ABSTRACT
Considerable evidence has been presented to indicate the all-pervasive influence of human error on mine accident potential across a wide range of mining operations and locations. Two general conclusions can be drawn. The first conclusion is: A better understanding of human error in mine safety will be crucial to future safety improvements in the industry. The second conclusion is: Central to the need for a better understanding of human error is the need to be more sophisticated in terms of a realisation that most errors are predisposed and that any attempts at human error mitigation which does not address the predisposing factors will fail. Human error is and always will be inevitable. However, to accept that its consequences are always an inevitability would be both foolish and dangerous.
