Theoretical approaches to modelling error recovery are briefly discussed and translated into initial research questions. These are partly answered by a number of small empirical pilot studies, and further illustrated by the first joint Failure/Recovery incident database, in a Dutch chemical process plant.
The main tentative conclusions are that error recovery is much more than just simple luck or coincidence, that its root causes can be identified, and that the resulting insight into recovery mechanisms may imply design changes for the technical and organisational context of the human operator's task in the future.
For more information contact: T.W.v.d.Schaaf@tm.tue.nl