Near misses in financial trading: skills for capturing and averting error

Objective: The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether near-miss incidents in financial trading contain information on the operator skills and systems that detect and prevent near misses and the patterns and trends revealed by these data and (b) to explore if particular operator skills and systems are found as important for avoiding particular types of error on the trading floor. Background: In this study, we examine a cohort of near-miss incidents collected from a financial trading organization using the Financial Incident Analysis System and report on the nontechnical skills and systems that are used to detect and prevent error in this domain. Method: One thousand near-miss incidents are analyzed using distribution, mean, chi-square, and associative analysis to describe the data; reliability is provided. Results: Slips/lapses (52%) and human–computer interface problems (21%) often occur alone and are the main contributors to error causation, whereas the prevention of error is largely a result of teamwork (65%) and situation awareness (46%) skills. No matter the cause of error, situation awareness and teamwork skills are used most often to detect and prevent the error. Conclusion: Situation awareness and teamwork skills appear universally important as a “last line” of defense for capturing error, and data from incident-monitoring systems can be analyzed in a fashion more consistent with a “Safety-II” approach. Application: This research provides data for ameliorating risk within financial trading organizations, with implications for future risk management programs and regulation.