Human Factors

Human Factors in Premises Liability and Accident Reconstruction

Human factors is a scientific discipline that evaluates the interaction between humans, and everything present in their surroundings used to perform activities of daily living, including products, facilities, equipment, and the environment. This discipline is used in a variety of industries, including forensic investigations of premises liability claims and auto accidents. It takes into consideration human capabilities, characteristics, limitations, and behaviors that include information processing, reaction times, past experiences, and anthropometrics.

As humans interact with their surroundings, they are constantly processing information from different types of stimuli reaching the brain through their senses. The visual system plays a critical role in how humans process information about their surroundings, and the speed and completeness with which the data is processed depends on certain capabilities and specific attributes of the received stimulus. Specifically, a person identifies and can recognize their surroundings through visual input only within their field of view.

Applying Human Factors to a Variety of Settings

At YA Group, our expertise in human factors analysis can be applied to a variety of settings and incidents involving reactions to obstacles, changes in elevation, contaminants present on a travel path, slip, trip and fall incidents, and recognition of pedestrians and other vehicles in vehicular accidents. The process when investigating these types of cases initiates with a thorough review of specific documentation of the facts of the case, followed by a site inspection to collect specific information and data to support the investigation. Subsequent analyses including evaluation of human factors capabilities such as field of view, perception reaction time, visibility, and obstacle/pedestrian attributes (i.e. contrast, size, color) in the context of the facts of the case, allow our experts to utilize scientific based research to evaluate plausible contributory factors to the subject incident.

Utilizing Human Factor Insights

Our experts’ insights into human factors provide clear and scientifically based concepts explained not only for attorneys, insurers, and claims professionals, but also distinctly presented for the jury and the trier of facts to allow them to easily comprehend the concepts using effective storytelling and communication.