SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Human Factors Perspective on Safety Management Systems

Human Factors Perspective on Safety Management Systems

Introduction

Global air transportation system officials rely on high-quality aircraft maintenance to provide safe, reliable aircraft. Errors among aircraft mechanics are of particular concern to the regulatory agencies and aviation organizations in nations participating in the transportation system. Human factors (environmental, physiological, and psychological) are widely recognized as the precursors to mechanic error, and ultimately, to maintenance related aircraft accidents. In spite of this general recognition, officials of different nations adopted different approaches to the problem of human factors in aviation maintenance. Officials of some nations implemented regulations mandating very specific human factors training programs for mechanics.

Current researchers into the subject have focused on surveys and reviews of human factors programs, or classification of mechanic errors and the human factors leading up to a particular error. Little research has been devoted to comparisons of effectiveness of different approaches to the problem. This research involved different approaches to the problem of maintenance human factors taken by the officials in the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (U.K.). Officials of two regulatory agencies oversee the air transportation systems of these nations: the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the U.K. and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the U.S. while the design and regulation of the two systems mirror each other in most respects, the two systems are different in how each mitigates the impact of human factors on mechanics.

Although current researchers have concluded that maintenance human factors training makes air transportation safer, the current literature does not provide a quantitative causal-comparative analysis between regulated and unregulated systems to determine the effectiveness of a particular approach to the problem.

For determining the human factors in the safety management system, we first have to identify the following:

Human factors: Human factors are human-centered physical, psychological, or social properties and the interaction with machine-, organization-, or environment- centered systems. Human factor programs are used to address the interaction with methods to enhance efficient interaction while mitigating the negative effects of unfavorable interactions (Shappell 2007, 227).

Maintenance: The Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part I defined maintenance as inspection, overhaul, repair, preservation, and the replacement of parts.

Maintenance error: The Boeing Maintenance Error Decision Aid defined maintenance error as the intentional and unintentional deviation from standards and procedures. Although error often is used to imply only unintentional deviation from authorized procedures, both intentional violations and unintentional deviations are included in this definition of error.

Maintenance organization: The term, maintenance organization, includes all organizations in which personnel are engaged in inspection, maintenance, preventive maintenance, modification, alteration, repair, overhaul, ground handling, or servicing of aircraft, aircraft systems, or components. This definition combines the U.S. FAR 145 concepts of repair station and aircraft operator maintenance since personnel in both organizations have the capacity to generate maintenance error and contribute to a maintenance related accident rate. The definition also conforms to the U.K. JAR 145 specification of personnel requiring human factors training (Bahill & Briggs 2001, ...