Consolidation of the Generic Task Type database and concepts used in the Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART)

Abstract

The Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) was created at a time when there was no publicly-accessible Internet, no easily-searched databases and, in some cases, only limited or, largely, non-existent Human Reliability information. Since then some Generic Task Type (GTT) data have become available and somewhat easier to quantify. This has made it possible to consolidate the method so as to confirm, revise and refine some of the GTTs to reflect new findings and to identify areas which require further research. Some 35,000 papers have been reviewed and, in the process, 175 usable data sources were identified. In most cases, the data underpinning the GTTs were found to be consistent with the original concepts, values and limits, but there were some cases where more information would be helpful. Whilst our work has shown that the factor additive concepts in the method are broadly valid and that the Human Error Probability (HEP) distributions are about ‘right’, it has highlighted that there are some important gaps in our GTT knowledge, particularly those to do with low and high end error probabilities. The authors anticipate that significant advances in the understanding of human error will be achieved, providing there is focused research from all of the human sciences to address these key areas.

Keywords:

• Human reliability
• human error data
• validation
• factor additivity

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Rhiannon Mogridge and Dr Gillian Frost of the Health and Safety Executive for their analytical and methodological contributions to this research. We would also like to thank Professor Peter Rendell, Director of the Cognition and Emotion Research Centre at Australian Catholic University, Dr Kyle Wilson of Canterbury University, New Zealand and Professor Stewart Shapiro, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Delaware for their assistance providing some of the reference material.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper and the scientific work it describes were jointly funded by Jerry Williams Human Factors Ltd. and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.