Flight Safety Foundation
Admiral Luis de Florez Flight Safety Award

is presented to

Scott Shappell, Ph.D.
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration

Douglas Wiegmann, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

For joint development and application of the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) as a reliable taxonomy for investigating human factors data in aviation accidents and incidents, revealing previously unknown human-error trends.

Recognizing an opportunity to introduce systematic methods of classifying human factors in accident investigation, Dr. Shappell and Dr. Wiegmann applied Dr. James Reason’s model of active failures and latent failures in complex systems to describe four levels of failures/conditions: unsafe acts, preconditions for unsafe acts, unsafe supervision and organizational influences. HFACS also provides objective subcategories for detailed analysis, such as subdividing unsafe acts into errors and violations and subdividing errors into skill-based errors, decision-related errors and perceptual errors.

Developed originally for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps and tested by the U.S. Naval Safety Center, HFACS enabled military investigators to identify operational areas that required safety interventions and to assess the effectiveness of interventions. HFACS later was adopted by international military organizations and civil aviation organizations to investigate and/or analyze data from hundreds of aviation accidents. Investigators have used this tool to look beyond the actions of individuals and consider critical preconditions such as the role of supervisors and the role of organizations in the error process. As a result, safety risks in diverse activities such as flight operations, air traffic control and aircraft maintenance are being addressed with HFACS.

Flight Safety Foundation is pleased to recognize Dr. Scott Shappell and Dr. Douglas Wiegmann for their contributions to aviation safety.

FSF 55th annual International Air Safety Seminar
Dublin, Ireland
November 6, 2002

Stuart Matthews
President and CEO
Flight Safety Foundation

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