Tag: IHF

Unveiling the Human Side of Career Success: A Glimpse into the World of Human Factors

Posted on by Colin Thomson

In a world driven by technology and innovation, the intersection of human behaviour and advanced systems has become a crucial area of focus. If you’ve ever wondered about the career path that leads to the field of Human Factors, read on. In this blog post, we dive into an insightful conversation with a Principal Human Factors professional, Paul Sirett.

 The Journey Begins

For Paul, it all started with a role in the military. Paul spent four formative years in the Parachute Regiment, interacting with complex systems and equipment, from radios to advanced weaponry systems. These experiences unveiled the realisation that the interaction and design of these systems were far from optimal and that there must be a career path to support the development of complex organisations and the associated systems.

“I started to look around when I knew I was going to be leaving the military,” our Paul reminisced. “I thought there must be something I can get into that focuses on making systems equipment, and organisational processes better.

The Evolution of Human Factors

As Paul departed from the military, the concept of Human Factors was emerging as a growing field. With a background in Organisational Psychology, he embarked on a path that ultimately merged numerous disciplines such as Ergonomics, Human Factors, Organisational Psychology, and Business Processes. What began as an exploration into system interactions expanded into a deep-seated commitment to understanding the human element in every facet of working life.

Bridging the Gap: Human Factors in Financial Services

Over time, Human Factors transitioned from a fragmented notion to a cohesive discipline recognised for its potential to enhance not only safety but also efficiency and the bottom line. It’s no longer limited to military contexts; Human Factors now extends its reach into sectors as diverse as financial services and banking and is now recognised in all high-hazard sectors such as nuclear, rail, Oil and Gas etc.

As our discussion unfolded, Paul shifted toward the challenges of introducing Human Factors to industries unfamiliar with its potential. Financial services, a sector synonymous with profit and risk, may seem worlds apart from Human Factors. Yet, a strategic approach that aligns with their goals can bridge this gap. By reframing the conversation and focusing on aspects like inclusivity and cognitive strategies to improve decision-making, Human Factors experts can provide tangible benefits, such as increased efficiency and cost savings.

“It’s about finding the language that resonates with each sector,” Paul emphasised. “Whether it’s inclusive design for buildings or optimising cognitive processes for financial decisions, Human Factors offer tailored solutions that cater to diverse needs.”

Embracing Challenges and Change

In the pursuit of a meaningful career, embracing challenges and adapting to change is crucial. Paul’s experiences working for both large engineering firms and smaller, specialised consultancies revealed the power of a supportive community. He felt:

“IHF offered a nurturing environment for like-minded individuals to collaborate effectively.  Also at Integrated Human Factors, I can work remotely and I enjoy working at client sites occasionally.”

Navigating Uncharted Territories

With an eagerness to explore uncharted territories, Paul’s journey led to the intriguing realm of nuclear energy. While Nuclear energy may seem far removed from everyday life, its application of Human Factors principles sheds light on the broader impact of this discipline. Human factors are crucial in the nuclear sector to ensure safety, prevent errors, and optimise operations.

“What attracts me to IHF is the diversity of its portfolio,” Paul shared. “While I appreciate the opportunities in Nuclear, I’m also excited about the prospect of applying Human Factors principles to other sectors as well.”

The Power of Perspective

Stepping away from career-oriented dialogue, our conversation delved into the personal passions that fuel Paul’s life outside of work. From a household bustling with two young huskies to the restoration of an old Victorian house, he keeps himself busy.  His passion is Judo, being a 2nd Dan Black Belt, however, that is on hold at the moment given his other commitments.

The Future: Where Human Factors Thrive

As our conversation ended, we explored the potential future of Human Factors for those looking to break into this career path. IHF is building an academy dedicated to growing Human Factors skills and mentorship. In a rapidly evolving world, continuous education and collaboration are paramount.

In industries like nuclear power or energy production, the Human Factors application ensures operational safety, preventing catastrophic failures stemming from human error.  But whether it is financial services or cyber security if human beings are involved Human Factors play an equally important role. Human Factors are important in non-hazardous sectors because they improve productivity, employee well-being, and user satisfaction by tailoring systems and processes to human capabilities and needs, ultimately fostering efficiency and innovation.  All organisations have people at the forefront of their business, and they are the ‘glue’ that keeps the business running in times of unique or difficult circumstances.  Human Factors is the discipline that has the tools and techniques to reinforce and enhance people and the organisation so that the business is efficient, safe, and profitable.

IHF spreads its wings

Posted on by Colin Thomson

Human Factors consultancy IHF has established a partnership with an innovative duo from the aviation and medical sectors.

