ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the human contribution to both the reliability and resilience of complex well-defended systems. It offers an inside-out guide to being a mind user. The chapter focuses on the nature and varieties of human error and deals with rule-related behaviour. It examines a number of different perceptions of human unsafe acts, of which the two most dominant are the person and the system models. The book indicates that a substantial part of the problem is rooted in error-provoking situations rather than in error-prone people. It also focuses on two pioneering accident investigations that fundamentally changed the way the human contribution to bad events is regarded. The book also examines two military case studies: the retreat of Wellington’s Light Brigade on the Portuguese–Spanish border in 1811; and the retreat of the US 1st Marine Division from the Chosin Reservoir in 1950.
