Factores humanos

DOT/FAA/AM-00/7 Office of Aviation Medicine Washington, DC 20591

The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System–HFACS
Scott A. Shappell FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute Oklahoma City, OK 73125 Douglas A. Wiegmann University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute of Aviation Savoy, IL 61874

February 2000

Final Report

This document is available to the public through theNational Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161.

U.S. Depar tment of Transpor tation Federal Aviation Administration

N O T I C E
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for the contents thereof.

Technical Report Documentation Page1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No.

DOT/FAA/AM-00/7
4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date

The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System—HFACS

February 2000
6. Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s)

8. Performing Organization Report No.
1 2

Shappell, S.A. , and Wiegmann, D.A.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address
1 2

10.Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute, Oklahoma City, OK 73125 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Institute of Aviation, Savoy, Ill. 61874
12. Sponsoring Agency name and Address

11. Contract or Grant No.

99-G-006
13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Office of Aviation Medicine Federal Aviation Administration 800 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC 20591
15.Supplemental Notes

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

This work was performed under task # AAM-A –00-HRR-520
16. Abstract

Human error has been implicated in 70 to 80% of all civil and military aviation accidents. Yet, most accident reporting systems are not designed around any theoretical framework of human error. As a result, most accident databases are not conducive to a traditional humanerror analysis, making the identification of intervention strategies onerous. What is required is a general human error framework around which new investigative methods can be designed and existing accident databases restructured. Indeed, a comprehensive human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) has recently been developed to meet those needs. Specifically, the HFACS framework has beenused within the military, commercial, and general aviation sectors to systematically examine underlying human causal factors and to improve aviation accident investigations. This paper describes the development and theoretical underpinnings of HFACS in the hope that it will help safety professionals reduce the aviation accident rate through systematic, data-driven investment strategies andobjective evaluation of intervention programs

17. Key Words

18. Distribution Statement

Aviation, Human Error, Accident Investigation, Database Analysis
19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page)

Document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161
21. No. of Pages 22. Price

Unclassified
FormDOT F 1700.7 (8-72)

Unclassified
Reproduction of completed page authorized

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THE HUMAN FACTORS A NALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM–HFACS

INTRODUCTION
Sadly, the annals of aviation history are littered with accidents and tragic losses. Since the late 1950s, however, the drive to reduce the accident rate has yielded unprecedented levels of safety to a point where it is nowsafer to fly in a commercial airliner than to drive a car or even walk across a busy New York city street. Still, while the aviation accident rate has declined tremendously since the first flights nearly a century ago, the cost of aviation accidents in both lives and dollars has steadily risen. As a result, the effort to reduce the accident rate still further has taken on new meaning within both...