Human Error

Human Error: The Sole Cause

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Sir Isaac Newton once said,” For every action there is a greater or equal reaction” and in aviation accidents this could not be truer. It is estimated that in in aviation accidents seventy and eighty percent of all accidents can be attributed to human error (HFACS, 2000). Human error, what does that even mean? Human error defined in my personal opinion is, any mistake that is made simply because you are a human and either attention to detail was missed or a sensory organ did not pick up on the trigger.

In aviation there is a more sought out way to discover truly what was the human error. The Human Factors and Classification System (HFACS) is a classification system that was designed and implemented to find the foot cause of the human error in an accident. The HFACS is broken down into four layers of failure, Unsafe acts, Preconditions for unsafe acts, Unsafe supervision, or Organizational Influences (HFACS, 2000).

Each level of failure takes a look at the failure it self and ask deeper question of the root cause. The deeper questions are posed more as sub sections such as errors or violations. From there the sub sections break down even further into was the errors decision based, skills- based, or even a perceptual and this is the true benefit to the HFACS in my opinion. By this system being in place we can look at the root cause and prevent today from happening tomorrow.

When looking at the negative side affects of the HFACS it is very difficult to find. The only negative to this classification system is just that, it is humans analyzing data about humans. In my personal opinion I could see very easily how this system could be misinterpreted or misrepresented by a human just looking for the quickest and easiest answer instead of digging deep to discover the true reasoning for the accident. Humans make errors with it is in aviation or not, this system does great for classifying the...