Can we prevent errors? What do we mean by error prevention?
More than 2000 years ago, the Roman philosopher Cicero ... already observed that "to err is human". Does this mean that we cannot avoid errors?
It is ironical that according to the definition here, the term "error prevention" is meaningless, because errors correspond to incidences: if there was no incidence, then there was no error.
When talking about preventing errors, we actually mean preventing the sources for the errors: the triggers, and problematic situations.
According to the definition here, errors are always detected, but it is always too late, when the error conditions result in an incidence.
When talking about detecting errors, we typically mean detecting the error condition, namely, the hazard.
Updated on 23 Feb 2017.