Human Factor

                        Good instructors are crucial to effective human factors training, especially where the  emphasis is upon attitude change. Whilst the skills required to impart knowledge are  fairly common across most subjects, whether technical or more esoteric, the skills to  influence people's attitudes and behaviours are different, and are key to successful  human factors training.                       It is essential that the human factors trainer (or facilitator) believes in what they are  teaching, and has enough credibility, enthusiasm and knowledge to pass on this belief  to his students. A good human factors trainer should be able to positively influence  his trainees’ safety behaviour, which, ultimately, should reflect positively upon the  organisation’s safety culture, and even its commercial profitability. ...

         Organisations should have a mechanism for determining competence of staff, not  just with respect to human factors, but for all areas (both technical and non-technical)  in which staff are required to be competent.         Demonstration of competence applies to all staff within an AMO .          Management  competence and human factors competence should be closely linked. A manager  may be highly competent in day-to-day management and making money for the  company, but not particularly supportive of human factors principles and policies,  despite the fact that he understands what they are all about.                        There are many different mechanisms available that may be used as evidence of  competence. These include: Examination - a good mechanism for assessing knowledge, but not necessarily  comp...

                           Training will not be successful in the long term unless what it teaches is supported  within the organisation on a day-to-day basis. Therefore the human factors training  requirement within Part-145 should not be considered in isolation. The training should  be a part of the total package of measures within a Part-145 approved organisation to  assure safety and airworthiness.                           The following stages of implementation should be completed to ensure the success  of the human factors training. Where organisations have already embarked on some  of the stages below, they should give consideration to revisiting earlier stages in case  they have not been covered properly.       a) Genesis. Ensure the person or people responsible for putting in place the human...

            Evidence from incidents and accidents shows that human error and human factors  problems are not limited to 'hands-on' maintenance staff (whether certifying or non certifying),  but may extend to planners, technical records staff, etc.  In addition, it is  often organisational decisions and policies made by managers that are at the root of  some incidents (e.g. to ensure adequate resources).                    Senior management  commitment to, and support of, the company human factors programme is essential  to the success of such programmes.                                        Staff need to be convinced of this commitment  by management.           Managers attending the human factors training themselves is one  way of s...

 OMS contain the following elements: • clearly identified aims and objectives; • demonstrable corporate commitment • corporate encouragement of uninhibited reporting and participation by individuals; • disciplinary policies and boundaries identified and published; • an occurrence investigation process; • the events that will trigger error investigations identified and published; • investigators selected and trained; • OMS education for staff, and training • appropriate action based on investigation findings; • feedback of results to workforce; • analysis of the collective data showing contributing factor trends and frequencies.

  Work instruction is what we should do, whereas a procedure is how we should do  it. Job cards are usually work instructions; procedures generally originate from the  Maintenance Manual.   Writing Procedures and Work Instructions  As well as maintenance data and procedures provided by the manufacturer having  scope for improvement, there is also often a better way of writing or presenting  technical procedures and work instructions which are produced by, and used within,  a maintenance organisation. Obviously the fundamental elements of the procedures  should not deviate from the manufacturer’s requirement, but there is often scope for  presenting that information in such a way that it is more easily understandable and usable.  FAA has sponsored the  development of a "Document Design Aid" (DDA) to help organisations apply these  guidelines when writing procedures.               ...

The key elements of a human factors programme are: top level commitment to safety and human factors;  company policy on human factors; human factors training (of all appropriate personnel, including managers - not just  certifying staff);  reporting, investigation and analysis scheme(s) which will allow reporting of errors,  actual & potential safety risks, inaccuracies and ambiguities with Maintenance  Manuals, procedures or job cards (not just those which have to be reported as  Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR)s); clear disciplinary policy stressing that genuine errors will not result in punishment;  human factors and ergonomics audits / Line Operations Safety Audits (LOSA) (of  workplaces, lighting, noise, tooling, adequacy of procedures, actual compliance  with procedures, manpower, adequacy of planning, etc.); the resources and willingness to act upon the findings arising from occurrence  reports and audits, and to...