where safety is number one priority.

This book is a very complete and well done review of the history and mechanisms of human error. I can't think of a better reference book. It takes some work to extract the knowledge from the rather concentrated material, but it is well worth it. I generally like an easier, novel-type read, but there are plenty of other books on human factors that provide that. This one shines in the very systematic and complete treatment of the subject. And the bibliography is excellent, because it facilitates the easy branching out into all of his sources. Speaking of people mentioned, I knew I would like it when he spoke highly of Donald Norman. He also mentions Perrow's 'Normal Accidents', which is an excellent book. Also the quote from Ernst Mach can lead into a fascinating side trail of discovery on that man. But mainly his dedication of the book to Jens Rasmussen sent me off on a trail of his work, which is quite prolific. I think this is academia at its best - building on the work of predecessors to help further development of tools and understanding on how to solve practical, real world problems.

I'm very interested in exploring the origins of human errors. And this book by James Reason seemed liked a good read. I was about to travel and I didn't want to buy a paperback or a hardcover book--there are severe weight limitations for air travel. But I have a Kindle, and this book was available in the Kindle edition.

I should say that I tend not to write negative reviews. But in this case, I have to make an exception. Now my complaints are not with the content of the book. I wish it was written a bit better, but I knew what I was buying when I got the book. But I'm horrified at the number of typos in the Kindle edition! I assume the real-world-book doesn't have these (I hope). But every single page on the Kindle had a typo, or missing text, or strange characters, and so on. It was VERY frustrating reading the book (and nearly impossible to read the Appendixes). Clearly, Dr. Reason haven't given even a first look at how his book on Human Error was being rendered on the Kindle. To write a book about individual and systems failures and then to publish such a poor quality book is amazing to me.

If Amazon doesn't figure out the quality standards for Kindle editions, then there really isn't a point of taking a risk and buying these books in this format.

Ultimately, it is the author that is responsible for the quality of his book. I hope Dr. Reason will see this review and move his editors to make some very needed changes. Until then, DO NOT buy the Kindle version of this book--it's not worth the money!

For those who are interested in the study of humen error and confiability based on a cognitive approach, this is a basic reading! For those longing for a more comprehensive approach, it is only the first step. But it's worthwhile.