Private Citizen
"PC." Pronouns: none/none
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I find the latter approach a lot more successful on the problem-solving front.
Usability / UX for the win!
Human error is human error and no machine in the world can do anything about it.
barbk gave several examples of how machines and process design can reduce human error. There's nothing we can do to undo the terrible error that happened, but there may be -- in fact, there's likely to be -- things we can do to prevent tragic errors like this from happening again.
A miracle that all the passengers and crew on the JAL plane escaped alive. Just goes to show how important emergency training is in situations like this. The plane was evacuated in 90 seconds.
If I have to be in an emergency, I'd prefer to be surrounded by Japanese people. I highly, highly doubt this outcome would've been the same anywhere else in the world. In the US or even in Europe, I think there'd have been chaos and fatalities, probably people trampled in addition to people burned alive. But certain passengers would've managed to get off with their luggage intact.
I think those in charge of emergency preparedness for their countries should look at this situation and ask themselves if they could achieve the same outcome. If not, they should think NOW about what needs to happen to change that. Maybe there's nothing and the cultural predisposition to panic and hysteria + idea that my luggage > your life can't be cured. But it's worth thinking about at least.