Suggested HPI Reading

Event Analysis

"The Field Guide to Human Error Investigations"; Dekker, Sidney;

This field guide assesses two views of human error - the old view, in which human error becomes the cause of an incident or accident, or the new view, in which human error is merely a symptom of deeper trouble within the system. The two parts of this guide concentrate on each view, leading towards an appreciation of the new view, in which human error is the starting point of an investigation, rather than its conclusion. The second part of this guide focuses on the circumstances which unfold around people, which causes their assessments and actions to change accordingly. It shows how to "reverse engineer" human error, which, like any other component, needs to be put back together in a mishap investigation.

Human Error

"Human Error"; Reason, James"
Modern technology has now reached a point where improved safety can only be achieved through a better understanding of human error mechanisms. In its treatment of major accidents, the book spans the disciplinary gulf between psychological theory and those concerned with maintaining the reliability of hazardous technologies. Much of the theoretical structure is new and original, and of particular importance is the identification of cognitive processes common to a wide variety of error types.

"Ten Questions About Human Error"; Dekker, Sidney"
The ten questions about human error are not just questions about human error as a phenomenon, but also about human factors and system safety as disciplines, and where they stand today. In asking these questions and sketching the answers to them, this book attempts to show where current thinking is limited--where vocabulary, models, ideas, and notions are constraining progress. This volume looks critically at the answers human factors would typically provide and compares/contrasts them with current research insights. Each chapter provides directions for new ideas and models that could perhaps better cope with the complexity of the problems facing human error today. As such, this book can be used as a supplement for a variety of human factors courses.

Maintenance

"Managing Maintenance Error"; Reason, James & Hobbs, Alan
Central to the book is a comprehensive review of error management, followed by chapters on: - managing the person, the task and the team; - the workplace and the organization; - creating a safe culture; It is then rounded off and brought together, in such a way as to be readily applicable for those who can make it work, to achieve a greater and more consistent level of safety in maintenance activities.

Mental Process

"blink - The Power of Thinking Without Thinking"; Gladwell, Malcolm
Rapid cognition is the sort of snap decision-making performed without thinking about how one is thinking, faster and often more correctly than the logical part of the brain can manage. Gladwell sets himself three tasks: to convince the reader that these snap judgments can be as good or better than reasoned conclusions, to discover where and when rapid cognition proves a poor strategy, and to examine how the rapid cognition's results can be improved. Achieving three tasks, Gladwell marshals anecdotes, statistics, and a little bit of theory to persuasively argue his case.

Performance Improvement

"Bringing Out the Best in People"; Daniels, Aubrey
The classic bestseller on performance management is updated to reflect changes in today's working environment. What has made Daniels the man with the answers? His ability to apply scientifically based behavioral stimuli to the workplace while making it fun at the same time. Now Daniels updates his ground-breaking book with the latest and best motivational methods, perfected at such companies as Xerox, 3M, and Kodak. All-new material shows how to: create effective recognition and rewards systems in line with today's employees want; Stimulate innovations and creativity in new and exciting ways; overcome problems associated with poorly educated workers; motivate young employees from the minute they join the workforce.

"Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed to Do, and What to Do About It."; Fournies, Ferdinand

Organizational Culture

"Organizational Culture and Leadership"; Schein, Edward
How to transform the abstract concept of culture into a practical tool that managers and students can use to understand the dynamics of organizations and change. Organizational pioneer Schein updates his influential understanding of culture--what it is, how it is created, how it evolves, and how it can be changed. Focusing on today's business realities, Schein draws on a wide range of contemporary research to redefine culture, offers new information on the topic of occupational cultures, and demonstrates the crucial role leaders play in successfully applying the principles of culture to achieve organizational goals. He also tackles the complex question of how an existing culture can be changed-- one of the toughest challenges of leadership. The result is a vital resource for understanding and practicing organizational effectiveness.

Safety Management

"Cognition and Safety"; Sträter, Oliver Ingenious technologies and systems are designed, assessed and innovated throughout time. Sträter addresses the gap between the design of safety systems, on the one hand, and operation, on the other. Methods and models for human behavior in design focus on system workload or situational awareness, while operation relates to human error. A homogeneous approach towards notions like human error, workload and situational awareness is aimed at being integrated in this book by making use of existing knowledge of human cognition without, as the author claims, 'reinventing the wheel'.

"Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents"; Reason, James
Human factors expert James Reason provides a comprehensive review of the causes and consequences of a wide variety of accidents. Strategies for accident prevention and mitigation come in frameworks that organizations can easily adopt.

"Managing the Unexpected"; Weick, Karl & Sutcliffe, Kathleen
High reliability organizations (HROs) such as ER units in hospitals or firefighting units are designed to perform efficiently under extreme stress and pressure. Using HROs as the model for the 21st century organization, the authors show readers how to respond to unexpected challenges with flexibility rather than rigidity and to reduce the disruptive effects of change by using tools such as sense making, stress reduction, migrating decisions, and labeling. Introducing the powerful new concept of "mindfulness," the authors outline five qualities of the mindful organization and the organizational skills needed to achieve them. Each concept is clearly expressed in vivid case studies of organizations that demonstrate mindful practices in action.

"Resilience Engineering"; Hollnagel, Erik; Woods, David; Leveson, Nancy
Resilience engineering is a paradigm for safety management that focuses on how to help people achieve success in the face of complexity and pressure. It stands in contrast to the current paradigm of tabulating errors as if they were things that can be counted, followed by interventions aimed at reducing this count. A resilient organization treats safety as a core value, not a commodity that can be counted. Resilience may be viewed in terms of the capacity of an organization to handle disruptions, variations, disturbances and surprises that fall outside of those that it was designed to accommodate.

"The Psychology of Safety"; Geller, E. Scott
Safety performance cannot be brought to enviable levels without addressing human behavior and attitude effectively. The only comprehensive reference on the psychology of human dynamics of safety, The Psychology of Safety Handbook shows how to apply psychology to improve safety and health in any organization. Revised and expanded from the bestselling book that has become required reading for achieving Certified Safety Professional status, this is the only comprehensive resource on the human dynamics of safety.

"Understanding and Managing Risk Attitude"; Hillson, David & Murray-Webster, Ruth
Help to understand the human aspects of risk management and to manage proactively the influence of human behavior on the risk process. The authors introduce a range of models, perspectives and examples to define and detail the range of possible risk attitudes; looking both at individuals and groups. Using leading-edge thinking on self-awareness and emotional literacy they develop a powerful approach to address the most common shortfall in current risk management: the failure to manage the human aspects of the process. All this is presented in a practical and applied framework, rather than as a theoretical or academic treatise, based on the authors' shared experiences and expertise, rather than empirical research.