Navy before defending a thesis on motion sickness at Leicester University in 1967.
Until 1976, he works on sensory disorientation and motion sickness. In 1977 he
becomes professor of psychology at Manchester University. In 1977, Reason makes
a little action slip that will impact his scientific career. While preparing tea, he
began to feed his cat (screaming with hunger). The psychologist confused the bowl
and teapot. This was of great interest to him and he started a daily errors diary.
That’s how he started a ten years research on human error which resulted in a
taxonomy (1987). After he became a referent on the issue, he was a keynote speaker
in various international conferences on human error. During one of these conferences, he met John Wreathall, nuclear engineer, with who Reason built working
relationship and “strong intellectual communion” (in his words). On their collaboration will be drawn the first version of the SCM. Since then, Reason kept working
on human and organizational factors in many industrial fields.
2.2 John Wreathall, the Engineer
John Wreathall studies nuclear engineering at London University, undergraduate in
1969; he gets a masters’ degree in systems engineering in 1971. Later he studies an
Open University course “Systems Thinking, Systems Practice” based on
Checkland’s models of systems. This option brings the young engineer to human
factors and systems thinking. From 1972 to 1974 he works on the British nuclear
submarine design which allows him to access confidential reports on HRA by
Swain. From 1976 to 1981, Wreathall works for the CEGB (English energy
company), first as design reviewer for control systems then as an engineer on
human factors in nuclear safety. As an acknowledged expert he was brought to
participate in conferences organized by NATO and the World Bank called Human
Error (book “Human Error” by Senders and Moray is the only published product
from the 1981 conference of the same name). After meeting Reason there, they both
started professional collaborations on accident prevention models (including SCM).
His interest in the human factor brought him to several leading functions where he
worked on human factor. Most of his works also were funded by the nuclear
industries in the USA, Japan, Sweden, the UK and Taiwan, and by the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
2.3 Meeting and Collaboration, a Particular Context
Industrial and research community’s interest for human factors is nothing new in
the mid-1980s. By the 1960s, development of the nuclear industry and modernization of air transport stimulates many research programs (e.g. Swain 1963; Newell
and Simon 1972; Rasmussen 1983; quoted by Reason [3]). Researches then were
Human Error and Defense in Depth …
259
Until 1976, he works on sensory disorientation and motion sickness. In 1977 he
becomes professor of psychology at Manchester University. In 1977, Reason makes
a little action slip that will impact his scientific career. While preparing tea, he
began to feed his cat (screaming with hunger). The psychologist confused the bowl
and teapot. This was of great interest to him and he started a daily errors diary.
That’s how he started a ten years research on human error which resulted in a
taxonomy (1987). After he became a referent on the issue, he was a keynote speaker
in various international conferences on human error. During one of these conferences, he met John Wreathall, nuclear engineer, with who Reason built working
relationship and “strong intellectual communion” (in his words). On their collaboration will be drawn the first version of the SCM. Since then, Reason kept working
on human and organizational factors in many industrial fields.
2.2 John Wreathall, the Engineer
John Wreathall studies nuclear engineering at London University, undergraduate in
1969; he gets a masters’ degree in systems engineering in 1971. Later he studies an
Open University course “Systems Thinking, Systems Practice” based on
Checkland’s models of systems. This option brings the young engineer to human
factors and systems thinking. From 1972 to 1974 he works on the British nuclear
submarine design which allows him to access confidential reports on HRA by
Swain. From 1976 to 1981, Wreathall works for the CEGB (English energy
company), first as design reviewer for control systems then as an engineer on
human factors in nuclear safety. As an acknowledged expert he was brought to
participate in conferences organized by NATO and the World Bank called Human
Error (book “Human Error” by Senders and Moray is the only published product
from the 1981 conference of the same name). After meeting Reason there, they both
started professional collaborations on accident prevention models (including SCM).
His interest in the human factor brought him to several leading functions where he
worked on human factor. Most of his works also were funded by the nuclear
industries in the USA, Japan, Sweden, the UK and Taiwan, and by the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
2.3 Meeting and Collaboration, a Particular Context
Industrial and research community’s interest for human factors is nothing new in
the mid-1980s. By the 1960s, development of the nuclear industry and modernization of air transport stimulates many research programs (e.g. Swain 1963; Newell
and Simon 1972; Rasmussen 1983; quoted by Reason [3]). Researches then were
Human Error and Defense in Depth …
259