Human Performance (HP)

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Understanding human performance is critical for effective safety and risk management and incident analysis. Human error is often identified as the cause of many accidents. However, it is the beginning point rather than the end point in truly understanding both accident causation and safety performance.

HP is the next generation in safety. Many forward-thinking organizations are moving this direction because it is based on how employees actually perform work vs. how it is imagined by management.  As a result, employee engagement increases to levels not previously thought possible by creating a proactive and positive safety culture.

HP is not a program. It is the application of the science of human failure to error and incident reduction. It is a refreshing and timely new approach that is producing impressive results that old view traditional approaches failed to achieve.

The concepts of human performance are not just about safety. Errors occur in production, quality, customer service and many other areas and affect profitability every year. Human Performance is about operational excellence and is used to improve all areas of performance.

HP is about becoming a learning organization focused on continuous improvement. It is not possible for an organization to punish or incentivize its way to safety excellence. We can only truly prevent incidents by learning.

What are the benefits?

· Employee buy-in and engagement

· Improved morale

· Increased productivity

· Increased profits from the reduction of errors and losses

· Better understanding of operations

· Better understanding of factors that influence employee decisions and behaviors

· More effective incident/event analysis than provided by traditional investigative approaches