Human Factors in an Airside Environment
Human Factors – Airside Cost of Repairs – Etihad
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Human Factors
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Four Core Disciplines
➢ Ergonomics
➢ Physiology
➢ Psychology
➢ System safety.
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Ergonomics
➢ Designing and arranging things that people use so that the people and things
interact most efficiently and safely.
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Ergonomics
Displays
• Transfer information from machine to human
Controls
• Transfer information and commands from human to machine.
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Physiology
➢ The way in which the bodies of living things work.
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Psychology
➢Social Psychology
➢Teamwork
➢Communication
➢Decision making
➢Organizational Psychology
➢Leadership
➢Culture
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People who do the job
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System Safety
Management of risk based on the identification of hazards
and the application of remedial controls.
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Module – N°2
Organizational Factors
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The evolution of safety thinking;
Example …. Human Factor
• Aviation is processing very fast.
• Operators use new technology and understand the latest
developments.
• On April 26 1994 …..
▪ An Airbus A 300-500 operated by China airlines crashed at
NAGOYA, JAPAN. Killed 264 pax.
▪ The accident was caused by conflicting action taken Pilot and
airplane’s autopilot.
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The evolution of safety thinking(3 F)
TECHNICAL FACTORS
TODAY
HUMAN FACTORS
ORGANIZATIONAL FACTOR
1950s 1970s 1990s 2000s
Fuente : James Reason
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2.1 The Technological Era
➢De Havilland Comet explosive decompression at
altitude
➢BOAC 783, Calcutta, May 1953
➢BOAC 781, Rome, January 1954
➢SAA 201, Rome, April 1954
➢Caused by metal fatigue failures
around square windows
➢Design of future aircraft changed to
include round windows.
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2.2 The Human Era
➢Runway collision at Tenerife between 2 B747s, 27 March 1977
➢Caused by:
➢Limited visibility
➢Communication issues
➢Loss of situational awareness
➢Ambiguous non-standard phrases
➢Distraction
➢Lack of challenge
➢Resulted in the introduction of human factors, crew resource
management, standard phraseology, use of English.
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2.3 The Organizational Era
➢Pilot sucked out of window, 10 June 1990
➢Engineer used the wrong bolts to secure the windscreen,
which then separated from its frame in flight
➢Caused by
➢“poor work practices”
➢“poor judgements”
➢“perceptual errors”.
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2.4 The Total Systems Era
➢UK Air Force Nimrod crash, Afghanistan, 2
September 2006
➢Haddon-Cave’s investigation report found:
➢“a story of incompetence, complacency and
cynicism”
➢“deep organizational trauma resulting from
funding cuts”
➢“sacrificing safety to cut costs”.
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The 4 Ages of Safety Management
The Technological era
Focusing on engineering, equipment design and design standards
The Human era
Focusing on human factors, team resource management, attitudes
and competence
The Organizational era
Focusing on error management systems, risk assessment and
behaviours
The Total Systems era
Focusing on leadership, accountability and culture.
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The Reason Model
• The concept of the organizational accident was made possible by a simple,
yet graphically powerful, model developed by Professor James Reason.
• Which provided how aviation operates successfully or drifts into failure
• In the concept advanced by the Reason model, All accidents include a
combination of both
Active Failure + Latent Conditions = Accident
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The Reason Model
ACTIVE FAILURE
❑ An actions or inactions, including errors and violations.
❑ Which have an immediate adverse effect.
❑ Active failures are generally associated with front-line personnel.
(pilots, air traffic controllers, aircraft mechanical engineers, etc.)
❑ May result in a damaging outcome.
❑ Active failures may be the result of normal error.
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