Tag: Performance Influencing Factors

Should you focus on behaviours?

Hierarchy of Controls - humanfactors101.com

A focus on individual behaviours is not the most effective approach to address workplace health and safety, unless all other necessary measures have been taken. Addressing behaviours should not be used to compensate for poorly-designed work or workplaces. This article outlines the importance of the Hierarchy of Controls to determine the most effective measures to address workplace health and safety, and considers the position of individual behaviours within this hierarchy.

Stockmarket psychology

Stockmarket psychology - humanfactors101.com

Making money on the stockmarket should be easy. Simply buy stocks, shares or managed funds when prices are low and sell them when prices are higher. This is basic mathematics! However, several studies have shown that the typical private investor buys when stocks are high and sells them when they are low. The principles of human factors can help ordinary retail investors to make money (or not lose money) on the global stockmarkets. Many people lose money when trading or investing on the stockmarket simply because we are human. We act on our emotions or instincts, and we are subject to cognitive biases (errors of thinking). These human factors can lead us to make poor decisions and lose money.

COVID-19: Mental wellbeing in the workplace

Psychological safety in the workplace - humanfactors101.com

Frequent and rapid changes in workplaces around the world to control the coronavirus pandemic have the potential to harm the mental wellbeing of millions of people. Prior to the pandemic, mental health was a significant workplace issue and there will be significant increases in mental health issues due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, there are steps that employers can take to promote mental wellbeing in the workplace and this article outlines what organisations can do to create a mentally healthy workplace, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 and mental wellbeing

Governments and the media have provided information on how to stay physically safe during the pandemic, but guidance on looking after our mental wellbeing has been less visible. Unfortunately, the actions taken to stay physically safe, such as isolation and physical distancing, may be having a harmful effect on our mental health. Research on previous disasters shows that they create a long shadow of mental health issues, trailing the disaster by months or years. Although vaccines are available for the coronavirus, there is no vaccine to support mental wellbeing. In addition to the effects on individuals, mental health issues can have a significant impact on human reliability in the workplace. This article provides eight tips to maintain or improve your mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Remembering Trevor Kletz

Trevor Kletz with his books and articles - humanfactors101.com

Trevor Kletz was a safety hero. Over a career spanning nearly 70 years, his thoughts on human factors, human error and accident investigation helped to move the industry from a focus on individual behaviour to organisational and system failures. His proposal that we should shift from blame to learning is the basis of current safety thinking.

Working memory: A user’s guide

Memory - human factors

How do we "think"? And what's the role of Working Memory in thinking?

Little has been written about Working Memory in relation to human performance in the workplace - and so in this article I introduce the concept of working memory, discuss why it's important and provide some advice on managing it's limitations.

Human factors and Homer Simpson

Human Factors 101 - Making it easy for Homer to do the right thing.

What is human factors? Do you have difficulty explaining the topic to others? And what value does human factors add? This article examines the factors that might influence a control room operator's behaviour (Homer Simpson) and how we might improve his human reliability. These 'Performance Influencing Factors' are key to optimising human performance. The post provides a definition of human factors: "making it easy for Homer to do the right thing".

Ten facts about human failure

Ten facts about human failure

I find these ten facts about human failure a great way to engage delegates on human factors training courses. This post also discusses Performance Influencing Factors, the things that make human failures more or less likely.

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