ABSTRACT
It was the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986 that first aroused author's interest in violations. This was largely due to human actions: mistakes on the part of the experimental planners, one serious operator slip (undershooting the required power level), and a series of ill-judged but deliberate deviations from safe operating procedures just prior to the explosions. Procedural violations may be committed for many reasons. Usually, they are deliberate but non-malevolent deviations from safety procedures, rules and regulations. The authors grouped errors and violations under the general heading of unsafe acts, and classified non-compliances (like errors) according to the level of performance at which they occurred: skill-based, rule-based and knowledge-based. These violations form part of a person’s repertoire of skilled or habitual actions. They often involve corner-cutting (i.e., following the path of least effort between two task-related points).
