Every aspect of commercial and industrial activity involves people. To compete, much more, survive, in the marketplace, an organization must create enduring value for its customers without suffering serious harm to its employees, its communities, or its products and property. An organization must accomplish its daily operations through the hands-on work of people. The term “operations” refers to the application of some physical means to produce and/or deliver a product that achieves an organization’s mission.3 Production means work, and work means risk—risk of harm to things of value to individuals, the organization, and to society. Human error, and the harm it can trigger, creates a risk to the organization and its assets. It is an inescapable fact that we as human beings possess the prospect to err—it’s not a matter of “if,” but “when.” Human error is pervasive and to some extent unpredictable—introducing uncertainty into industrial operations with the ever-present specter of harm.

商业和工业活动的方方面面都涉及到人。为了在市场上竞争，更重要的是生存，一个组织必须为其顾客创造持久的价值，而不致对其雇员、社区或其产品和财产造成严重伤害。一个组织必须通过人们的实际工作来完成它的日常运作。术语“操作”是指运用某种物理手段来生产和/或交付一种能实现组织使命的产品。生产意味着工作，而工作意味着对个人、组织和社会有价值的东西造成损害的风险。人为错误及其可能引发的危害会给组织及其资产带来风险。不可避免的事实是，我们人类有犯错的可能性，这不是“如果”的问题，而是“何时”的问题。人为错误无处不在，在某种程度上不可预测，给工业生产带来了不确定性，带来了永远存在的危害。