Course Description
Most serious incidents are attributed to "human error" — and most of those attributions stop the investigation exactly where it should begin. Human factors analysis goes past the error to the conditions that produced it: workload, fatigue, design, procedures, communication and organisational pressure.
This course develops the capability to apply human factors analysis within incident investigation. Building on the work of James Reason and the systemic view of accident causation, participants learn error types and mechanisms, performance-influencing factors, human factors analysis methods, and how to integrate human factors findings into investigations and corrective actions — complementing structured methods such as ICAM and root cause analysis.
What you will achieve
By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:
- Explain the role of human factors in incidents
- Move beyond "human error" as an explanation
- Classify error types and violation mechanisms
- Understand performance-influencing factors
- Apply human factors analysis methods to investigations
- Identify organisational and latent contributors
- Integrate human factors into investigation findings
- Develop corrective actions that address human factors
How the course is delivered
The course combines human factors theory with practical analysis exercises on realistic incident scenarios. Participants apply error classification, performance-influencing factor analysis and human factors methods to case studies.
The programme complements structured investigation methods such as ICAM and root cause analysis, deepening the human and organisational dimension of investigation.
Designed for
This training course is ideal for:
- Incident investigators and HSE professionals
- Safety and reliability engineers
- Operations and maintenance managers
- Human factors and ergonomics practitioners
- Anyone investigating incidents in safety-critical industries
Daily programme
- Why "human error" is not an explanation
- Accident causation and the systemic view
- Error types: slips, lapses, mistakes
- Violations and their drivers
- Performance-influencing factors
- Workload, fatigue and stress
- Design, procedures and communication
- Human factors analysis methods
- Integrating human factors into investigation
- Identifying organisational contributors
- Corrective actions that work
- Case study workshop and review
Certification & accreditation
BII Certificate of Completion
BII Certificate of Completion Upon successful completion, participants receive a BII Development Institute Certificate of Completion with a unique reference code that is independently verifiable. Our certificates are recognised internationally and reflect successful completion of your chosen programme.
