Air travel
today is known to be one of the safest forms of transportation; although it is
known for its safety there are many potential dangers associated with air
travel, from the failure of aircraft materials to the effects of weather
circumstances on the flight. Many potential hazards are accompanied with air
travel; these hazards are to be taken into account in order to keep the
aircraft functional in the air as well as on the ground. One of the largest
potential dangers to air travel today is human error. Human errors were
recognized as a potential hazard to safe flight operations as early as the
Second World War.
(Meister, David.
"Human Factors, 1999)
As a result the Human
Factors science was produced, which is the scientific study of the performance
and behavior of the individual, as well as the effect of the surroundings on
him/her. Human factors involve mainly
four aspects and they are the study of the physiological and psychological
aspects of individuals, the way people interact with each other, the way people
interact with the equipment used, for example how an engineer interacts with
his/her tools and the interaction with the working environment. The study of
human factors in aviation started during the Second World War. As the war
progressed, the United States military were losing as many aircraft from pilot
error as they were from enemy fire. As a result the United States government
responded by building better aircraft, as well as developing new techniques and
strategies for the selection and the training of their pilots. During the 1970s
and the early 1980s the commercial airlines started to suffer from human error.
An analysis performed on pilots’ behavior shows that there was a large lack of
teamwork between the aircrew, especially in the cockpit (between 1st
officer and Captain). Captains with domineering personalities tended to create
a negative atmosphere among the aircrew which then eventually led them into
committing errors. During the 1990s, the airline industries began to recognize
that an airplane is a complex system that involves more than just the aircrew. With
maintenance errors on the rise, aircraft maintenance technicians began to
receive the same attention in training as the aircrew. The study of human
factors is now a must to all people involved with the industry.
Today the need for the study of human factors in aviation
maintenance has risen and a subject that needs to be focused on. There are many
factors that contributed to the focus of human factors in aviation maintenance
and they are that human beings interact with their environment by acquiring information,
processing it, and then taking action. Humans use various senses to gather the
information they need. There are five basic senses and they are vision,
hearing, touch, smell and taste. In addition certain environmental
characteristics can influence the way you can acquire and process information.
Physical and psychological stress, attention demands, heavy workloads, and
other conditions common to the aviation maintenance environment contribute in
weakening the human ability to properly process information. This reduction
will affect the action they choose to take, and potentially lead to human
error. These errors can cause damage to the aircraft and the equipment and can
result in the increase of maintenance time and time is money in the aviation industry
and more importantly these errors can cause fatal injuries and death. Therefore an individual must recognize these
characteristics and how they affect them and others around them; they will be
able to find methods to counteract and reduce the chances of committing errors.
As the technology gets better, aircraft become more complex and expensive to
run, and as the population grows, so does the number of flights and
requirements for the aircraft. However, due to the current circumstances the
numbers of maintenance technicians are not increasing to meet the current
requirements. As a result technicians are learning to do more with what less
they have. (License by post, Human factors 1, 2010)
A large part of the foundation of science of human factors involves
a certain person and a certain experience. That person is Captain Edward A.
Murphy; he is the person behind Murphy’s Law. Murphy’s Law states that “if
anything can go wrong, it will.” Murphy’s Law was introduced in 1949 in the
United States in an air force base located in California. The law was named
after the captain who was at the time an engineer working on a certain air
force project; the project was related to safety and aircraft brakes and
acceleration. One day, after finding an electrical component wired wrong, Capt.
Murphy cursed the technician saying, "If there is any way to do it wrong,
he'll find it." The project manager changed this statement to match the
old, unnamed law, "If anything can go wrong, it will," and named it
Murphy's Law. At the end of the project there was a press conference; Murphy’s
Law took the credit due to the project being a successful hit in relation with
safety. Aerospace manufacturers picked up the saying and started using it
widely in their advertising, and soon it was being quoted in newspapers and
magazines. (The Origin and Laws of Murphy in One Place, 2010)
The Human Factors science derived their ORM (Operational Risk
Management) from Murphy’s Law and enforced its application in the industry.
Applying Murphy’s Law means that every situation has possible dangers, from
eating a burger to maintaining an aircraft. In order to prevent these dangers
from happening, you first need to evaluate the situation and identify the
potential dangers. You can use Murphy's Law, "If anything can go wrong, it
will," to think of every possible risk associated with the given
situation, including driving your car. There are many potential dangers that
accompany driving a vehicle, and every action has a risk attached to it
(reaction) so considering Murphy’s Law in Human Factors can help reduce these
risks, where an individual can provide solutions and develop strategies to
counter these risks as an example in its simplest form: running out of gas. To
prevent this risk an individual can fill up the gas tank before the low fuel
light glows on or he/she can carry an extra fuel tank, these are simple
solutions that are used to counter the risks associated with actions.
Now we can understand and comprehend why aircraft maintenance
technicians need to take human factors into account, and also what Human
Factors are and what are the elements involved in its studies, including
Murphy’s Law and how it is applied in our daily lives, and the history of the
science and how was it introduced.
Bibliography
·
Meister,
David. "Human Factors."
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_factors.1999.web.
·
"Murphy
Laws Site - Origin." Murphy Laws
Site - The Origin and Laws of Murphy in One Place.2010. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.
·
License
by Post. Human Factors 1. Aylesbury,
2010. Print. Ser. 17.
