Active and latent failure conditions leading to human error in physical security

Latent failure conditions describe the set of background circumstances which eventually lead to an unsafe act. These latent and active failures are generally uncovered during an accident investigation following an incident such as an airplane crash. This paper proposes that many evident preconditions for system failure exist in the physical security industry. This proposition is based upon observing control room operator´s capabilities and practices while conducting operations in a 3D virtual control room simulator. The nature of physical security industry is such that there is very little real-time feedback on operator and system performance. Operators are expected to maintain high levels of detection performance day after day, month after month. In most cases how the approximately 500,000 individuals that are protecting the nation´s critical infrastructure will perform will only be known when an actual crisis occurs. It is proposed that the latent preconditions for failures in the physical security industry can be uncovered using the same methodologies used in accident investigation. The causal factors for human performance breakdown can be uncovered through simulation exercises rather than through actual incident investigation. Remedial measures can then be developed and validated in the simulator prior to being implemented in actual operations.