Human and Organizational Performance (HOP)An approach used in various industries, particularly in high-risk environments like aviation, healthcare, nuclear power, and oil and gas, to understand and improve safety, reliability, and overall performance. It is based on the works of Todd Conklin, Sidney Dekker, Eric Hollnagel and others.
The HOP approach recognizes that humans are an integral part of complex systems, and incidents or errors often result from a combination of factors, including organizational influences, work processes, and individual actions. Instead of solely focusing on individual mistakes or assigning blame, HOP aims to identify systemic issues and improve organizational processes to prevent incidents from occurring in the first place.
HOP encourages organizations to foster a learning culture where lessons are drawn from events and near-misses to identify underlying issues.
HOP emphasizes understanding the interactions between various elements in a system and how they contribute to performance. It considers organizational structures, work processes, job design, training, and communication.
Encouraging open and transparent reporting of errors or concerns without fear of retribution is crucial in HOP. A just culture acknowledges that humans make mistakes. Punitive action is only taken when behaviour is reckless.
HOP seeks to identify and address error-likely situations proactively, using various tools and methods to minimize the probability of errors occurring.
Strong leadership commitment is vital for the successful implementation of HOP principles. Leaders should actively support a culture of safety and provide resources for continuous improvement.
Overall, the Human and Organizational Performance approach aims to build a resilient and proactive safety culture that empowers employees to contribute to safety, learn from incidents, and improve organizational processes continually.
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