Human Factors Issues in Environmental Incidents

Current evidence suggests that human error or impaired human performance is a significant causal factor in environmental accidents and incidents. Some data from studies and analyses, accident investigations, and research is used to emphasize the extent of the problems. However, there are existing laws, regulations, or policy that require consideration of human factors in prevention of environmental incidents. Some specific requirements related to human factors are discussed. Finally, some areas for human factors contribution to environmental protection are discussed. These include such things as human error/accident audit reviews, human reliability analyses as a part of risk assessment, root cause analyses of accidents, fitness-for-duty assessment, health and safety training, and human factors in the design of future hazardous or toxic process systems.