Error analysis and applications in transportation systems

This paper presents an overview of the field of error analysis. Section 1 shows why discussions about human error are relevant for societal safety. With regard to safety research, it is important to predict abnormal events. At the machine side, reliability studies proved their value, but to predict failures in the human factor has been shown to be very difficult. Therefore, problems in how to define the notion of human error (Section 2) and how to classify different types of error (Section 3) are discussed. Some researchers started to use systematical classifications of human error types based on a recent, hierarchical model of human task performance. The outline of the model is presented. Examples of error analysis studies from the field of transportation research (Section 4) provide some basic suggestions on how to reduce error rates. Some conclusions on error control are given in Section 5. The responsibility of managers and system designers in this respect is strongly emphasized.