EN IEC 62508:2025
(Main)Guidance on human aspects of dependability
Guidance on human aspects of dependability
IEC 62508: 2025 provides guidance on current knowledge and practice concerning dependability in an operational environment, in terms of the humans, teams and organizations involved in conducting the work. It is part of a suite of IEC standards that are intended to address the dependability of both the technical and human elements of equipment and organizations. This document describes the human elements of a typical operational system, and the importance of those elements to overall dependability. It also describes the means of assessing how well these elements are functioning, and general concepts on how the reliability of humans can be improved. These elements typically include the individual workers, the groups or teams into which they are organized, the interfaces between humans and technical systems, and the overall organization. The following guidance is applicable to any industry that depends on human-systems interactions involving the technology, software, or systems of work required to support the production and safety objectives of an organization. This document primarily addresses complex technical systems, but some parts are also applicable to the manufacturing of industrial and consumer products. Principles for design of the human-machine interface (usability) are described, and further information can be found in the technical literature and in relevant product standards. Although this document does not specifically cover worker health or safety, the application of this document can raise related issues, particularly in process safety, which is closely associated with system reliability. This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2010. This edition constitutes a technical revision. This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition: a) The emphasis on user-centred design in the previous edition was reduced in favour of a greater emphasis on human dependability in an existing operational environment. b) The emphasis on human error and error-rate determination methods was reduced in favour of a greater emphasis on means of providing organizational support for the workforce in their execution of required tasks. c) Where appropriate, discussions of human factors in an operational environment were aligned with current theory, terminology and practice.
Leitlinien zu den menschlichen Aspekten der Zuverlässigkeit
Lignes directrices relatives aux facteurs humains dans la sûreté de fonctionnement
L'IEC 62508: 2025 fournit des recommandations concernant les connaissances et pratiques actuelles en matière de sûreté de fonctionnement dans un environnement opérationnel, par rapport aux êtres humains, aux équipes et aux organisations impliquées dans l'exécution du travail. Il fait partie d'une série de normes IEC destinées à traiter de la sûreté de fonctionnement des éléments techniques et humains des équipements et des organisations. Le présent document décrit les éléments humains d'un système opérationnel type et l'importance de ces éléments pour la sûreté de fonctionnement globale. Il décrit également les moyens d'évaluer le bon fonctionnement de ces éléments, ainsi que des concepts généraux sur la manière dont la fiabilité humaine peut être améliorée. Ces éléments comprennent généralement les différents travailleurs, les groupes et équipes au sein desquels ils sont répartis, les interfaces entre les êtres humains et les systèmes techniques, et l'organisation globale. Les recommandations suivantes s'appliquent à toute industrie qui dépend des interactions homme-système impliquant la technologie, les logiciels ou les systèmes de travail nécessaires pour soutenir les objectifs de production et de sécurité d'une organisation. Le présent document concerne principalement les systèmes techniques complexes, mais certaines parties s'appliquent également à la fabrication de produits industriels et de consommation. Les principes de conception de l'interface homme-machine (utilisabilité) sont décrits, et des informations complémentaires peuvent être obtenues dans la documentation technique et dans les normes de produits pertinentes. La santé et la sécurité des travailleurs ne sont pas spécifiquement couvertes par le présent document, mais son application peut soulever des questions connexes, notamment en ce qui concerne la sécurité des processus, qui est étroitement liée à la fiabilité des systèmes. Cette deuxième édition annule et remplace la première édition parue en 2010. Cette édition constitue une révision technique. Cette édition inclut les modifications techniques majeures suivantes par rapport à l'édition précédente: a) l'accent mis sur la conception centrée sur l'utilisateur dans l'édition précédente a été réduit au profit d'une plus grande importance accordée aux facteurs humains de la sûreté de fonctionnement dans un environnement opérationnel existant; b) l'accent mis sur l'erreur humaine et les méthodes de détermination du taux d'erreur a été réduit au profit d'une plus grande importance accordée aux moyens de fournir un soutien organisationnel au personnel dans l'exécution des tâches exigées; c) le cas échéant, les discussions sur les facteurs humains dans un environnement opérationnel ont été alignées sur la théorie, la terminologie et la pratique actuelles.
Napotki o človeških vidikih zanesljivosti (IEC 62508:2025)
General Information
Relations
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-oktober-2025
Nadomešča:
SIST EN 62508:2010
Napotki o človeških vidikih zanesljivosti (IEC 62508:2025)
Guidance on human aspects of dependability (IEC 62508:2025)
Leitlinien zu den menschlichen Aspekten der Zuverlässigkeit (IEC 62508:2025)
Lignes directrices relatives aux facteurs humains dans la sûreté de fonctionnement (IEC
62508:2025)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN IEC 62508:2025
ICS:
03.120.01 Kakovost na splošno Quality in general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
EUROPEAN STANDARD EN IEC 62508
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM August 2025
ICS 03.120.01 Supersedes EN 62508:2010
English Version
Guidance on human aspects of dependability
(IEC 62508:2025)
Lignes directrices relatives aux facteurs humains dans la Leitlinien zu den menschlichen Aspekten der
sûreté de fonctionnement Zuverlässigkeit
(IEC 62508:2025) (IEC 62508:2025)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2025-07-24. CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC
Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre or to any CENELEC member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation
under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the
same status as the official versions.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2025 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. EN IEC 62508:2025 E
European foreword
The text of document 56/2074/FDIS, future edition 2 of IEC 62508, prepared by TC 56 "Dependability"
was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and approved by CENELEC as
The following dates are fixed:
• latest date by which the document has to be implemented at national (dop) 2026-08-31
level by publication of an identical national standard or by endorsement
• latest date by which the national standards conflicting with the (dow) 2028-08-31
document have to be withdrawn
This document supersedes EN 62508:2010 and all of its amendments and corrigenda (if any).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national committee. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CENELEC website.