Airline captain James Taylor and his consultant oncologist father Roger will work as associates of Edinburgh-based IHF to enhance its capabilities in human factors, and will set up an office in Brighton.

IHF’s team of 24 consultants and trainers around the world set out to understand and resolve what are commonly regarded as “human errors” in any system or process.

Apart from big oil and gas, trade unions are also signed up as they make risk and safety a top priority for their members in these industries.

Neil Clark, CEO, who runs IHF said: “I am really excited about partnering with James and Roger. Its testament to how far IHF have come in the last 12 years that we are bringing on board such high calibre professionals.

“Human Factors is a growing discipline in both the healthcare and aviation sectors, so it makes sense to bolster our teams’ capabilities in these areas. As an RAF pilot myself I have seen how best practice in aviation is being adopted by other sectors and the influence of human factors continues to grow exponentially in medicine”.

James Taylor has 16 years experience as an airline pilot with seven of those as a captain. He has also undertaken the training of pilots in the flight simulator.

He said: “Every time I fly a passenger airliner or train a pilot, I am reminded of how important the safety culture in the industry is, with the key focus being on implementing procedures that have human factors at their heart.

“Everyone in the industry acknowledges the importance of the strong safety culture which over the decades has developed robust processes for identifying and correcting issues which may carry even a very slight risk.

“Human factors may pose a risk in themselves or exacerbate the risk from mechanical or electronic factors. I strongly believe that airline style safety can and should be applied to all settings especially in healthcare”.

Roger has been a consultant oncologist for 35 years, planning and supervising radiotherapy and chemotherapy for patients with cancer and contributed to the “Towards Safer Radiotherapy” document.

He has been vice-president of the Royal College of Radiologists and Clinical Director for Swansea Health Board Cancer Services.

He said: “Radiotherapy is already one of the safest processes in hospital medicine, however we need to maintain our guard. Radiotherapy planning and a delivery are multistep processes requiring input from several different staff groups.

“Therefore, it is essential to mitigate the risk from any human factor which might pose a risk to safety. In healthcare circles we often talk about applying the airline industry safety culture but there is much more that could be done to implement this across organisations”.

Work as Imagined vs Work as Done

Posted on by Colin Thomson

Work as Imagined vs Work as Done

When we look at approaches to safety and Human Factors, it’s very important to understand the difference between the two terms. For example, one of the leading causes of medical errors is the difference between the way work is imagined and the way it is actually done. It’s very rare that someone sets out to do harm, often they are unaware that they are making a lethal error. The most common example is when management in an organisation thinks a procedure is being completed in a particular way but in reality, the workforce has a different way of completing the procedure. The procedure does not get updated or checked, errors can creep in, or key skills developed to complete work as done can be lost with the skills gap and retirement.  In the gap between work as imagined and work as done lies danger.

Work-as-imagined (WAI)

Work-as-imagined (WAI) refers to the various assumptions, explicit or implicit, that people have about how their or others’ work should be done.

Work-as-done (WAD)

Work-as-done (WAD) refers to how something is actually done, either in a specific case or routinely.

Mind the Gap 

There is often a considerable difference between what people are assumed or expected to do and what they actually do. In hazardous industries, standard operating procedures (SOPs) may have built up or been adapted over time. Procedures can be complex and lengthy. These processes may have failed to adapt or innovate over time.

Workers may not follow standard operating procedures when:

  • The procedure fails to align with what they were taught in training
  • Workers may think that their method of performing the task is better than the method used in the procedure. This can happen when a worker has decades of experience working in an industry and in their mind has found the “best” way of doing things.
  • The procedure makes the task more complex and difficult to complete
  • The procedure is unclear, leading to misinterpretation of the steps required to complete the task
  • Workers work from memory rather than referring to the procedure. This can be a particular issue if the task is particularly repetitive.
  • Leaders do not clearly articulate that they expect the procedures to be followed and fail to check if the procedure is being followed correctly.
  • Staffing levels are sub-optimal leading to staff cutting corners.

The Solution

Examining WAI and WAD is an important part of conducting Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) as part of an SCTA. Where there is a gap between WAI vs WAD, leaders need to dig deeper to understand, and then take appropriate actions to resolve the gap.  Observing how a procedure is carried out in the field can give a better understanding of the risk of the task and help reduce the likelihood of failure. If this observation is carried out with different people and in different environments, this may fill in some of the gaps in how the work is done. To get the clearest picture interviewing workers can be used in tandem with observations.

