The 'defects problem' has demanded considerable attention in recent years, with muchudemphasis given to the technical causes of failure. This research project examines theudproblem from a different point of view - that of human error. Taking as a startingudpoint, technical publications in the construction industry, the research reviews humanuderror literature from a variety of industries and perspectives and synthesises a model ofuderror causation covering organisations in a construction project context. This model isudthen progressively tested in four studies, a general preliminary survey and three moreuddetailed studies of house-building. Conclusions support the view that errors leading toudfailure in complex socio-technical systems often exhibit systems characteristics andudinvolve the whole managerial structure. An improved model is proposed, whichudemphasises the importance of both project and general management errors.
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