The Person Approach to Human Error

The traditional approach for human error in organisations is known as the person approach, which focuses upon unsafe acts, and the procedural violations of people on the coal face of the organisation. These unsafe acts occur due to the abnormal thought processes such as forgetfulness, daydreaming, lack of motivation, carelessness and recklessness (Reason, 2000, p. 768).

Countermeasures within the person approach to human error are mainly behavioural. For example: posters that work on fear, writing more procedures and policies, discipline, threatening litigation, over managing performance, labelling or shaming. As Reason conveys in his research:

“Blaming individuals is emotionally more satisfying than targeting institutions.... If something goes wrong, it seems obvious that an individual (or group of individuals) must have been responsible.” (Reason, 2000, p. 768)

As can be seen, the person approach to error management has significant deficiencies. Reason states that unsafe acts or errors are bound to happen within any organisation, however, many are not. Interestingly, Reason goes on to say, that 90% of quality lapses in both aviation and health care were not the fault of any individual (Reason, 2000, p. 768).

Reason, J. (2000). Human Error: Models and Management. British Medical Journal , 320, 768-770.