An Engineer's View of Human Error is now in its third edition and includes more examples of accidents caused by the various types of human error. Practicing engineers who design, construct, operate and maintain plants of all sorts will find in this text new ways of looking at accidents which at first sight seem to be the result of human error. Students will also find the practical, down-to-earth approach of this book to be a useful aid to their studies."--Jacket.

1.1Accept men as we find them 1 -- 1.2 Meccano or dolls? 3 -- 1.3 Types of human error 4 -- 1.4 Two simple examples 6 -- 1.5 Accident investigation 8 -- 1.6 A story 9 -- 1.7 Research on human error 10 -- 2 Accidents caused by simple slips 11 -- 2.2 Forgetting to open or close a valve 13 -- 2.3 Operating the wrong valve 21 -- 2.4 Pressing the wrong button 25 -- 2.5 Failures to notice 29 -- 2.6 Wrong connections 31 -- 2.7 Errors in calculations 32 -- 2.8 Other medical errors 34 -- 2.9 Railways 35 -- 2.10 Other industries 41 -- 2.11 Everyday life (and typing) 43 -- 2.12 Fatigue 45 -- 3 Accidents that could be prevented by better training or instructions 48 -- 3.2 Three Mile Island 50 -- 3.3 Other accidents that could be prevented by relatively sophisticated training 53 -- 3.4 Accidents that could be prevented by elementary training 62 -- 3.5 Contradictory instructions 65 -- 3.6 Knowledge of what we don't know 66 -- 3.7 Some simple ways of improving instructions 67 -- 3.8 Training or instructions? 72 -- 3.9 Cases when training is not the best answer 74 -- 4 Accidents due to a lack of physical or mental ability 78 -- 4.1 People asked to do the physically difficult or impossible 78 -- 4.2 People asked to do the mentally difficult or impossible 80 -- 4.3 Individual traits and accident proneness 85 -- 4.4 Mind-sets 88 -- 5 Accidents due to failures to follow instructions 97 -- 5.1 Accidents due to non-compliance by managers 99 -- 5.2 Accidents due to non-compliance by operators 103 -- 5.3 Actions to improve compliance 107 -- 5.4 Alienation 109 -- 6 Accidents that could by prevented by better management 112 -- 6.1 An accident caused by insularity 114 -- 6.2 An accident due to amateurism 115 -- 6.3 Fire at King's Cross railway station 116 -- 6.4 Herald of Free Enterprise 117 -- 6.5 Clapham Junction railway accident 118 -- 6.6 Piper Alpha 120 -- 6.7 What more can senior managers do? 120 -- 6.8 Measurement of safety 125 -- 7 Probability of human error 129 -- 7.1 Why do we need to know human error rates? 130 -- 7.2 Human error rates--a simple example 132 -- 7.3 A more complex example 132 -- 7.4 Other estimates of human error rates 136 -- 7.5 Two more simple examples 141 -- 7.6 Button pressing 144 -- 7.7 Non-process operations 146 -- 7.8 Train driver errors 147 -- 7.9 Some pitfalls in using data on human reliability 147 -- 7.10 Data on equipment may be data on people 149 -- 7.11 Who makes the errors? 151 -- 8 Some accidents that could be prevented by better design 154 -- 8.1 Isolation of protective equipment 155 -- 8.2 Better information display 156 -- 8.3 Pipe failures 156 -- 8.4 Vessel failures 159 -- 8.5 Sellafield leak 159 -- 8.6 Other design errors 161 -- 8.7 Conceptual shortcomings 162 -- 8.8 Problems of design contractors 165 -- 8.9 Domestic accidents 166 -- 9 Some accidents that could be prevented by better construction 168 -- 9.1 Pipe failures 168 -- 9.2 Miscellaneous incidents 170 -- 9.3 Prevention of construction errors 173 -- 10 Some accidents that could be prevented by better maintenance 175 -- 10.1 Incidents which occurred because people did not understand how equipment worked 175 -- 10.2 Incidents which occurred because of poor maintenance practice 178 -- 10.3 Incidents due to gross ignorance or incompetence 180 -- 10.4 Incidents which occurred because people took short cuts 181 -- 10.5 Incidents which could be prevented by more frequent or better maintenance 183 -- 10.6 Can we avoid the need for so much maintenance? 185 -- 11 Some accidents that could be prevented by better methods of operation 187 -- 11.1 Permits-to-work 187 -- 11.2 Tanker incidents 189 -- 11.3 Some incidents that could be prevented by better instructions 192 -- 11.4 Some incidents involving hoses 193 -- 11.5 Communication failures 194 -- 11.6 Examples from the railways 199 -- 11.7 Simple causes in high tech industries 201 -- 12 Errors in computer-controlled plants 203 -- 12.1 Hardware failures 204 -- 12.2 Software errors 205 -- 12.3 Specification errors 207 -- 12.4 Misjudging responses to a computer 210 -- 12.5 Entering the wrong data 213 -- 12.6 Failures to tell operators of changes in data or programs 214 -- 12.7 Unauthorized interference with hardware or software 214 -- 12.8 Hazards of old software 217 -- 12.9 Other applications of computers 217 -- 13 Personal and managerial responsibility 221 -- 13.1 Personal responsibility 221 -- 13.2 Legal views 223 -- 13.3 Blame in accident investigations 227 -- 13.4 Managerial wickedness 228 -- 13.5 Managerial competence 229 -- 13.6 Possible and necessary 231 -- 14 Adventures of Joe Soap and John Doe 234 -- Appendix 1 Influences on morale 258 -- Appendix 2 Some myths of human error 261 -- Appendix 3 Some thoughts on sonata form 269.