Human errors and reliability of test results in analytical chemistry
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REVIEW
Human errors and reliability of test results in analytical chemistry Ilya Kuselman • Francesca Pennecchi Alesˇ Fajgelj • Yury Karpov
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Received: 27 August 2012 / Accepted: 12 October 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
Abstract The present paper is a review of the main theoretical and technical aspects of human error treatment (error modelling, reduction and quantification) as applied in aviation, engineering, medicine and other fields. The aim of the review is to attract the attention of analysts and specialists in metrology and quality in chemistry to the human error problem and its influence on the reliability of test results of chemical composition and associated measurement uncertainty. Therefore, the subject of human error is interpreted in the review in application to the conditions of a chemical analytical laboratory. Keywords Human error Analytical chemistry Metrology Quality assurance Out-of-specification test results Reliability Measurement uncertainty Presented at the 19th International Conference of the Israel Society for Quality, October 2012, Jerusalem, Israel. I. Kuselman (&) National Physical Laboratory of Israel (INPL), 91904 Givat Ram, Jerusalem, Israel e-mail: [email protected] F. Pennecchi Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM), 91 Strada delle Cacce, 10135 Turin, Italy e-mail: [email protected] A. Fajgelj International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna International Centre, P.O.Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria e-mail: [email protected] Y. Karpov State Research and Design Institute for Rare Metal Industry (GIREDMET), B. Tolmachevskyi per. 5, Moscow 119017, Russia e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction The majority of measurements in chemistry are executed by non-experts in metrology, quality and analytical chemistry. Modern measuring systems used in analytical laboratories have user-friendly interfaces and specific software for processing measurement signals, simplifying the execution of a measurement and analysis as a whole. Therefore, some analysts (users) may be lulled not recognizing well the necessity of a critical attitude with respect to the instruments used, execution of the measurement, and interpretation of the final analytical result. Depending on the application, basic knowledge is often required to perform measurements/analysis in an adequate manner. However, human activity is never free from errors. This is especially true in analytical chemistry, where, for example, unsuccessful analyte/measurand definition can lead to an erroneous choice of measurement method; insufficient awareness about adequacy of a chromatographic column for the properties of the measurand can ‘‘compromise’’ the separation method; storage and use of a certified reference material in conditions other than those required in the certificate can increase the uncertainty of the certified value; use of a mobile telephone during sample preparation, analysis and/or calculations can be a source of exotic outliers; etc. Reducing the error probability starts fr
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