Safety Awareness

REASON Plates

James REASON’s model was put forward to combat failures in which the defenses are a series of plates, each with individual weaknesses (holes in the plates, which are unavoidable because they are linked to human error). The system as a whole fails when all the holes line up, thus opening “a trajectory opportunity” for the accident.
It is a series of malfunctions that leads to the accident; it is essential to be aware of this safety chain in order to put countermeasures in place.

The main advantage of REASON plates is that they allow you to quickly and simply visualize how an accident occurs.

1. Illustration of a REASON plate model applied to skydiving.

 

1. Explanation of how the simplified REASON model works, applied to skydiving.

The situation:

• The plates
  • Each plate corresponds to a parameter of the activity; in our case we can mention:
    • Weather conditions
    • Jump equipment
    • Human factors, which can be broken down into:
      • Skydiver’s competence / training
      • Skydiver’s general fitness

 

• The holes
  • The holes represent the shortcomings of each parameter, for example
    • Weather conditions: wind at 11 m/s and very poor visibility
    • Jump equipment: in good condition but not Free Fly friendly
    • Human factors, which can be broken down into:
      • Skydiver’s competence / training: no continuing training or refresher, works alone
      • Skydiver’s general fitness: end of season, end of weekend, end of day: physical fatigue

 

• The accident
• Conclusion