Interesting account of nuclear sub crash, 100 million in damages from human error:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwjH5j0UJKIZcgxOhJ5LPF4Ar12QD9C28D981

Comments

[Douglas Knight]

All error is human error. The question is: who is the "least cost avoider," the person designing the system or the person on site? This ship violated lots of regulations, but was it an outlier on this scale, or was it a typical ship that was just unlucky? Does the military care to know? the article is just finger-pointing. (though there may be serious investigation elsewhere)

I recommend Donald Norman, the Design of Everyday Things.