Method For Assessing And Communicating Organizational Human Error Risk And Its Causes

• US 20110307293A1
• Filed: 03/18/2011
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Presage Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Presage Group Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, J. Martin
• Application Number:
  US13/051,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20110307293A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method of preventing human error in an organization, the method comprising: making a plurality of collections of pychosocial awareness factor data over an error prediction time period from individuals performing tasks within the organization; accessing human error data relating to the error prediction time period on human error incidents within the organization; using the human error data and psychosocial awareness factor data to determine whether the level of one or more awareness factors predicts human error; if said one or more awareness factors predicts human error, notifying the organization of the nature of the human error predicted, and of the one or more awareness factors that are the cause of the human error.

Claims

1. A method of preventing human error in an organization, the method comprising:

making a plurality of collections of psychosocial awareness factor data over an error prediction time period from individuals performing tasks within the organization;

accessing human error data relating to the error prediction time period on human error incidents within the organization;

using the human error data and psychosocial awareness factor data to determine whether the level of one or more awareness factors predicts human error;

if said one or more awareness factors predicts human error, notifying the organization of the nature of the human error predicted, and of the one or more awareness factors that are the cause of the human error.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the making step comprises asking members of the organization questions at least four times per year.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the asking step comprises asking questions on an online questionnaire.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the making comprises asking an inventory of questions, wherein a subset of the inventory is asked at least four times per year, and wherein the asking of subsets of questions continues until each individual has answered all of the questions in the inventory.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the making step and collection step can be performed on any day, at any time of day.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining step comprises finding temporal correlations between errors and psychosocial awareness factors.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining step comprises finding unsafely low levels of one or more types of awareness within the psychosocial awareness factor data.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining step comprises finding a correlation between a portion of the organization with which one or more errors have occurred and levels of awareness within that portion of the organization.

9. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the questions are phrased so that a negative response indicates a lack of awareness.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the error prediction time period is at least three years.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein data collected in the making step and in the collecting step are stored in a database configured to facilitate automatic analysis.