Professional Development

Open Enrolment

Human Reliability has a range of open-enrolment professional development courses for managers, engineers and consultants who wish to:

• EXPAND their knowledge of human factors
• DEVELOP their professional skills
• LEARN and apply specific human factors techniques in their work environment

The modules are a combination of presentations, videos and interactive workshops which you'll find entertaining and informative. Delegates are provided with practical tools and techniques that can be taken back to the workplace and applied.

Our latest open enrolment programme has now finished.  Contact us to discuss your specific training requirements.  Examples of past open courses are provided below. 

Targeting Human Error

A three-day open-enrolment course from the UK’s premier human factors training consultancy.

Course Objectives

Beginning with an appreciation and understanding of why human error occurs in the workplace, the course moves on to examine risk assessment and accident investigation. Delegates will learn tools and techniques which will be applied in their workplace to improve safety and productivity.

Taught using enjoyable and informative lectures, discussions and workshops, this intensive three-day course is essential for managers wishing to understand and incorporate human factors in their professional environment.

Who should attend

• Managers with responsibility for safety
• Managers who will be involved in accident or near-miss investigations
• Managers involved in risk assessment
• Managers who wish to develop their professional understanding of human error in production and safety

What you will learn - course overview

Day 1 - Understanding Human Error

• Overview of human error
• Error modes – slips, mistakes and violations
• Where blame and punishment is appropriate – and when it is not
• How a system-based approach will help to reduce errors in the workplace
• How organisational culture can influence error

Day 2 - Risk Assessment

• The psychology of human error
• Human reliability assessment techniques
• Criticality screening of tasks and task analysis
• Quantification and predictability of human error

Day 3 - Accident Investigation and final clinic

• A systems-based approach to human error
• What drives accidents and what part human error plays
• How to identify what happened and why it happened
• How to get at the root causes of human error
• How to learn more from accidents and incidents

Day three ends with an opportunity to put your specific questions to our expert team.

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Understanding Human Error in Production and Safety

A one-day intensive course to provide you with a clear appreciation of the role that human error can play in both safety issues and in production itself.

It is now estimated that as many as 80% of accidents are due in whole or in part to human error. But:

• Human Error is not inevitable
• There are practical tools and techniques available to help you minimise error

Course Objectives

The course is designed to provide delegates with an appreciation and understanding of why human error occurs in the workplace. We will look at the reasons for human error and the underlying factors which both increase and decrease the likelihood of error.

Additionally, the course will cover the various types of violations and the reasons for them. We will examine critically the commonly-used practice of assigning blame and punishment and consider alternatives.

Who should attend?

• Managers wishing to develop their understanding of Human Error
• Managers who want to save costs by reducing error in their workplace
• Managers who wish to develop their understanding of their staff and why things can go wrong

What will you learn?

• Overview of Human Error
• Error modes – slips, mistakes and violations
• Where blame and punishment is appropriate – and when it is not
• How a system-based approach will help to reduce errors in the workplace
• How organisational culture can influence error

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Accident Investigation – Getting at the Underlying Causes

A one-day intensive course to provide you with the professional knowledge and techniques to understand and incorporate Human Factors in Accident Investigation.

Course Objectives

Delegates will learn tools and techniques for determining what happened in an incident or an accident, and for identifying why it occurred. They will learn the reasons for human failures, including violations, and how to reduce their likelihood.

Delegates will how to use a systems-based approach when carrying out investigations. This approach will be contrasted with the outmoded accident investigations mind-set which focuses on individual causes. These changes result in an environment where companies learn more from accident investigations and become able to sustain progress in safety and production.

Forthcoming Course dates

• Dates to be finalised - please contact a member of our team

Who should attend?

• Managers involved in accident or incident investigation
• Managers who wish to understand what drives accidents
• Managers wanting to expand range of tools and techniques for accident investigation
• All managers wanting to prevent human error

What will you learn?

• A systems-based approach to human error
• What drives accidents and what part human error plays
• How to identify what happened in an accident and why it happened
• How to get at the root causes of human error and how to change them
• How to learn more from accidents and incidents

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Risk Assessment – Addressing Human Factors in Safety Cases

A one-day intensive course for safety-critical industries to provide you with the professional knowledge and techniques to understand and use Human Factors in Risk Assessment.

The Health and Safety Executive have recently stated that consideration of human factors is a critical and often neglected element in risk assessment (HSG 48). Organisations today must recognise the critical need to understand, manage and improve human factors.

Course Objectives

This open-enrolment course is designed to provide delegates with a detailed understanding of how human factors influence risk, and practical experience of the tools and techniques for systematically addressing it.

Because the course covers systematic tools and techniques in human factors, delegates will be able to demonstrate that human factors have been incorporated into risk assessment and formal safety cases.

Who should attend?

• Managers concerned with risk assessment and management
• Managers who need to comply with new safety initiatives
• Managers wanting to expand their knowledge of risk and the part human error plays in it
• Managers wanting to prevent human error
• Managers who need to address human factors in safety cases including COMAH

What will you learn?

• The psychology of human error
• Human reliability assessment techniques
• Criticality screening of tasks and task analysis
• Quantification of human error – and how to predict it
• How to incorporate human factors in safety cases

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Writing Better Procedures and Preventing Violations

A one-day intensive course to provide you with the professional knowledge and techniques you need in writing procedures in your organisation.

Procedures violations are now recognised as being one of the main causes of accidents and costly production losses in industry. Human Reliability has developed, tested and applied a unique approach that addresses the underlying causes of procedures violations - an approach that goes beyond the traditional focus on language, presentation and text layout.

Our approach centres on fundamental issues concerning the nature and purpose of procedures – especially in the context of prevention. The techniques you will learn come from an integrated risk management philosophy called Consensus-based Approach to Risk MANagement (CARMAN), which has been successful in managing risks across many industries.

Course Objectives

The course aims to provide delegates with a clear understanding of the scope, purpose and practicality of procedures – not in isolation, but in the context of a coherent risk management strategy. Drawing on case studies to illustrate both pitfalls and best practice, delegates will learn to identify problem areas, write and maintain high-quality procedures and gain hands-on experience ion practical tools and techniques.

Who should attend?

• Managers with responsibility for writing or maintaining procedures
• Managers and Supervisors who want to develop their understanding of safety and risk in the workplace and how this can be improved using better procedures
• Managers and supervisors wishing to update their professional knowledge of key safety issues

What will you learn?

• Why people ignore procedures –and the consequences
• The links between procedures and competency in your workplace
• Task analysis – how to identify and break down critical tasks accurately
• Prioritisation – which tasks to address first
• How to write procedures which work
• Using job aids and assessing skill levels

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