Human performance is the practice of proactively preventing unwanted outcomes triggered by human error. According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), human error is often cited as the main cause for up to 80% of incidents and accidents in complex, high-risk systems such as the gas and electric delivery systems.
Because even the most competent people will make mistakes, error rates can never be reduced to zero. But careful analysis of the causes of major events that occur in energy delivery systems show that the majority of errors stem from latent organizational weaknesses rather than lack of skill or knowledge within one individual.
Organizations can reduce the probability and/or consequences of future human error by understanding their root and contributing causes and then implementing administrative and cultural controls that address those causes. Human performance seeks to identify and eliminate conditions that cause human error, thus reducing the frequency of such errors. Through studying the interaction between humans and the machines and systems they use to maintain reliability, lessons learned and good industry practices can be applied to further improve the safety and reliability of energy delivery systems.