• cytopathology
• diagnosis
• laboratory safety

The role of human factors (HFs) in medical error is now widely acknowledged, although there are few publications that deal with pathology-specific HF issues. A definition of HF that is widely accepted is as follows: ‘ environmental, organisational and job factors in human and individual characteristics which influence behaviour at work in a way which can affect health and safety’.1 HF analysis has been widely applied in aviation and aerospace industries but has been increasingly seen as important in medicine, particularly in critical care and acute medical settings to explain and reduce rates of clinical error and improve decision-making in areas that are of high clinical risk.2–4 There has been little discussion of the role of HF in diagnostic specialties such as cytology, pathology or radiology. Published HF studies in diagnostic specialties have primarily addressed …