Expert's public lecture on A Life in Error
Swansea University will welcome Professor James (Jim) Reason, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Manchester University, on Tuesday, June 15, when he gives a public lecture on the theme of A Life in Error.
Professor Reason is an expert on how and why humans make errors and mistakes. His well-known book, Human Error, first published in 1990, was an instant hit with a range of professionals, including safety experts, engineers and health practitioners.
His lecture will seek to define the development of various ideas relating to error and organisational accidents, beginning with absent-minded slips and lapses, going on to mistakes and violations, then looking at his 'Swiss cheese' model and how safety systems can be defeated by unsafe acts and latent conditions.
His lecture will conclude with a discussion of the other face of the human factor – the human-as-hero – and will end with a discussion of some case studies of heroic recoveries.
The event has been organised by Professor Billie Hunter, from the School of Human and Health Sciences and Professor Harold Thimbleby from the Department of Computer Science in the School of Physical Sciences, with the University's recent award of Bridging the Gaps scheme funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The funding enables academics from across the University to build a programme of activities that will stimulate creative thinking, across disciplines that reflect institutional strengths and strategies.
Professor James Reason's lecture, A Life in Error, will take place on Tuesday, June 15, in the Wallace Lecture Theatre, Wallace Building, Swansea University.
Refreshments will be served from 5.30pm and the lecture will start at 6pm. All welcome and admission is free.
If you would like to bring a group of people, please contact Sue Hughes on 01792 295729, or email: S.A.Hughes@swansea.ac.uk.
