Within the design process for major process installations,
significant efforts are made to predict potential abnormal events
and also to provide a design which facilitates prevention, early
detection and recovery of these scenarios. This is achieved through
the analysis of hazards (e.g. HAZIDs, HAZOPs) and the mitigation of
the identified hazards through the design of systems, equipment
and procedures. Human Factors has a critical role in contributing to
and advancing these efforts made throughout the design and
operating lifecycle.
Human Factors is the discipline that seeks to understand the
contribution of the human operator within the system and to
influence design and operation accordingly. Within high hazard
industries it is essential to consider the role of the human operator
due to the potential consequences of human error as part of system
failure. In this context Human Factors considers the human
decision-making process and the external factors that may
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ben.woodcock@atkinsglobal.com (B. Woodcock), zac.au@
human-interactions.co.uk (Z. Au).
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jlp
0950-4230/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2012.07.002
Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 547e557influence its accuracy. As these techniques are beneficial in identifying
potential human error contribution to the initiation of
abnormal conditions, they can equally be applied to response to
abnormal situations including emergency escape and platform
evacuation for the following reasons