Human Reliability Associates (HRA) - Who we are and what we do

Описание: Who we are and what we do
Human Reliability Associates (known as HRA) specialise in the Human Element of safety critical systems. They look at how to optimise human performance and reduce Human Error.

The company started off working in the Nuclear Sector following the Three Mile Incident in the USA (1979) where Human Error was seen to be a major causal factor. Since then they have applied their Human Factors expertise to many different sectors including Process Industries (oil, gas and chemicals), pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical device design and more.

HRA are a leading consultancy in applying a systematic and scientific approach to understanding and preventing human error.

HRA offers three main areas of service:

1. Consultancy. The aim is to ensure that Clients’ activities are managed in a way that minimises the likelihood of human error. HRA work with organisations, identify safety critical activities and showing organisations how to minimise the likelihood of error giving rise to severe commercial or safety consequences.

HRA have been employed in situations where human error has been highlighted as a significant causal factor in a serious incident, or when Human Reliability issues are critical to achieving safety, quality or availability goals.

Consultants use techniques such as Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), error and criticality analysis to develop solutions and strategies for error prevention; solutions include redesigning the workplace, developing better operational procedures, and risk-informed training aids.

Human performance problems stem from a failure within the organisations to develop an effective policy for human reliability. HRA consultants are therefore, used increasingly to strengthen a company’s quality or safety management system.

2. Training. Training people from a non-Human Factors background to understand the nature of human performance and the nature of human error. HRA provide services which enable Clients to perform their own risk analyses using the SHERPA software and to enable Clients to understand why Human Factors is important and to gain a general understanding of the discipline.

3. Software. The SHERPA Software (Systematic Human Error Reduction and Process Analysis) was developed by Dr David Embrey (Managing Director of Human Reliability Associates) and supports human factors risk assessments to be used in safety cases. The software includes Hierarchical Task Analysis, Predictive Human Error analysis and analysis of factors which influence human performance (Performance Influencing Factors); key milestones in the HSE UK Human Factors Inspectors Toolkit: http://www,hse.gov.uk/human factors/toolkit.htm

The SHERPA software is used by HRA consultants, but can be licenced to Clients to conduct their own Risk Analysis, write their own procedures, etc.

By tackling human error within the organisation, safety and profitability can be improved.

UPDATE: The software has recently been renamed from the Human Factors Risk Manager (HFRM) to SHERPA (Systematic Human Error Reduction and Process Analysis) Software. This has better ties to the SHERPA methodological paper that provided the foundation for this work back in 1986.

HRA has depth of experience in industries which include Process, Power Generation, Rail Transport, Aviation, Healthcare and Marine.

Find out more about our services, training, and software: www.humanreliability.com

If you want to go straight to our FREE 30min training on how we use this software for Human Factors Safety Critical Task Reviews (HFCTR) and Safety Critical Task Analysis (SCTA) then go here: https://the.humanreliabilityacademy.c...