Preventing inadvertent errors
Mistake proofing has been widely adopted in all aspects of our lives. It is a very natural notion.
- The concept of mistake proofing is to reduce, or ideally eradicate errors from a process.
Solutions such as these tend to share the following characteristics. They…
- are simple. Solutions don’t have to be complicated to work well.
- improve quality and flow by reducing errors and only allowing “the correct way”.
- prevent harm and reduce risk to people, data, equipment or the environment
- provide immediate feedback. The user knows straight away when something is wrong.
- are located at the source of the potential error within the process.
- reduce effort by removing more complex control measures and the need for remedial action to correct defects.
Error Prevention Tips
- Holistic thinking; different aspects need to work together to facilitate the undisrupted flow of the process.
- System design; we can employ drop down lists, tick boxes for choices, validation and mandatory fields rather than allowing free form text entry.
- We can use spellcheck on all of our work.
- We may consider the removal of “pull” handles on “push” doors.
- We can create automated tasks so crucial activity is not forgotten.
- The use of colour and shape can enable easy identification of different process elements and promote “the error free way”.