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12 improvements to equipment, materials, and technology, human factors during construction play a role in contributing to potential failures. There are several common threads between human factors during design and those that occur during construction including the substantial budget and schedule pressures of most projects. The influence of technical understanding, or lack thereof, is just as influential during construction as it is during design. Technical experience is required to be able to modify the design to accommodate unexpected site conditions, verify the design is being constructed as intended, and be able to adequately document the as-built conditions for future reference and understanding. Construction also brings a complex relationship into play with what are sometimes competing interests between the owner, the contractor, and the engineer. The construction phase considered here includes repairs and other remedial measures constructed throughout the life of the dam. If the repairs are being executed to correct deterioration or changes to the physical condition of the various features, then it is important to understanding the reason why those repairs were needed. Understanding the root causes of “symptoms” such as cracked concrete, irregularities in an embankment, seepage, etc. will help in selecting the remediation that not only corrects the symptoms, but prevents the problem from recurring or worsening. Operational Life Cycle Human interaction that affects the performance of the structure occurs in many forms throughout the operational life of the dam. How the dam is operated, maintained and monitored all influence the performance risks of aging infrastructure. Operations Dam operations are influenced by owner financial goals and pressures balanced with their risk management style and regulatory requirements. Operations refer to not only how the facility is operated, but also to the owner’s internal dam safety culture. Owners with different internal cultures will perceive, prioritize, and manage operating risks differently. An owner will prioritize spending based on their understanding of the value gained in terms of managing financial risks. Investing in formal and periodic dam safety training for operators, engineers, and managers can influence the group’s ability to recognize and respond to developing issues. Training will look different for each of these different groups. Training for operators may focus on how dams fail, site specific PFMs, inspection and monitoring techniques, causes of human error in operations, internal technical resources, and communication protocols. Training for managers and decision makers may focus on dam failure statistics, potential consequences, methods of risk prioritization and risk management. Keeping decision makers within the owner’s organization informed on the importance of dam safety and cost impacts of incidents and failures will help make the case for requests of proactive expenditures.  Budget and schedule constraints  Insufficient data or technical expertise to understand the data  Insufficient technical expertise of contractors and designers  Competing interests of owner (cost, operations, & schedule), contractor (cost, schedule), and engineer (technical liability, conformance)  Budget constraints  Insufficient technical understanding and training  Lack of a strong safety culture of owner/operator  Lack of an established risk management processes  Inadequate number of operations staff for the requirements of the project  Human operational error  Inability to recognize and respond to developing conditions and warning signs HUMAN FACTORS IN CONSTRUCTION HUMAN FACTORS IN OPERATION