Human Factors / Human Performance

Description

Effective Human Performance is fundamental to operational safety in aviation. The majority of undesired outcomes are attributable to the people who populate the aviation system. They may especially occur in relation to the interface between people and complex procedures and equipment which exist to support the safe and efficient completion of their duties. The ’human factors’ to which they are subject sometimes lead to unintended errors of task management and professional judgement. They may also not deliver their practical skills at the trained level every time. The context for these errors may be simple lapses in the behaviour of well informed professionals or it may follow from an underlying failure to appreciate the full range of behavioural influences or their potential consequences. Errors may sometimes be intentional violations of varying degrees of severity and for varying motives. The organisational framework within which people function may not always be conducive to achieving the best from them - procedures may be inappropriate or ineffective. Ultimately, the goal is to minimise errors, and the consequences of those that remain, using either the monitoring or cross-checking of colleagues or technical solutions.

The articles contained in the Human Performance Portal are organised by Subject Category and by Functional Area (Aircraft Operator, Air Traffic Management, Aircraft Maintenance)

Human Performance Subjects

• Human Behaviour is about self awareness of human factors - factors which affect personal performance but also affect interaction with others, which often defines overall safety performance.
• Design Philosophy for systems, aids, tools and procedures must provide a credible interface with the human user and, where appropriate, offer fail-safe functionality, recovery from human application errors and protection against non-reversible effects.
• Human Performance Modelling is about representing reality in a simplified way and providing easy-to-understand analogies of the more complex world which really exists.
• Organisation and Human Performance covers understanding and awareness of the way human factors issues are influenced by their institutional context and perspectives.
• Human Factors Training covers both initial and recurrent training on human behaviour issues for both the managed and the managers and recognises the role played by support functions in maintaining operational safety.
• Aeromedical covers physiology.

Accident & Incident Reports

List of related Accident and Incident Reports

SKYbrary Solutions

• CASA Safety Behaviours Toolkit
• Operators Guide to Human Factors in Aviation