John Senders, Human Error, and System Safety

I examine John Senders' work and discuss his influence on the study of error causation,error mitigation, and sociotechnical system safety.

John Senders' passing calls for an evaluation of the impact of his work.

I review literature and accident investigation findings to discuss themes in Senders' work and potential associations between that work and error causation and system safety.

Senders consistently emphasized empirical rigor and theoretical exploration in his research, with the desire to apply that work to enhance human performance. He has contributed to changing the way error has been viewed, and to developing and implementing programs and techniques to mitigate error. While a causal relationship between Senders' work and safety cannot be established, an association can be drawn between his research and efforts to mitigate error.

Because of Senders' work, we have a better understanding of error causation and enhanced ways of mitigating system errors. However, new sources of error, involving advanced systems and operators' knowledge and understanding of their functionalities can, if not addressed, degrade system safety.

Modifications to advanced automation and operator training are suggested, and research to improve operator expertise in interacting with automated systems proposed.