Assessing Human Reliability Behaviour from Use of Technology for Ships Navigating within Coastal Water

Pass Work

Human factors deal with human abilities and limitations in relation to the design of systems, organizations, tools etc. Important parameters are safety, efficiency and comfort. Human errors and human factors are often studied separately; therefore, the relationship between them is often overlooked. According to Gordon (1998), they propose a framework for describing the relationships between underlying human factors and more immediately evident human errors. Gordon categorizes human factors as individual, group, or organizational, following the Rasmussen model “Perceptions on the Concept of Human Error” (Gordon, 1998) that categorize human errors as skills-based, rule-based, or knowledge-based.

System-induced errors reflect deficiencies in the way the total system was designed. They include mistakes in designating the numbers and types of personnel, in training, in data resources, in logistics, and in maintenance requirements and support. Design-induced errors result from inadequacies in the design of individual items of equipment. The new equipment characteristics create special difficulties for the operator which substantially increases the potential for error. Operator-induced errors can be traced directly to an incompetency on the part of the individual who makes that error. They include errors resulting from lack of capability, training, skill, motivation, or from fatigue. Several studies and case reviews have found that organizational factors may be the most critical in considering human factors contributing to marine accidents. At the organizational level, various factors may contribute to an increase in incidents and accidents, including cost-cutting programs and the level of communication between work-sites (Gordon, 1998).