If you are serious about error-proofing your operations then you have to give your personnel more than technical knowledge.

We are all performance specialists, especially if you hold a 'senior' position. If you accept that then we can say our shared professional remit is to reduce the risk of a failure that has the potential to create an unplanned event to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).

This is why, when the noise is removed, performance and safety work hand-in-glove.

Positioning an organisation or a project to be able to achieve ALARP involves the workforce (top to bottom, and down the supply chain) developing a functional understanding of the job, individual and organisational aspects known as performance influencing factors (PIFs).

PIFs can be single factors (or combinations) that have the potential to turn vulnerability into failure; and so we could also describe them as criteria to be actively managed to ensure the risk of human failure is kept tolerable. PIFs can include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Job: clarity of instructions; difficulty/ complexity; routine/ unusual; divided attention; procedures inadequate/ inappropriate; time available v required, etc.
• Individual: physical capability; fatigue (acute or chronic); stress/ morale; work overload/ underload; competence; motivation vs. other priorities, etc.
• Organisation: production v safety; supervision/ leadership; communication; peer pressure; roles & responsibilities; organisational learning; culture, etc.

There are many methodologies that we can use to help us identify and manage PIFs. These range from crew resource management techniques (lists and aid memoires) to heat maps which highlight the PIF combinations that hold elevated risk (and of course opportunity).

To effectively manage PIFs, we need to educate the workforce on performance and safety essentials (generally one in the same). A large part of this task is to ensure that there is a correct pairing of required technical skills with their associated non-technical skills (NTS).

If we think of technical skills as the knowledge required to understand 'what' to do; NTS is the comprehension of 'how' to do it error-free. Therefore, NTS are critical in high-risk/ high-reliability industries that rely on human-machine/ human-human interface in complex work environments. NTS can be sub-divided into three categories: social, cognitive & personal:

• Social: risk-based consideration of teamwork, leadership, communication.
• Cognitive: situation awareness, decision-making, readiness, and task management.
• Personal: suitable & sufficient assessment of stress and fatigue management.

So, if we are serious about error-proofing operations, particularly in a high-risk/ high-reliability industries (nuclear, aviation, oil & gas, etc.), then we must acknowledge and accept the role that PIFs and NTS play in achieving ALARP in error-likely environments.

In summary, if a management system does not consider PIFs and NTS then it is unlikely that it is capable of producing ALARP, and that will be reflected in the performance figures.

If you would like to find out more about PIFs and NTS, and the influence they have in your operations (good and bed) then let's meet up for a virtual coffee.