Team-Based Human Factors Challenges

 In the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Human Factors is defined as a “multidisciplinary effort to generate and compile information about human capabilities and limitations and apply that information to equipment, systems, facilities, procedures, jobs, environments, training, staffing, and personnel management for safe, comfortable, and effective human performance” (FAA Order 9550.8A). FAA human factors researchers seek to understand the physical, behavioral, cognitive, and social characteristics of aviation professionals—such as pilots, air traffic controllers, technical operations specialists, and aircraft maintenance technicians—and the systems that they use.

The term human factors has grown increasingly popular as the commercial aviation industry realize that human error, rather than mechanical failure, underlies most aviation accidents and incidents. Human factors science or technologies are multidisciplinary fields incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research, and anthropometry. It is a term that covers the science of understanding the properties of human capability, the application of this understanding to the design, development, and deployment of systems and services, and the art of ensuring successful application of human factor principles into the maintenance working environment. Human factors are comprised of many disciplines: Clinical Psychology, Experimental Psychology, Anthropometrics, Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Safety Engineering, Medical Science, Organizational Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Industrial Engineering (AMT Handbook, chapter 14).

One of the challenges associated with team-based operations in the aviation industry is teamwork. A lack of teamwork may also contribute to errors in aircraft maintenance. Closely related to lack of communication, teamwork is required in aviation maintenance in many instances. Sharing of knowledge between technicians, coordinating maintenance functions, turning work over from shift to shift, and working with flight personnel to troubleshoot and test aircraft are all are executed better in an atmosphere of teamwork. Often associated with improved safety in the workplace, teamwork involves everyone understanding and agreeing on actions to be taken. A gear swing or other operational check involves all the members of a team working together. Multiple technicians contribute to the effort to ensure a single outcome. They communicate and look out for one another as they do the job. A consensus is formed that the item is airworthy or not airworthy (Aeronautic Guide, Human Factor, 2017). To improve the lack of teamwork, it is possible to plan the tasks of each member. This activity plan aims to assign an appropriate task to each team member. Each individual has their strengths, assigning a task to them will reduce ineffective teamwork.

reference:

Aeronautic Guide, Human Factor, 2017. Aviation Human Factors Dirty Dozen (aircraftsystemstech.com)

AMT Handbook, chapter 14. AMT_Handbook_Addendum_Human_Factors.pdf (faasafety.gov)