Accident analysis in practice: A review of Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) applications in the peer reviewed academic literature

Abstract

The Human Factors Analysis & Classification System (HFACS) is arguably the most popular accident analysis method within Human Factors and Ergonomics. This literature review examines and reports on peer reviewed studies that have applied HFACS to analyse and understand the cause of accidents in a diverse set of domains. Four databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science) were searched for articles published up to the date 31 July 2018. A total of 43 HFACS studies were included. The most popular accident contexts were aviation, maritime, and rail. A greater number of contributory factors were found at the lower end of the sociotechnical systems analyzed, including the human operator and operating environment levels. Notably, more than 60% of the studies used HFACS in a modified form to analyse how a network of interacting latent and active factors contributed to the occurrence of an accident.