We humans make mistakes, and to plan for us to be perfect is planning for disaster.  Think of humans as being 85% reliable.  If something needs to be done right 90% of the time, humans need help.  Design tools you can use include:

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• Poka-yoke Design (parts that only fit together one way)

• Checklists (read Atul Gawande's "Checklist Manifesto")

• Interlocked user interfaces

• Forms that are easy to review (for example, put all data entries in one column)

• Process Validation

 

Reliability comes from design, and can't be kicked down the road to Quality and Manufacturing;  design it in from the start, knowing that none of us are perfect.