When we perform safety audits or safety assessments within the organisation we have the potential to look at the exposure to risk across the entire business, we should also use the opportunity to consider the increased possibility or likely hood of an a HF exposure. (often connected with manpower, training, tooling, equipment process and procedures.)
We should also understand that during Safety Assessments the focus is Subjective means it is related to a perception of a “perceived” shortfall and whilst we can often discover exposures which are measurable using organisational tools. The goal of a Safety Assessment is to try to assess the potential exposure across a range of activities within the business, many of which have a direct bearing on the exposure to Human Factor related errors.
It is critical that Aviation Maintenance human Factors is fully integrated into aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) Maintenance Human Factors concerns all the various issues which may have an impact on how people perform required tasks. HF is often impacted by the competence of the individual at a deeper level we can often see many connections between HF, SMS & Quality Assurance.
Essentially the more capable a person is the less likely he or she is to make a mistake which is driven by a lack of understanding. Therefore to ensure the effective delivery of a competence assessment and management process can add strength to the organization and reduce the HF exposures.
The need for effective management and assessment of competence is itself understood as a critical issue in mitigating the potential exposure driven by Human Interaction.
As such the management of competence is a significant SMS issue and the organisation should accept in turn that the need for an effective SMS is itself dependent on trust and acceptance of the workforce.
Where are the procedures? Who manages the procedures? Are they effective? How to measure (low incidence of incident or accident).
The availability of the correct resource is an important element when considering Safety Exposures whilst it is not always obvious when there is a manpower shortfall, any constrictions in the availability of the manpower can cause pressure points which in turn lead to stress and potentially a human factor exposure.
Organisational procedures should be understood by all those who are required to use them! How is this managed as again any shortfall can lead to increased exposure?
Sofema Aviation Services is currently offering a 4 day intensive training course delivering Human Factors Training for Trainers HFTTT
The training is being carried out in Bangkok, Thailand
To be delivered from 8th to 11th August
Details of the training may be seen here:
For additional details please see www.sassofia.com or email office@sassofia.com
