Human errors identification in operation of meat grinder using TAFEI technique

Abstract

Received: May 2013, Accepted: December 2013 Background: Human error is the most important cause of occupational and non-occupational accidents. Because, it seems necessary to identify, predict and analyze human errors, and also offer appropriate control strategies to reduce errors which cause adverse consequences, the present study was carried out with the aim of identifying human errors while operating meat grinder and offer suggestions in order to reduce human errors in this human-machine system. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive study. In this ergonomic study the “Task Analysis for Error Identification (TAFEI)” technique was used in order to identify human errors while operating a meat grinder machine. According to this technique, firstly, tasks of human side of the interaction were described by Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and then the State-Space Diagrams (SSDs) were drawn. Finally, after forming the TAFEI diagrams, the transition matrix table was prepared in order to identify human errors. Results: After completing all the steps of TAFEI technique, the transition matrix table was formed. Results showed 49 illegal transition states; therefore, 49 human errors were identified and described while operating the meat grinder machine. Conclusion: The results of this study showed how and under which conditions may meat grinder users do error in the human-machine interaction. In this regard, possible human errors resulting from non-ergonomic design of Iranian meat grinder machine were identified.