Coming soon · Book Profile
Managing Maintenance Error
A practical guide arguing that maintenance error is not random human weakness but a systematic, manageable business risk shaped by tasks, workplaces, and organizations.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
Maintenance error causes billions in losses and has contributed to some of the world's worst disasters, yet it rarely makes headlines. Written by human factors pioneer James Reason and researcher Alan Hobbs, this book reframes maintenance error as a predictable, patterned phenomenon that can be managed like any well-defined risk. Rather than blaming careless individuals, it shows how error-provoking tasks and conditions—reassembly steps, time pressure, fatigue, poor procedures, weak communication—generate recurrent errors regardless of who does the job. Drawing on aviation, nuclear, rail, and offshore case studies, it lays out a comprehensive philosophy and toolkit of error management measures aimed at the person, team, task, workplace, and organization, culminating in the creation of a just, reporting, and learning safety culture. It is essential reading for anyone who manages, supervises, or performs maintenance in hazardous industries.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A maintenance manager, supervisor, or technician in a hazardous industry who wants to prevent costly and dangerous maintenance errors.
- The problem
- Maintenance errors keep recurring, causing accidents, delays, and enormous financial losses. They feel frustrated and helpless, tempted to blame individuals, and unsure how to control what seems random and inevitable.
- The plan
- Understand the fundamentals of human performance and the varieties of error.
- Identify the local and organizational factors that provoke errors and violations.
- Apply targeted error management measures at the person, team, task, workplace, and organization levels.
- Build reactive and proactive safety information systems and strengthen defences.
- Cultivate a just, reporting, and learning safety culture and sustain it through committed leadership.
- The payoff
- Errors are reduced and contained, recurrent error traps are eliminated, and the system becomes more resilient. · Good people become excellent, defences catch inevitable errors, and the organization learns continuously. · Costs fall and safety improves without relying on blame or punishment.
See our guide
Related profiles we’ve built
Additional reading
- Mathematical Aspects of Reliability-Centered Maintenance · Howard L. Resnikoff
Mentioned in the preface as a companion volume that provides a formal mathematical treatment of the subjects covered in the main text.
- Handbook: Maintenance Evaluation and Program Development (MSG-1) · 747 Maintenance Steering Group, Air Transport Association
The direct predecessor document to RCM, used to develop the initial maintenance program for the Boeing 747. It is cited as the first application of decision-diagram techniques.
- Airline/Manufacturer Maintenance Program Planning Document: MSG-2 · Air Transport Association, R & M Subcommittee
An improved version of MSG-1 that was used to develop maintenance programs for the DC-10 and L-1011. The book states that RCM is a more rigorous and expanded version of the MSG-2 logic.
- Reliability and Long Life Design · Robert P. Haviland
Cited in a footnote as an 'excellent detailed discussion of the physical processes present in the failure mechanism,' providing deeper background on the nature of failure.
- Operations Management · Richard Schonberger
Cited by the author to support the definition of core competencies, specifically mentioning that expert maintenance can be a way an organization distinguishes itself positively.
- The Benchmarking Workbook · Gregory Hines
Cited by the author for its definition of a core competency, which includes managing and supporting facilities and capital equipment, directly validating maintenance as a core process.
- The Benchmarking Management Guide · American Productivity and Quality Center
Cited by the author to identify business measures that core competencies should impact, such as Return on Net Assets and Asset Utilization, which are central to the book's thesis on maintenance.
- RCM II · John Moubray
The book recommends this text for a detailed, in-depth approach to Reliability Centered Maintenance, a key technique discussed in Chapter 10.
- The Balanced Scorecard · Robert Kaplan and David Norton
The book dedicates a chapter to explaining the Balanced Scorecard framework and how the book's maintenance strategies and indicators align with it.
- Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance · Seiichi Nakajima
This is a foundational text for the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) concept, which the author positions as a key phase in the 'Maintenance Era' that the book seeks to move beyond.