Sponsor:

GE Energy

Research Team:

Scott Shappell

Universities Involved:

Clemson University

Start Date:

06/01/08

End Date:

06/01/09

Summary:

To date, little research has been conducted on the causes of human error in wind turbine installation, commissioning, operations and maintenance. Given the potential risks associated with wind turbine maintenance, preventing errors before they occur will lead to a reduction in accidents and near misses. In order to reduce/eliminate the potential for unsafe incidents to occur, it is important to discover their underlying causes so they can be either reduced, eliminated, or their consequences mitigated

This project intends to unravel the face of human error associated with wind turbine reactive safety events. To accomplish this, past data from accidents and near misses in wind turbine maintenance will be analyzed using the Human Factors Classification System (HFACS), developed by Drs. Scott Shappell and Doug Wiegmann. HFACS is a theoretically derived and validated framework for exploring the causes of human error on four different levels: unsafe acts, preconditions for unsafe acts, unsafe supervision, and organizational factors.