ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a few typical mechanisms by which human performance can get into trouble. They can apply to all kinds of settings where people perform safety-critical work. One of the most vexing issues in understanding human error is how other people did not seem to see the situation for what it really was. Sense-making is ongoing. People’s actions and assessments of what is going on are deeply intertwined. Characteristic of cognitive fixation is that the immediate problem-solving context biases people in some direction. Another aspect of managing such problems is that people have to commit cognitive resources to solving them while maintaining process integrity. This is called dynamic fault management, and is typical for event-driven domains. Sticking with the original plan while a situation has actually changed and calls for a different plan is what Judith Orasanu calls 'plan continuation'. Fatigue is a common condition, especially in work that cuts across normal waking periods or even timezones.
