Integrating human factors in European railways : incident and accident investigation

Although 'human error' is often presumed to be the starting point for an investigation, it is certainly not the end point. Accident investigators must explore the role of the individual, the context in which they were working, the equipment they were using and the characteristics of the organizations they worked for. The factors that influence human performance are often the underlying causes to an accident; there is no such thing as a simple human error.