Human error figures prominently in most of the well-known catastrophes in the world, such as Bhopal, the Exxon Valdez, and Chernobyl.
In common with most other complex technical activities, human error is implicated in the majority of maintenance-related quality lapses, incidents, and accidents. General estimates of this human error contribution have increased over the years, from a low of around 20% in the 1960s to values in excess of 80% in the 1990s.