IHF helps for a range of high risk industries including aviation, chemical processing, COMAH sites, financial services, health, nuclear, oil & gas and pharmaceutical conduct SCTA’s. Our training courses (approved by the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors) and software solutions help organisations build their own in-house capabilities, with our consultants on hand to guide our clients on best practices. Having this SCTA knowledge in the workforce also exerts a positive influence on the quality of risk assessment and incident investigations and also the quality of improvement suggestions. IHF can help organisations streamline their SCTA processes, standardise the processes across the organisation and bring all their information into one easily accessible portal.

To learn more Contact Us.

 

Why do management of change projects fail?

Posted on by Colin Thomson

There is a huge pressure in change initiatives to be completed quickly often without considering the human element in enough detail.

Organisations often don’t consider the human contribution early enough and in enough detail. There can be a huge difference between a project that is overly technically focussed, with little regard for the people who need to enact the technical processes or maintain the processes of the project and projects that have embraced the human element from the beginning and maintain this focus throughout the project.

We recommend that organisations take small and frequent human considerations into account right the way through a change initiative.

The difference between something that’s technically accurate and something that’s fit for purpose

If we look at designing a kettle, we could develop a kettle that functionally works proficiently by boiling water and doing the job it was intended to do. But as we are likely to use this product daily, if a kettle was designed with a handle that loosened off over time, this would increase the risk of burns or scalds.

This same logic could be applied to a management of change project that hasn’t gone to plan as they have almost exclusively focussed on what they are trying to do technically without embracing how people will interact with the project. In the kettle example, there have been large customer safety recalls by Whirlpool where the costs or reimbursing customers were substantial.

Other factors to consider could be how people access the information in a project, understanding what the feedback of the system is giving you.
By integrating human factors into a project, an organisation can make the shift from something that is technically accurate to something that is fit for purpose.

The common sense argument

We often hear in the workplace, even hazardous workplaces that safety is just common sense.

What is common sense to one person is often not common sense to another person as human beings are all different. Common sense is therefore notoriously uncommon.

Common sense is a learned behaviour and changes over time. A young child might conceivably put its hand on steaming water as it hasn’t learned that this action can cause it pain through burns.

If we take a workplace change project the goal therefore shouldn’t be to develop common sense but to seek competence of the new way of doing things. So the focus needs to be on building employee competence.

We can ask ourselves questions like:

  • How within a management of change process can people fail?
  • Where do we know they have failed in the past?
  • How do they fail?
  • What can we do about it proactively

How can you include human factors in a change management initiative?

We need to actively consider the human contribution from the start to the finish. We need to understand more deeply what the people’s interactions are with colleagues, how they interact with the business digitally and the overall environment of the business. Building a visual model can help organisations understand what technical components exist within the business and how they interact with the human elements. Often, it’s within the interaction where human error creeps in.

When we start to see repetition of failures through human error, we would look to improve upon this sub optimal output. We can then look to improve some key business indicators and monitor key KPI’s set by the organisation over time. Once we see one department in the business improve the same fundamentals can often be applied to improve other parts of a business to build cumulative value.

By performing business-critical task analysis we can identify and prioritise where the human contribution lies and what the risk is associated with that. If a project fails, we could perform a human factors investigation to find out how the human contribution contributed to the “why” of what failed.

IHF Expands in Australia

Posted on by Colin Thomson

Integrated Human Factors, one of the UK’s leading specialist Human Factors consultancies is expanding its offering in the Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region and establishing an office in Perth, Western Australia.

IHF, a tech-driven human factors consultancy was founded a decade ago in the UK by Neil Clark and is a registered member of the UK Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF). The IHF client base includes many large enterprises in the aviation, defence, financial services, healthcare, oil and gas, transportation, and utilities industries.

Leading the expansion in Australia will be David Clarke, Director, and Managing Partner of IHF Asia Pacific. David has worked across Airlines, Human Capital and Human Factors in both Australia and the UK over the last 25 years in both front-line and management positions

David said;

Expanding in Australia and Asia Pacific is the natural next step for the IHF Group. With so many hazardous and process focussed industries based in Australia, not to mention the explosion in transport-related infrastructure projects across the Asia Pacific region it made sense to expand our operations here.

“The global shortage of competent and experienced Human Factors specialists has made it almost impossible for businesses to adequately address their organisational Human Factors – and not to mention regulatory – obligations. Therefore, businesses are having to adapt by developing their in-house capability to manage their human factors requirements. To do this, they need a robust suite of easy-to-use software tools to manage their human-risk management backed up by top-level expertise. That’s where we can help”

Neil Clark, CEO, IHF said:

I have known David for many years, and his expertise and can-do attitude makes him the perfect person to lead the growth of IHF in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region. As we expand David can tap into the wider IHF Team who have cross-industry human factors expertise in aviation, psychology, engineering, ergonomics, and safety. This is what makes IHF’s capabilities extensive, creative, flexible, and global.