Studies show that human error is either directly or indirectly responsible for 70-90 percent of all accidents. As a result, many product liability cases require a human factors expert to be involved in the causation to determine if human interaction with the product was reasonable and acceptable.

This analysis often leads to discussion of what are human factors and how engineers can make scientific judgments on humans that are inevitably variable.  Human factors is a scientific discipline that contains a body of knowledge about the capabilities and limitations of human beings, especially as those apply to human interaction with the natural and constructed environment.  Human factors have acquired this body of knowledge and continue to update it through scientific research and experimentation.  This knowledge is also applied to the design and operation of equipment, work, public places and living environments allowing people to be safer.

CED’s engineers possess advanced training and education in human factors to provide a scientific approach to forensic engineering and accident reconstruction.

CED engineers examine several factors when accidents involve human interaction:

• Human interaction studies
• Warning label design & placement
• Operator and installation manual reviews
• Compliance with industry codes and standards
• Exemplar testing
• Injury report and medical record review
• Adequate training for operation and maintenance
• Testimony for witness statements, accident reports and depositions
• Contributory factor assessment
• Review of design specification
• Survey and statistical analysis