Individual latent error detection: Simply stop, look and listen

- Individual Latent Error Detection (I-LED) helps mitigate system failures.
- A simple stop, look and listen technique is an effective I-LED intervention.
- I-LED contributes to Safety II events and overall system safety.

Human error is a by-product of performance variability caused by system failures, for which undetected error generates a latent error condition that can lead to an undesired outcome. Individual Latent Error Detection (I-LED) has been observed in naval air engineers at work where system-induced errors not detected at the time they occurred were later recalled by the individual who suffered the error at some point post-task completion. Using system cues several I-LED interventions are tested in the current study with the aim of mitigating system-induced latent error conditions, for which a simple stop, look and listen approach is found to be the most effective. I-LED research offers a step-change in Safety II thinking by offering a level of safety within normal operations that has not previously been accounted for in organisational safety strategies and thus should be of benefit to safety critical organisations seeking to enhance their safety management system.