The Relationship Between Human Factors and Plant Maintenance Reliability in a Petroleum Processing Organisation

The results of three studies support past research demonstrating that problem-solving skills and the design of socio-technical facilities have an important influence on organisational performance. The findings further extend research in the field of human factors by demonstrating a significant relationship between these two factors and group-level performance. The findings also demonstrated the importance of organisational communication, but as an organisational-level dimension that might not influence group-level measures. This research has implications for organisations that operate complex, hazardous technologies and that are attempting to improve organisational processes by utilising a human factors approach.