The Error Diary

The Error Diary

Just discovered this quirky website “The Error Diary”. Sign up and reveal your daily errors on line or you can hashtag (sounds like I know what that means but I have no idea?) #errordiary from Twitter. They also collect and publish articles about error from the world of medicine, teaching, media, research and many others in their Discovery Area.

Regular readers of this blog will appreciate the aims and mission of the Error Diary:

Aims

Aims Errordiary has four main aims:

• To raise awareness about the ubiquity of human error.
• To promote a culture that learns from error rather than hides it.
• To educate people about resilience strategies.
• To bring research, teaching and public engagement closer together.

Mission Statement

Errordiary is being developed to be the leading international hub for human error research, teaching and public engagement. We strongly believe that we should learn from human error rather than trying to hide it, that errors are not always the fault of the individual, and that system changes can be made to reduce the likelihood of error in the long term for everyone. Although this website is couched in terms of human error, this is largely for rhetorical and engagement purposes. Like others we believe the term is over-used and too readily satisfies people who are looking for a cause for an incident or accident. Stopping at human error usually satisfies the need for blame and to find a scapegoat, but it masks the interesting factors that have contributed to the accident along the way. For example, were people overworked and in stressful conditions; did they have the right knowledge, support and training; was the technology they used well designed and user-friendly; was their a good safety culture; and were appropriate procedures in place to catch unwanted errors.

I could be wrong, but you may also enjoy some of our recent articles on the wonder of human error, fallibility and resilience:

Absolute Error Prevention

Absolute Error Prevention Safety is so easy, it’s all about error prevention. Safety is so simple, it’s all about risk aversion. Whilst both of these statements appear to be true, both are wrong. Safety is not simple and is not just about error prevention or risk aversion. Indeed, binary thinking associated with both these propositions is …… Read the rest of the article

{ 46 comments }

Error Trajectories and Risk

Error Trajectories and Risk In 1650 heathen cultures were regarded at best as examples of human error, whilst at worst they were devices of Satan, devised to keep damned souls securely in his net. In either case it was thought that the duty of Christians was to either save them or destroy them. (Thomas Brooks …… Read the rest of the article

Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…

Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that… I live in the Hunter Valley in NSW, which is on the east coast of Australia. This week we have been hit by what our local media are describing as a ‘super storm’. In the particular area where I live, we received over 400 millimetres (16 inches) of …… Read the rest of the article

Safety and Human Error

Safety and Human Error George’s Safety Reflections – classic post by the late George Robotham When you pick up the newspaper and listen to the television or radio you will find terms like driver error, human error and pilot error used frequently as if this was the definitive reason why “accidents”, occur. Authorities such as the police …… Read the rest of the article

Screw Ups: Errors Are Inevitable

Screw Ups: Errors Are Inevitable By Phil La Duke. See it here: http://philladuke.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/screw-ups-errors-are-inevitable/ “It’s an imperfect world”, “To err is human”, “That’s why we put erasers on pencils”.  When it comes to screwing up, choose your idiom. We as a global society readily acknowledge that perfection is impossible and …… Read the rest of the article