Avionics News February 2020 - 13

We work in aviation. We, hopefully, work at an airport. We
love airplane noise. And every taxiing aircraft does grab our
attention. But notwithstanding that, what about the other
distractions in the hangar? Texting? Visitors? Customers?
How do you manage the known distractions?

occasionally leading to a causal factor in an accident or
incident.
There has been much written on how the individual can
manage the Dirty Dozen; I would like to look at these 12
factors and see how organizational management of human
factors may affect them.
Before we look at the dozen elements, we must agree on
what we can or should do with someone who is "less than
optimum." In the black-and-white world, you are either fit
for duty or you're not. If not, you shouldn't be at work. I
don't think that is realistic, and I believe it is that sentiment
that has led many employees to hide their limitations.
Not every job requires us to be at our best every hour of
every day; there are many tasks we can do while we recover
from our limitations. This is typical when we have an obvious injury or ailment. I've seen several employees on light
duty while they recover from a broken arm or leg. Why can't
we offer light duty to someone suffering from fatigue? Or
maybe a personal loss? Or financial challenges? We offer
alternatives for physical limitations; why shouldn't we offer
alternatives when they suffer from mental limitations? As
much as we want the technician in the workplace physically,
it is equally (if not more so) important that they are in the
workplace mentally. The safety and security of aviation, as
well as the efficiency of business, requires both the body and
mind to be committed to the task at hand.
According to skybrary.aero, "The Dirty Dozen is a
concept developed by Gordon Dupont, in 1993, whilst he
was working for Transport Canada, and formed part of an
elementary training programme for Human Performance in
Maintenance. It has since become a cornerstone of Human
Factors in Maintenance training courses worldwide."
The article continues to highlight that "The Dirty Dozen
is not a comprehensive list of human error accident precursors; for example, ICAO Circular 240-AN/144[2] lists over

300 human error precursors. However, since 1993, all areas
of the aviation industry, not just aircraft maintenance, have
found the Dirty Dozen a useful introduction to open discussions into human error in their businesses, organizations and
workplaces."
It is interesting that the first six address the lack of essential elements. They include the lack of communication,
knowledge, teamwork, resources, assertiveness and awareness. The other six address the presence of the negative traits
of complacency, distraction, fatigue, pressure and stress.
Now let's discuss how management's decisions and
actions can affect these elements. We can start with the obvious, the easy targets, the low-hanging fruit. Two of these are
regulatory, but which ones?
The first is knowledge. A certificated repair station must
have and use an employee training program that ensures
each employee assigned to perform maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations, and inspection functions is
capable of performing the assigned task (14 CFR 145.163).
In addition, the regulations require each repair station to provide qualified personnel to perform and approve for return to
service the maintenance, preventive maintenance or alterations performed under the repair station certificate (14 CFR
§ 145.151).
The second regulatory item is resources. Again, the regulations address the requirement for a repair station to continually provide housing, facilities, equipment, materials and
data that meet the applicable requirements for the issuance
of the certificate and ratings (14 CFR 145.101). In addition
to the general requirements of 14 CFR 101, the regulations
further require a repair station to have the equipment, tools
and materials necessary to ensure the work they perform is
in accordance with Part 43 (14 CFR 145.109).
Continued on page 66
avionics news

february

2020

http://skybrary.aero

Avionics News February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News February 2020