Human Factors in Maintenance: Error Prevention and Root Cause Analysis

Human Factors in Maintenance: Error Prevention and Root Cause Analysis

Location

Duration

Online /In-Class

1 week

Contact with our Team

Sector:

Cross-Industry – Leadership & Strategy

Technical Focus Area:

Leadership & Management (LEAD)

About the Course

Human error is a leading cause of incidents across high-hazard industries. This course explains the psychology of performance (attention, workload, situation awareness) and the taxonomy of errors (slips/lapses, mistakes, violations) in maintenance—spanning planning, manuals, engineering design, execution, and supervision.
You will practice learning-from-events using structured methodologies (RCA, Apollo, Tripod), transform findings into targeted controls across person, task, team, workplace, and organization, and align these with risk management. We emphasize “Just Culture” principles, practical checklists, and leadership behaviors that convert lessons into safer, more reliable work.
By the end, you will have a concrete action plan to reduce maintenance errors, enhance safety, and protect asset performance.

Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

- Explain the scale and business risk of maintenance-related human error.
- Describe human performance fundamentals and the S–R–K (skill/rule/knowledge-based) model.
- Identify error types, contributing factors, and consequences across the maintenance lifecycle.
- Apply structured methods (RCA, Apollo, Tripod) to analyze failures and incidents.
- Link findings to risk controls at the person, task, team, workplace, and organization levels.
- Integrate Maintenance Error Management with safety culture and Just Culture practices.
- Design practical interventions: procedures, training, aids, supervision, and ergonomics.
- Define performance indicators to monitor error risk and learning effectiveness.
- Develop a prioritized action plan to manage maintenance errors in your area.

Who Should Attend

- Maintenance Professionals (planners, technicians, supervisors)
- Engineering Professionals (design, reliability, integrity)
- Production/Operations Leaders and Coordinators
- Safety/HSE and Quality Professionals
- Anyone tasked with investigating incidents or improving maintenance performance

Course Program

Human Error in Maintenance—Risk, Psychology & Performance Basics

- Why we must talk about it: incident statistics & business impact

- Human risk in maintenance; links to safety, environment, downtime, and cost

- Human attention, workload, situation awareness, and error traps

- Levels of performance: skill-based, rule-based, knowledge-based (SRK)

- Error taxonomy: slips/lapses, mistakes, violations (routine/situational)

- Organizational influences and latent conditions

- **Activity/Workshop:** Map recent maintenance events to SRK/error taxonomy and contributing factors

What is Human Error? Identification, Context & Consequences

- Detecting and classifying maintenance errors in planning, documentation, execution

- Contributing circumstances: time pressure, shift/handovers, tools, interfaces, design for maintenance

- Barriers & defenses model; holes in the Swiss cheese

- Consequences: safety, quality escapes, rework, reliability loss

- Error precursors and practical “red flags” in the field

- Building an error register and trend analysis

- **Exercise:** Develop an error/contributing-factor checklist for your site

Learning from Errors—Structured Analysis & Problem Solving

- Primary methodologies: RCA fundamentals; evidence-based investigations

- Apollo RCA: cause-and-effect logic, solutions matrix, verification

- Tripod: events, barriers, and underlying organizational factors

- Multiple realities & bias control; capturing subjective views safely

- Effective problem solving: from findings to actionable controls

- **Case Study:** Apply Apollo/Tripod to a maintenance-induced failure and draft corrective actions

Maintenance Error Management—Controls Across 5 Dimensions

- Principles of Maintenance Error Management (person–task–team–workplace–organization)

- Person & team: competence, fatigue, communication, supervision, cross-checks

- Task & workplace: human-centred procedures, job aids, tooling, ergonomics, labeling, 5S

- Organization: planning quality, shift handovers, permit-to-work/LOTO, change management

- Safety culture & Just Culture: reporting without blame, fair accountability

- Performance management & leading indicators (reporting rates, quality of controls, PTW audits)

- **Group Activity:** Build a bow-tie/barrier plan linking controls to top error risks

Implementation, Behavior Change & Continuous Improvement

- Implementation planning: owners, timelines, coaching, and governance

- Influencing behavior: nudges, briefings, peer checks, stop-work authority

- Performance dashboards: error KPIs, learning metrics, audit cycles

- Embedding lessons: procedure updates, design-for-maintenance feedback to engineering

- Sustaining improvement: training, refreshers, and leadership standard work

- **Capstone:** 90-day action plan for Maintenance Error Management in your area (KPIs, controls, reviews)

Course Dates & Prices

Location	Starting Date	Price
Online	19/10/2025	1799 $
Dubai (UAE)	20/10/2025	2549 $
Dubai (UAE)	20/10/2025	2799$
Cairo (Egypt)	27/10/2025	2549 $
Online	27/10/2025	1799 $
Online	03/11/2025	1799 $
Dubai (UAE)	10/11/2025	2799 $
Muscat (Oman)	10/11/2025	2799 $
Dubai (UAE)	17/11/2025	2799 $
Online	17/11/2025	1799 $
Muscat (Oman)	24/11/2025	2799 $
Online	24/11/2025	1799 $
Online	24/11/2025	1799 $
Dubai (UAE)	01/12/2025	2799 $
Online	01/12/2025	1799 $
Online	01/12/2025	1799 $
London (UK)	01/12/2025	3299 $
Dubai (UAE)	08/12/2025	2799$
Online	08/12/2025	1699 $
Istanbul (Turkey)	15/12/2025	2799 $
Dubai (UAE)	15/12/2025	2799 $
Online	15/12/2025	1799 $
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)	22/12/2025	3899$
Doha (Qatar)	22/12/2025	2799 $
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)	22/12/2025	3899$
Online	29/12/2025	1799 $
Dubai (UAE)	29/12/2025	2799$
Istanbul	29/12/2025	2549 $
Online	29/12/2025	1799 $