Human factors analyses

Human Factors is the systematic consideration of human capabilities and limitations.  The majority of systems failures and major incidents have a human element in their cause.  Therefore, our human factors specialists are involved in:

• New systems design and Human Factors integration planning
• Safety assessment of new and existing systems
• Problem investigation
• Safety Management Systems Review
• Production of supporting information for Safety Reports
• Human Factors guidance documents and training for client teams

Human Factors Expertise

Vectra has well-established Human Factors group with a good reputation over the 10 years of its existence.  Our expertise is applied to improving human performance and defending against human error in:

• Safety management systems
• Safety culture assessment and improvement
• Competency specification and development
• Emergency and contingency planning and preparedness
• Procedures design and assessment
• Human error identification and reduction
• Quantitative risk assessment
• Built environment design and assessment
• Workstation and interface design and assessment
• Communications system design and assessment
• Task analysis for safety critical tasks

Experience

We have assisted clients with the design and assessment of:

• Alarm systems
• Emergency Shutdown Systems
• SCADA and DCS interface design
• Control panel design
• Manual interfaces to plant
• Drill floor and crane operations

Evidence to support human factors claims within safety reports is often considered by regulators to be weak.  We have strengthened the safety arguments for a number of clients by investigating human factors issues and providing substantiating reports.  In cases where arrangements or designs have been considered insufficient, we have provided pragmatic advice on improvements.