Human Factors in Safety Part 1: Cognitive Performance

Human error plays a role in most safety incidents,  from decision fatigue to automation overload. This course, developed with the Safety Academy by Qantas Group and RMIT Aviation Academy, builds the foundations of human cognition, perception and system interaction so you can design safer systems and prevent incidents before they happen.  

You’ll unpack how people process information, make decisions under stress, and interact with complex systems, learning why factors like memory, attention, fatigue and communication are often the hidden drivers of risk. Using real-world incident analysis and models trusted by Qantas, you’ll leave equipped with practical strategies to identify risks early and implement improvements that lead to safer, stronger outcomes across any high-risk industry. 

• Mid to senior career professionals working in high-risk, high-reliability industries, seeking to formalise or broaden their safety and risk management expertise. 
• Industry-embedded leaders and team managers responsible for safety across complex operational environments – from aviation and marine to rail, petrochemicals and public safety. 
• Professionals looking to transition from defense or public sector roles into corporate safety leadership positions. 
• Safety officers, airport managers, dispatchers, pilots and analysts wanting to upskill, stay current with evolving practices, and validate on-the-job experience with formal learning. 

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to: 

• Identify and analyse key Human Factors and cognitive science concepts and their relationship to human performance and safety outcomes within legal, ethical, organisational and stakeholder contexts.
• Describe and analyse human performance capabilities and limitations in perception, memory and attention, and its influence safety outcomes.
• Analyse how stress, fatigue and workload affect human performance, contribute to operational safety risk, and influence the consequences of actions and inaction in safety-critical work.
• Examine how communication and decision-making influence human performance and safety outcomes in operational environments.
• Evaluate and propose established human error frameworks and strategies to improve safety performance and support organisational decision-making and planning.
• Communicate safety analysis using structured, audience-appropriate formats while maintaining professional conduct.

This 6-week course is delivered 100% online with flexible, guided learning. You'll work through real incident case studies, culminating in an analysis project that puts your learning into action. 

By the end of the course, you’ll present a final analysis of your chosen incident, identifying the key human error factors involved and recommending improvements to enhance safety outcomes.  

You’ll graduate with practical tools to spot human error early, apply tested models like SHELL and Swiss Cheese, and design improvements that reduce risk, using the same safety frameworks trusted by the Safety Academy. 

This is Part 1 of Human Factors for Investigators. Part 2 is Human Factors in Safety: Social Aspects of Human Performance and Systems. These courses are designed to be taken one after the other.