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How To Reduce the Human Error Of Distraction

Distraction is when your attention is drawn away from the task at hand. It can be an unusual noise, a coffee break, a phone call or hundreds of other things that catch your attention at a critical time.

It refers to a set of unintended consequences as a result of distraction, which could detrimentally affect human performance on critical tasks. There are many types of distractions in the workplace, including distractions that are present in that workplace and internal within the worker.

It’s impossible to eliminate every last distraction from the workplace. However, due to the danger that attention failures place on an individual and a workplace as a whole, it is important to limit distractions within a workplace as well as by an individual.

human errors can often be prevented.

How can we reduce the human error of distraction?

The challenge is to develop error tolerant systems and to prevent errors from initiating; to reduce human error proactively where the factors that make errors are identified and control measures, such as Error Prevention training are devised and implemented.

One of the Traps of human nature we learn about is called the Sophisticated Equipment Syndrome.  

Sometimes people are so excited by a new piece of equipment that they believe it can accomplish anything. This belief can lead to lack of attention and/or unnecessary risk taking.

For example,

Car Automation - The basic Autopilot system automatically controls acceleration and braking, as well as auto steer to keep the car within the current lane. However, these autopilot functions do not make the vehicle autonomous – and still require the ‘driver’ to be in control. In some fatal crashes involving these automated vehicles, it was concluded that a key factor was driver inattention, linked to overconfidence in such systems.

Cockpit Operations - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had investigated why a small Cessna 150 plane crashed in May 2014 into a wheat field near Watkins, Colo., killing the pilot and his passenger. The report has revealed that the pilot probably lost control of the plane while taking selfie pictures with his cell phone. While much attention has been given to the use of cell phones while driving cars, this latest case demonstrates the risks of operating any machinery while texting, taking photographs, or posting photos to social media.

"Contributing to the accident was the pilot's distraction due to his cell phone use while manoeuvring at low altitude," the NTSB stated in a report issued last week, according to Reuters.

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The more we rely on technology, the more crucial it is that we understand human factors and reduce human errors.  Companies should consider Error Prevention basic training as a standard procedure to reduce human errors in the workplace.

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Eliminating Human Error in Healthcare

Human errors form a significant portion of preventable mishaps in healthcare. Even the most competent clinicians are not immune to it, though it is often associated with unintentionally harming patients. For example, errors in the perioperative period can often have grave consequences, and hence, perioperative clinicians need to be aware of the impact of human errors and train themselves in eliminating human error.

While this scenario is common and serious, it’s not the only form of human error that takes place. Human error also happens in administrative roles. And sometimes, the mistakes can be just as damaging as those made in a clinical setting. In order to improve patient care, healthcare organizations must root out human error in all its forms, whether it takes place on the operating table or in the back-office.

Traditionally, errors were attributed to the incompetence of individuals, and emphasis was laid on individual training (personal approach of error prevention). This approach is flawed because errors are not always due to incompetence. This strategy just fixes the blame--not the problem.

Error prevention should target the cause. Slips and lapses can be tackled by providing optimal training.

Properly designed and delivered training to all is very effective in producing certain types of knowledge, skills, and behaviour. People don't set out to err. But the use of training and training tools shouldn't be abandoned. Procedures, proper tool use, resource management techniques, techniques to foster communication among team members, reporting systems to identify latent errors, protocols to prevent medication errors, are some of the other strategies that can be adopted at the institutional level.

Learning outcomes of our Error Prevention Institute training:

Explain the meaning of the term “human factors”

Explain the relationship between human factors and patient safety

Interactions between three interrelated aspects: individuals at work, the task at hand and the workplace itself.

For example: we teach Cognitive forcing strategies (CFS) or cognitive self-monitoring strategies. It’s a technique that helps the clinician to avoid bias or fixation and force them to pause and think.

Incorporating sessions on eliminating human error and non-technical skills in gatherings is essential to foster safety culture. Teaching non-technical skills is shown to decrease the incidence of errors.

No one is immune to error. Constant vigilance regarding the possibility of error, optimal working conditions, effective utilization of cognitive (such as algorithms, mnemonics, and checklists), communication aids, and human error training will help in minimizing their incidence.

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Human Performance Safety Training Improves Safety Results.

This course is designed for personnel who want to improve human performance safety results in their workplace.

Human performance impacts all aspects of the working environment from the individual, the organization, to job performance and safety.

Risk assessment is inherent in the decision-making process. Unfortunately, people may not be aware of all the risks involved in a particular decision, or they may tend to minimize risks, especially risks they deal with every day.

Our approach to Human Performance safety training is based around the AESOP method for risk assessment. The training helps you to identify the Traps of human nature and how to effectively apply the right Tools to overcome those Traps, resulting in significantly fewer mistakes and accidents.

AESOP is a methodology developed by the Error Prevention Institute designed to ensure:

All personnel associated with an operational assignment are familiar with and understand their roles and responsibilities so the risks of accidents can be identified, communicated and mitigated.

It is an acronym that guides you through a 5-step checklist and the breakout session that takes you through this process is called an AESOP Mini-Huddle.

Our training is in an interactive workshop format in which the participants are encouraged to take an alternative viewpoint on the work that they do. Through a variety of practical activities we enable them to work out solutions and improvements that they believe in and are willing to own in their workplace.

You'll come away from this e-learning human performance safety training course with a solid foundational knowledge of the proven methods of human error prevention. As a bonus, you'll get access to EP360, our bundle of additional tools and resources you can utilize after you've completed the training.

We are committed to helping our clients achieve their safety goals through procedural excellence, incident analysis, and human performance improvement.

EPI also offers three Advanced Error Prevention courses that help supervisors, managers, and executives provide the guidance, support and motivation which their personnel need to take your organization on the journey to ultimate effectiveness.

Our Customers achieve higher levels of safety and operational excellence than ever, saving them time, money and wasted effort and often giving them the edge over their competitors.

Everyone can benefit from our human performance safety training course.

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