What is Human Factors?
Human Factors is the study of human capacity, behavior and performance as people interact with products, technology and their environment.
What is Human Factors Forensics?
The Human Factors expert examination of all human factors, abilities, limitations and error as they relate to accident and injury causation.
Why Human Factors Forensics?
Where personal injury occurs, there is almost always a human factored element to accident causation. How an accident unfolds is best seen through the lens of human perception, performance and error. It is estimated that as much as 90% of accidents and incidents involve a Human Factors cause.
Questions that a Human Factors expert can answer may include: Could the driver discern the hazard and react in a reasonable time? Was there enough lighting to illuminate the path? Was the warning sign sufficient and located where the person could see it? Was the pedestrian’s attention distracted?
People come in all shapes and sizes and with different capabilities that impact how they act and react across all types of settings. How individuals respond to situations and hazards is guided by their senses as well as physical and psychological factors. With education, training and experience in psychology, physiology, kinesiology and applied engineering, Human Factors experts understand that individual factors (such as sight, hearing, fatigue, perception, cognition, reaction-time) and external influences on behavior (such as design, weather, ergonomics, visibility) play a significant and often times singular role in accident causation.
A Human Factors expert opinion on accident causation will distinguish the contributions of the people involved from the contributions of the circumstances in all areas of personal injury from motor vehicle accidents, premises liability cases, product liability cases to workplace accidents.
Why Choose LISKE?
For more than three decades LISKE Human Factors experts have been helping counsel on both sides of the bar succeed in establishing to what extent the human element factored in accident and injury causation. As individuals and as members of a multi-disciplined team, our Human Factors experts provide peer-reviewed reports based on a comprehensive understanding of the science of human behavior and human limitations. They also provide in-depth rebuttals that undermine the oppositions’ misinformed and overreached position on causation. With doctoral degrees in psychology, engineering, biomechanics and kinesiology, LISKE Human Factors experts dedicate their education, experience and critical thinking to solving your complex causation problems.
- Transportation
- Premise Liability
- Product Liability
- Workplace Accidents
- Warning Signs
There is a Human Factors component to virtually every transportation accident. From motor vehicle accidents involving cars, buses, motorcycles, heavy trucks, farm and construction vehicles to accidents involving trains, airplanes and boats, the LISKE team of Human Factors experts go beyond the technical reconstruction of what happened during the accident to identify and establish the human factored elements of accident causation. Common Human Factors contributing to vehicular accidents include driver error due to distraction, fatigue or impairment, perception, response time and road design.
Owners and occupiers are required to maintain their property in good repair and to ensure that there are no safety hazards. Where injury occurs through a slip, trip, mis-step or fall, analysis by a LISKE Human Factors expert will support your premise liability case and/or rebuttal by identifying any human factors and/or hazards that may have contributed to the subject injury. Our experts will also isolate any external influences on behavior, such as lighting and/or support railings.
Our Human Factors experts will support your product liability cases with a detailed analysis of how interacting with consumer products may result in personal injuries. A Human Factors analysis can identify and isolate the role of Human Factors such as the user’s experience, cognitive and physical capabilities, the physical environment where the product was used, and the appropriateness/functionality of the product design for consumer use.
Human error is a frequent cause of workplace accidents and injuries. Our Human Factors experts can identify whether the Human Factor which caused the accident was flawed equipment design, improper equipment maintenance or the actions of the operator while interacting with the workplace technology and environment.
Cautions, including warning signs and labels, are intended to draw attention to potential risks and hazards. Personal injury may result when the caution is inadequate or when there is user error. A LISKE Human Factors expert investigation will expose how factors like perception and expectation affected human behavior to contribute to an accident.