CPE6260   Human Behaviour and Human Error   (15 credits)

Description

The theoretical background and practical skills are given for assessing and reducing human error. Features considered include human factors and psychological mechanisms. Human reliability is considered in industry and its impact on major hazard systems and quality assurance. Human-machine interfaces are examined. Approaches are given for improving human reliability and error reduction. Key features include task analysis and its application, the quantification of human error for risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis and the use of data collection systems. Studies identify the underlying reasons for human caused accidents and quality lapses. The module aims to give: an understanding of the importance of humans in the chain of actions leading to accidents in chemical plants, an understanding of the ways in which human error can be described in the operation of a task sequence, an appreciation of the ways in which data can be collected and used in incident investigation and an understanding of the numerical representation of human behaviour in the assessment of risk.

Reading List