Incorporating human factors into a simplified “bow-tie” approach for workplace risk assessment

The aim of this paper is to provide a simple methodological tool for the incorporation of human factors in the process of risk assessment. This attempt takes place through a simplified quantification scheme including various affecting factors for intentional and unintentional human behavior in risky situations. This scheme is simple and autonomous and it can be applied in a “bow-tie” analysis. It produces numerical coefficients to adjust “nominal” estimated probabilities in order to take the impact of human factors into account. Although the whole approach lacks theoretical accuracy, it remains simple and proper for risk assessment in small scale workplaces. A simple example for the application of this tool is also presented.