What is Human Error

The notion of human error is a very broad concept because it has multiple dimensions. Currently, there is no “common standard” for defining human error. Indeed, the term human error covers several meanings depending on the angle from which it is viewed. The diversity of points of view is linked to the multiplicity of disciplines which analyze it (psychology, ergonomics, engineering, sociology, philosophy, legal). It is an inappropriate (or involuntary) act of a human operator that generates a result not in accordance with what is expected (or desired). Human error is contrary to the notion of “Violation” which is defined by a voluntary deviation from the standard or recommendation. Rather, it is the consequences of a set of parameters external to the task at hand. Human error is an unwanted event, a sign of a mismatch, a lack of compatibility between the characteristics of the work situation, and the physical and mental characteristics of the human operator. Error is therefore an indicator or symptom of human activity. It results in an inappropriate an action on the system, action which will not succeed in making the results conform to the desired goal. Human error is not reducible to human inability or incompetence to perform a task, but can result from the inability of an operator to perform a task correctly. Human error depends, in large part, on the characteristics of the task (physical, technical, organizational, etc.). Human error cannot be defined without referring to human intention, as it depends on human judgment in a specific situation.

A class of errors that (in the context of interactive systems) refer to any undesired user action or user-system interaction that leads to the violation of a system goal. Such an interaction may also violate some security goal of the system, that is leakage of confidential information or facilitate unauthorised access to the system.

Human error is a term describing a planned sequence of mental or physical actions that fail to achieve the intended objective, and that this failure cannot be attributed to chance.

Those occasions when something planned fails to reach the expected outcome.

Is an individual’s mistake due to limitations of human ability, rather than an external failure such as a machine.