ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews trends in the field of human reliability assessment (HRA), and focuses on four areas: methodology, resource-efficiency in Human Reliability Quantifications (HRQs), new technical-application areas and new industrial assessment areas. It attempts to give a flavour of current directions in HRA, showing likely areas of expansion and likely developmental trends for the near future as regards the techniques available for HRAs. There is a growing realisation that the effects of dependence can be highly significant in human-error analysis. Unfortunately, the tools available for modelling such effects are comparatively crude at present. The 'super-technique' is a term coined by Jerry Williams for HRA techniques which effectively deal with a large part, if not the whole, of the HRA process. The ultimate use to which human-reliability approaches could be put would be guidance for socio-political decision-making, i.e. avoiding political errors.
