Background: A permit to work (PTW) is a formal written system to control certain types of work which
are identified as potentially hazardous. However, human error in PTW processes can lead to an accident.
Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted to estimate the probability of human
errors in PTWprocesses in a chemical plant in Iran. In the first stage, through interviewing the personnel
and studying the procedure in the plant, the PTW process was analyzed using the hierarchical task
analysis technique. In doing so, PTWwas considered as a goal and detailed tasks to achieve the goal were
analyzed. In the next step, the standardized plant analysis risk-human (SPAR-H) reliability analysis
method was applied for estimation of human error probability.
Results: The mean probability of human error in the PTW system was estimated to be 0.11. The highest
probability of human error in the PTW process was related to flammable gas testing (50.7%).
Conclusion: The SPAR-H method applied in this study could analyze and quantify the potential human
errors and extract the required measures for reducing the error probabilities in PTW system. Some
suggestions to reduce the likelihood of errors, especially in the field of modifying the performance
shaping factors and dependencies among tasks are provided.
2015, Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute. Published by Elsevier. All rights reserved