An Introduction to Human and Organizational Principles (HOP) in EHS

Despite major advancements in safety programs, technology and regulations, workplace injuries and fatalities continue to occur at a troubling rate. The number of fatal workplace injuries have plateaued in recent years, suggesting that traditional safety strategies, which focus heavily on compliance and individual behavior, are no longer enough to drive meaningful change. 

Taking the time to rethink how organizations understand and respond to workplace incidents means instead of asking who made a mistake, we need to ask what conditions allowed the event to happen. This shift requires a deeper look at how people, processes and systems interact every day. That’s where human and organizational performance comes into play.  

What Is HOP In Health and Safety?  

Human and organizational performance (HOP) is a philosophy built on the idea that people make mistakes, even in the best conditions, and that safety improvement depends on designing systems that anticipate mistakes and reduce their impact to acceptable levels.  

HOP emphasizes a deeper understanding of how people interact with workplace systems. It encourages organizations to study how work happens, not just how it’s written in a procedure. In doing so, companies can identify where systems create barriers, confusion, or risk and adjust them to better support people in doing their work safely and effectively. Through this human-centered lens, safety becomes about supporting people, not policing them. 

5 Principles of Human and Organizational Performance 

The foundational ideas behind HOP were first introduced by safety expert Todd Conklin in his book The 5 Principles of Human Performance: A Contemporary Update of the Building Blocks of Human Performance for the New View of Safety. 

The main 5 principles of human and organization performance are as follows:  

1. Human error is normal: No matter how much training or oversight exists, people will make mistakes. The goal is not to eliminate error but to design systems that anticipate it and limit its consequences. 

2. Blame fixes nothing: Pointing fingers after an incident prevents organizations from seeing the systemic or environmental factors that contributed to it. Real progress comes from addressing the underlying conditions of an incident. 

3. Learning is vital: Each event, near miss or success provides valuable insight into establishing safer processes. Organizations that consistently learn from experience strengthen their ability to prevent future harm. 

4. Context drives behavior: People’s actions are influenced by the systems, pressures and conditions they face. To change behavior, organizations must first understand and improve those conditions. 

5. How you respond to failure matters: The way leaders react to mistakes sets the tone. A fair response encourages trust, communication and continuous improvement. 

Getting Started With Human and Organizational Performance 

Any organization, no matter its size or industry, can benefit from integrating HOP principles into incident investigation and proactive safety management processes. 

Integrating HOP Principles into Incident Investigation  

HOP reframes how organizations investigate and respond to workplace incidents. Traditional approaches often focus on why something went wrong, which tends to lead to placing blame on the person who made the error. HOP encourages teams to instead ask how the event occurred, including what conditions, decisions or system factors contributed to the end result.  

To provide an effective, human-centric response to workplace incidents, focus on: 

• Training for leaders and responders: Everyone who may receive reports of incidents should understand HOP principles and how to respond constructively. The first reaction should be to listen, not to judge. 

• Creating space for reflection: Allow time to fully understand what happened before taking action. Avoid rushing investigations or enforcing arbitrary deadlines that can cut valuable learning short. 

• Removing automatic discipline: Hold off on discipline until the organization fully understands the event’s context. Immediate discipline can shut down communication and block insights. 

• Using learning-focused language: Replace phrases that imply fault with those that emphasize understanding and improvement. The goal is to uncover what can be strengthened, not who is to blame. 

This approach transforms incident investigations into opportunities for growth.  

Example 

Let’s take a look at an example of integrating HOP principles into incident investigation. 
Imagine a forklift collision in a busy warehouse. Instead of immediately disciplining the operator, a HOP-based incident investigation would ask: What conditions led to the collision? Were there visibility issues, confusing signage or scheduling pressures that contributed? By mapping the sequence of events and identifying system-level factors, the organization can implement changes, like clearer pathways or staggered schedules, to prevent similar incidents in the future. 

Proactively Integrating HOP Principles Into Workplace Processes 

HOP isn’t just about investigating incidents after they happen: it can also be applied proactively. Remember that mistakes are part of being human. Taking a human-centric approach to safety management includes proactively designing processes and workflows that safely account for human errors and putting in place resilient controls. 

Proactive application of HOP principles means continuously observing how work is performed, identifying potential errors and adjusting systems to better support people. This shifts safety from a reactive activity to a forward-thinking, human-centered practice. 

Example 

Let's take a proactive HOP approach to our forklift collision example in the previous section. To proactively redesign forklift safety protocols, the organization should look at specific human errors, like blind spots and misjudging distance, that could occur and proactively implement preventative controls, such as mirrors, sensors, marked lanes and traffic schedules. In this scenario, even if one control fails, there are still safeguards in place to ensure a resilient process. 

For more information on how to integrate human-centric principles into your risk management program, take a look at our What Does It Mean to Fail Safely? Reframing Health and Safety Failures blog.