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 62508:2025 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standard indicated:
IEC 60300-1 NOTE Approved as EN IEC 60300-1
IEC 60812 NOTE Approved as EN IEC 60812
IEC 61025 NOTE Approved as EN 61025
IEC 62402 NOTE Approved as EN IEC 62402
IEC 62502 NOTE Approved as EN 62502
IEC 62740 NOTE Approved as EN 62740
IEC 62960 NOTE Approved as EN IEC 62960
ISO 6385:2016 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 6385:2016 (not modified)
ISO 9000 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9000
ISO 9241-1:1997 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-1:1997 (not modified)
ISO 9241-2 NOTE Approved as EN 29241-2
ISO 9241-5 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-5
ISO 9241-6 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-6
ISO 9241-11 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-11
ISO 9241-13 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-13
ISO 9241-14 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-14
ISO 9241-20 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-20
ISO 9241-110 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-110
ISO 9241-125 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-125
ISO 9241-143 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-143
ISO 9241-171 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-171
ISO 9241-210:2019 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-210:2019 (not modified)
ISO 9241-220 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-220
ISO 9241-300 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-300
ISO 9241-302 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-302
ISO 9241-303 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-303
ISO 9241-304 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-304
ISO 9241-305 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-305
ISO 9241-306 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-306
ISO 9241-307 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-307
ISO/TR 9241-309 NOTE Approved as CEN ISO/TR 9241-309
ISO/TR 9241-311 NOTE Approved as CEN ISO/TR 9241-311
ISO 9241-400 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-400
ISO 9241-410 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-410
ISO/TS 9241-411 NOTE Approved as CEN ISO/TS 9241-411
ISO/TR 9241-810 NOTE Approved as CEN ISO/TR 9241-810
ISO 9241-920 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 9241-920
ISO 11064-1 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 11064-1
ISO 11064-2 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 11064-2
ISO 11064-3 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 11064-3
ISO 11064-4 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 11064-4
ISO 11064-5 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 11064-5
ISO 11064-6 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 11064-6
ISO 11064-7 NOTE Approved as EN ISO 11064-7
ISO/IEC/TR 25060 NOTE Approved as CEN ISO/TR 25060
Annex ZA
(normative)
Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments)
applies.
NOTE 1 Where an International Publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod),
the relevant EN/HD applies.
NOTE 2 Up-to-date information on the latest versions of the European Standards listed in this annex is available
here: www.cencenelec.eu.
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year
IEC 60050-192 2015 International electrotechnical vocabulary - - -
Part 192: Dependability
IEC 62508 ®
Edition 2.0 2025-06
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Guidance on human aspects of dependability
Lignes directrices relatives aux facteurs humains dans la sûreté de
fonctionnement
ICS 03.120.01 ISBN 978-2-8327-0487-5
IEC 62508:2025-06(en-fr)
IEC 62508:2025 © IEC 2025
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
INTRODUCTION . 6
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 7
3.1 Terms and definitions . 7
3.2 Abbreviated terms. 11
4 Dependability elements of a socio-technical system . 11
4.1 Overview . 11
4.2 Task element . 13
4.3 Human element . 14
4.3.1 Role of humans in a system . 14
4.3.2 Dependability characteristics of humans . 15
4.4 Machine element . 15
4.5 Organization and team elements . 16
4.5.1 Overview . 16
4.5.2 Teamwork and operational environment . 16
4.5.3 Organizational environment and structure . 16
4.5.4 Physical environment . 16
4.5.5 Cultural environment . 17
4.6 Feedback within the socio-technical system . 17
5 Human-factors influence on dependability . 18
5.1 Overview . 18
5.2 Influence of the human element on dependability . 19
5.2.1 Overview . 19
5.2.2 Human strengths and limitations in an operational environment . 19
5.2.3 Performance shaping factors (human factors) . 20
5.2.4 External human factors . 21
5.2.5 Internal human factors . 21
5.2.6 Information processing . 22
5.3 Influence of the machine element on dependability. 22
5.4 Influence of the task element on dependability . 23
5.4.1 General. 23
5.4.2 Allocation of tasks to humans versus machines to optimize
dependability . 23
6 Human dependability programme: Identifying the steps to improve human
dependability . 23
6.1 Overview . 23
6.2 Analysing dependability failures to define countermeasures . 24
6.2.1 Overview . 24
6.2.2 Human failures . 24
6.2.3 Machine failures . 26
6.2.4 Human – System interaction failures . 26
6.3 Analysis of dependability data . 27
6.4 Improving human dependability . 27
6.4.1 Minimizing risk due to human-related failures. 27
6.4.2 Human decision-making. 28
IEC 62508:2025 © IEC 2025
6.5 Improving machine dependability through a human-factors approach . 28
6.6 Improving socio-technical system dependability . 29
7 Human dependability at each life-cycle stage . 29
7.1 Overview of human dependability aspects of life-cycle stages . 29
7.2 Concept and definition stage . 30
7.2.1 Concept stage . 30
7.2.2 Human-centred design planning . 31
7.2.3 System requirements . 31
7.2.4 Human-centred design requirements . 31
7.3 Design and development stage . 32
7.3.1 Human-centred design principles . 32
7.3.2 Human-centred design guidelines . 32
7.3.3 Human-centred design activities . 34
7.3.4 Integrating human dependability into design and development . 34
7.3.5 Human dependability analysis in design and development . 35
7.4 Realization and implementation stage . 35
7.5 Operations and maintenance stage. 36
7.6 Enhancement stage . 37
7.7 Retirement or decommissioning stage.
...
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