Errors and evaluations: the lessons of Chernobyl

The author summarizes the human failures responsible for the Chernobyl disaster and argues that, in considering the human contribution to power plant emergencies, it is necessary to distinguish between: (a) errors and violations; and (b) active and latent failures. He then presents empirical evidence, drawn from driver behavior, which suggests that errors and violations have different psychological origin. Finally, he outlines a 'resident pathogen' view of accident causation, and seeks to identify the various system pathways along which errors and violations may be propagated.<>