James Reason
British psychologist (1938–2025)
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James Tootle Reason CBE (né Tootle; 1 May 1938 – 4 February 2025) was a British professor of psychology at the University of Manchester, from where he graduated in 1962 and was a tenured professor from 1977 until 2001.
1 May 1938
James Reason | |
|---|---|
| Born | James Tootle 1 May 1938 Garston, Hertfordshire, England |
| Died | 4 February 2025 (aged 86) Slough, England |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Swiss cheese model |
| Spouse |
Rea Jaari (m. 1964) |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychology |
| Institutions |
|
Background
James Tootle was born in Garston, Hertfordshire, on 1 May 1938.[1][2] His father was killed during The Blitz, and his mother died several years later, leaving him to be raised by his maternal grandfather, Thomas Reason, whose surname he adopted.[1] He was educated at the University of Manchester and the University of Leicester.[1]
Career
Reason wrote books on human error,[3] including absent-mindedness, aviation human factors, maintenance errors, and risk management for organizational accidents.[4] In 2003, he was awarded an honorary DSc by the University of Aberdeen. He was a Fellow of the British Academy, the British Psychological Society, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Royal College of General Practitioners. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours "for services to Reducing the Risk in Healthcare."[5] In 2011, he was elected an honorary Safety and Reliability Society fellow.[6]
Among his many contributions is the introduction of the Swiss cheese model, a conceptual framework for the description of accidents based on the notion that accidents will happen only if multiple barriers fail, thus creating a path from an initiating cause to the ultimate, unwanted consequences, such as harm to people, assets, the environment, etc.[3] Reason also described the first fully developed theory of a just culture in his 1997 book, Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents.[4]
Personal life and death
Bibliography
Books
- Human Error, Cambridge University Press. 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-31419-0
- Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents, Ashgate,1997. ISBN 978-1-84014-105-4
- Managing Maintenance Error: A Practical Guide, CRC Press. 2003. ISBN 978-0-7546-1591-0
- The Human Contribution, Routledge. 2008. ISBN 978-0-7546-7402-3
- A Life in Error, Routledge. 2013. ISBN 978-1-4724-1841-8
- Beyond Aviation Human Factors, Routledge. 2016. ISBN 978-1-84014-948-7
- Organizational Accidents Revisited, CRC Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-4724-4768-5