The Study of Human Errors in De-mining Operations Using the CREAM Technique

Aims: Considering the dangers of de-mining operations and the wide area of minefields left from war in Iran, this study has been conducted in order to identify, to assess and to manage human errors among demining personnel, in a demining workshop in war zones at the west side of this country.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015, using the potentials of the CREAM technique, in four main steps. These steps included: task analysis, assessment of working conditions affecting the tasks, determining controlling approaches and estimating the probability of total cognitive error. The linear regression model indicated that working conditions was significantly correlated with the possibility of the total error.
The results of this study show that demining operation is composed of 18 tasks. The maximum and minimum probability of total cognitive error was related to the tasks of the technical exploration group by 0.0099 and the digging group by 0.0031.The most effective factors in performance reduction included: working conditions, available time and the coordination of human and machine systems. Among the nine working condition factors which can affect performance, six of them had a significant level and their P-Values were less than 0.05.
It can be concluded the possibility of human error in demining operations can be declined, by reducing the performance reduction factors through coordinating the available time, working conditions, human and machine systems and on the other hand, by increasing improvement factors by enhancing cooperation and interaction in activities which must be performed with the cooperation of two or more people.