ABSTRACT
This chapter begin by clarifying what exactly is meant by the error traps and recurrent accidents. The idea that certain people, by dint of enduring personality characteristics, are more liable to misfortune goes back at least to the Book of Job and has wide popular appeal. What is less contestable is the idea of unequal accident liability in particular situations. When the accidents of a group of individuals having equal exposure to the risks are counted and compared with the chance expectation, it is found that a few individuals have more than their ‘fair share’ of adverse events. Attempts to link accident liability to particular personality characteristics have been largely unsuccessful, although a number of studies have found weak links between repeated accidents and unstable or sociopathic extraversion and also anxious introverts. Other clusters may not be associated with the task or the environment, rather they are bunched in a given time period.
