THERP and HEART integrated methodology for human error assessment

THERP and HEART integrated methodology is proposed to investigate accident scenarios that involve operator errors during high-dose-rate (HDR) treatments. The new approach has been modified on the basis of fuzzy set concept with the aim of prioritizing an exhaustive list of erroneous tasks that can lead to patient radiological overexposures. The results allow for the identification of human errors that are necessary to achieve a better understanding of health hazards in the radiotherapy treatment process, so that it can be properly monitored and appropriately managed. - Highlights: • THERP and HEART integrated methodology is proposed to investigate operator errors during high-dose-rate treatment. • The new approach is based on fuzzy set concept to rank an exhaustive list of erroneous tasks. • The results allow to achieve a better understanding of health hazards in the radiotherapy treatment process.