ABSTRACT
At its simplest, human error can be defined as the performance of an incorrect or inappropriate action or a failure to perform a particular action. Senders and Moray (1991) observed that an error is something that has been done that:
Was not intended by the actor• Was not desired by a set of rules or an external observer• Led the task or system outside of its acceptable limits•
Hollnagel (1993) labeled errors as “erroneous actions” and defined an error as “an action which fails to produce the expected result and which therefore leads to an unwanted consequence.” Probably the most widely recognized definition of human error was offered by Reason (1990, p. 9), who formally defined human error as “a generic term to encompass all those occasions in which a planned sequence of mental or physical activities fails to achieve its intended outcome, and when these failures cannot be attributed to the intervention of some chance agency.”
