Human Factors

 


Air travel is severely reliant on maintenance, whether it is commercial travel, transport of goods or military necessities all aircraft require upkeep. Though these machines have the capability to detect and even inform us of what is wrong is it still necessary for humans to physically address the issue. With this human factor comes into play, human factors is the discipline of understanding human capability. Being able to apply this understanding to the strategy, growth, and by spreading the values into the maintenance field will be essential to increase the safety of our future. (Aviation Human Factors, n.d)


Skybrary contains a list for aviation maintenance that is comprised of 12 conditions or areas, called “The Dirty Dozen”, that are most common to propelling human error. Of these twelve, though none outweigh the others, I believe that complacency is the most silent. Complacency is ruthless in that no matter your level of expertise it can still have an influence on you. Renee Dupont-Adam defines complacency as “self-satisfaction accompanied by a loss of awareness of the dangers”. (2015) I currently work at Pratt and Whitney in the maintenance field and though I am still fairly new to the industry in comparison to some of my coworkers. I have seen, experienced myself, and heard stories of how well-seasoned technicians have made mistakes, and it usually starts with “I have done it before, nothing is ever wrong with that area. It is good to go.”

Not only does this create a dangerous situation for the aircraft in flight, but it can also pose an issue when working in a team-based environment, which most aviation maintenance is. Complacency is only one factor that can lead to human error, not only do we need to be aware of the signs of complacency we must almost train ourselves to be aware of the other conditions or areas contributing to human factors. Some ideas to help combat complacency are staying engaged in your assignment, never work from memory, adhere to all issued work instructions, when complete confirm your work, and never stop worrying about the outcomes. Remember complacency can kill.



References:

Aviation Human Factors. Aircraft Systems. (n.d.). https://www.aircraftsystemstech.com/2017/07/aviation-human-factors.html.

Dupont-Adam, R. (2015, September 16). Let's Talk Human Factors - Complacency. http://aviationsafetyblog.asms-pro.com/blog/let-s-talk-human-factors-complacency.

SKYbrary Wiki. The Human Factors "Dirty Dozen" - SKYbrary Aviation Safety. (n.d.). https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/The_Human_Factors_%22Dirty_Dozen%22#:~:text=The%20List%20%20%201.%20Lack%20of%20communication,Lack%20of%20awareness%20%20%2012.%20Norms%20.


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