General Health & Safety · Practical guide
What causes human error at work, and how can employers reduce it?
How task design, working conditions and organisational decisions affect mistakes, and the controls HSE recommends.
The short answer
What you need to know
HSE’s HSG48 says errors can arise from slips and lapses during familiar tasks, or from mistaken decisions when someone applies the wrong rule or lacks the information needed. Distraction, fatigue, workload, unclear instructions and poor equipment design can make errors more likely. Employers can reduce risk by designing tasks and equipment for the people using them, improving information and supervision, checking critical steps, and learning from incidents. Deliberate rule breaches need a different response from unintentional errors.
The detail
Understanding the requirements
Start with the job, the person and the organisation
HSG48 describes human factors as the interaction of the job, the individual and the organisation. A task may demand too much attention, an interface may make the wrong control easy to select, or work pressure may leave too little time for a check. Training and experience matter, but they sit alongside task design, staffing, communication and the way work is managed.
That is why “take more care” is a weak response to a recurring error. HSG48 advises looking for the conditions that made the error likely and for ways to prevent it or detect it before harm occurs.
Different failures call for different controls
A slip is an action that goes wrong during a familiar task, such as using the wrong switch. A lapse is a forgotten step or a loss of place after an interruption. A mistake is a wrong decision believed to be right, for example applying a familiar procedure to a changed situation. These are unintentional errors; even skilled, motivated people can make them.
HSG48 treats a violation separately: it is a deliberate departure from a rule. A rule may be routinely ignored because it is impractical, or a worker may feel unable to comply under time pressure or with inadequate equipment. Deliberate does not mean that the wider working conditions are irrelevant. Investigate why the rule was broken before choosing a control.
Reduce the chance of error and limit its consequences
Identify significant potential errors during risk assessment, especially where a missed step could cause serious harm. HSG48 recommends designing plant and tasks to prevent slips and lapses or make them easier to detect and correct. Clear controls, workable procedures, reminders, independent checks and suitable supervision can help where they fit the task.
Make sure training is effective, instructions are current and people have the information they need when work changes. Ask workers about interruptions, awkward controls, unrealistic time demands and rules that are difficult to follow. After an incident or near miss, examine the immediate failure and its underlying causes, then monitor whether the chosen changes work.
Trace the answer
What the official guidance says
Source notes below are Falstaff summaries. Text in quotation marks is a short excerpt from the linked official source.
Health and Safety Executive · Chapter 1, what are human factors? · Falstaff chunks 685e2ad7, 6097b44d
Reducing error and influencing behaviour (HSG48)
Falstaff source note: The stored text defines human factors through the job, individual and organisation, and explains the influence of organisational decisions.
HSE human factors guidance, published in 1999. Falstaff holds passages from this document.
Health and Safety Executive · Chapter 1, is taking more care enough? · Falstaff chunk 8510216e
Reducing error and influencing behaviour (HSG48)
Falstaff source note: HSG48 says exhorting people to take more care is not an adequate control on its own.
HSE human factors guidance, published in 1999. Falstaff holds passages from this document.
Health and Safety Executive · Chapter 2, types of human failure · Falstaff chunks 313d1787, 7b155ec3, 1cf60d19
Reducing error and influencing behaviour (HSG48)
Falstaff source note: The stored passages distinguish slips, lapses, mistakes and deliberate violations.
HSE human factors guidance, published in 1999. Falstaff holds passages from this document.
Health and Safety Executive · Chapter 2, influences and error controls · Falstaff chunks aed00923, 6a3ca6b6
Reducing error and influencing behaviour (HSG48)
Falstaff source note: Lists working conditions that influence error and practical controls involving design, training, supervision, procedures and risk assessment.
HSE human factors guidance, published in 1999. Falstaff holds passages from this document.
Health and Safety Executive · Chapter 2, violations · Falstaff chunks 9b3f81a7, 8b46918e, 15b65afc
Reducing error and influencing behaviour (HSG48)
Falstaff source note: Explains why impractical rules and job pressure can contribute to violations and why controls should address the type of failure.
HSE human factors guidance, published in 1999. Falstaff holds passages from this document.
Health and Safety Executive · Managing human failures: Overview
Managing human failures: Overview
Falstaff source note: Current HSE guidance cross-checks the error types and recommends addressing significant errors and influencing factors in risk assessment.
Live HSE guidance used to cross-check HSG48; this page is not stored as a Falstaff document.
Practical considerations
These examples help frame a site-specific assessment. Check the current official sources before making a compliance decision.
- Choose a safety-critical task and ask what could be forgotten, selected incorrectly or misunderstood.
- Check whether controls, labels, instructions and working conditions make the safe action easy to perform.
- Plan for interruptions and handovers; use a practical reminder or independent check where a missed step matters.
- Ask workers whether rules can be followed with the time, staffing and equipment actually available.
- Review incidents for task and organisational causes as well as individual actions, then check whether the changes reduce risk.