Human Factors

Incidents Attributable to Human Factors

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Learning Outcomes

 Explain Incidents attributable to human factors / errors

 Understand and explain Error Chain

 Analyze tasks for Dirty Dozen (Gordon Dupont), and evaluate Safety Nets

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Introduction

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Study (Sears, 1986)

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HF Resource Guide for Engineers (CASA, 2013)

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Learning from Accidents by FAA 2mins

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The Error Chain

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Dirty Dozen in Aircraft Maintenance 5mins

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogvwV8-Mtro
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US Airways Flight 1549, Airbus 320 (4m)

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Movie : “Sully: Miracle on the Hudson” (4m)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fVL4AQEW8
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Sully: “we all did it TOGETHER…” (4mins)

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Human Factors
Factors affecting Human Performance
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Learning Outcomes

 Identify and discuss the various factors affecting human performance

 Recommend preventive and mitigating measures to prevent degraded

human performance due to these factors

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Factors Affecting Human Performance

 Fitness and Health

 Emotional Imbalance

 Physical Well-Being

 Domestic and Work-Related Stress

 Factors determining Workload

 Time Pressure and Deadlines

 Sleep

 Shift Work

 Alcohol, Medication and Drug Abuse

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Human Performance & Limitations 5m

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Fitness and Health

 SAR-66.50. Medical Fitness. Certifying staff must not exercise the privileges
of their certification authorisation if they know or suspect that their physical or
mental condition renders them unfit to exercise such privileges.

 "Fitness: In most professions there is a duty of care by the individual to

assess his or her own fitness to carry out professional duties. This has been
a legal requirement for some time for doctors, flight crew members and air
traffic controllers. Licensed aircraft maintenance engineers are also now
required by law to take a similar professional attitude." CAA's
Airworthiness Notice No. 47 (AWN47)1

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Emotional Imbalance

 Being somewhere on the continuum of being an extrovert and an introvert is

very normal and individuals will probably be able to identify where they lie on
the continuum.

 However, sometimes due to stressful events in lives, humans may respond in

a way that is out of character. This is known as an emotional imbalance.
Such imbalances are normally only temporary.

 For example, when people start a new job, even the most extroverted of
them may feel extremely quiet and shy to begin with.

 Such changes in the emotional response are not considered to be a

mental illness. This is because they are short-term changes and are
reasonable given the context.

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Physical Well-Being

 A major determinant of the effects of shift-induced fatigue is an individual’s

general physical well-being. Several countermeasures are related to the
preparation of each worker for the rigors of shiftwork.

 A worker’s diet should be nutritionally balanced, regular, and adequate in

amount. Dietary rules for shift workers are the same as for non-shift workers
– the major difference is that shift workers often eat meals at odd (non-
traditional) times of the day.

 The pre-bedtime meal should be high in complex carbohydrates; the wake-

up meal, high in protein. Workers should not use alcohol, caffeine, or
nicotine for several hours prior to bedtime.

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Domestic & Work-Related Stress

 In some respects, pilot / aerodrome ops / engineers are susceptibility to
stress related issues. This is because the work done has a public safety
application and the working environment requires a significant amount of
shift work, which has family and social consequences.

 The symptoms of stress can be separated into physical and psychological

symptoms.

 Physical symptoms include: -

 High blood pressure
 Increased respiratory rate
 Sweating
 Gastrointestinal problems
 Headaches
 Diminished immunity

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Which of the following is NOT a physical

symptom of stress.
a. Diminished immunity
b. Increased respiratory rate
c. Gastrointestinal problems
d. Increased aggression

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Stress

 Stress can be related to the type of work that people do. For example,
checking whether Airworthiness Directives have been incorporated into the
manual is a relatively low stress task, while a high stress task might be using
the boroscope to check for stress fractures on the turbine blades / landing an
aircraft in a cross-wind condition / loading dangerous cargo.

 Physical and environmental factors can also be considered potential

stressors. For example, working in a confined space in high temperatures
with poor ventilation, may make a person’s work much more stressful and
reduce his or her ability to perform at one’s best.

 Physical, environmental stressors

 Temperature, Cramped spaces, Humidity, Noise, Vibration, Health, Age

Checking turbine blades in the

exhaust duct

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Organization Stress

 How an individual’s work is organised can be stressful too. Having to work

night shifts for a long period of time, having last minute roster changes, or
being unsure of how long a job will continue are likely to be stressful because
of the impact they have on a person’s social and home life.
Last minute OT
 So, organisational stressors include:

 Work scheduling, Work predictability, Job insecurity, Career

development, Poor communications

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When carrying out an inspection that may take a

considerable time, it is best to:
a. not take a break but fully concentrate until
the inspection is completed.
b. take a short break when small elements of
the inspection task have been completed.
c. pause for regular breaks at any time during
the inspection process.

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Work Relationships

 Being unsure of his or her exact role or responsibilities at work is a

psychological stressor.
Unclear work instructions / manual
 Work relationships can also create stress.

 Psychological stressors in the workplace include:

 Role ambiguity, Work relationships, Responsibilities, Loss and grief

After aircraft crash / airside incidents / injuries

Female tech face / eyes smashed by a air

pressured hose used to crank up the aircraft
engines

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Stress- Human Responses

 Humans’ natural response to stress or alarm is to fight or to flee. The body
prepares by producing rapid changes in the muscles and organs of the body
to prepare it for 'flight or fight'.

 The brain stimulates hormonal changes, including the production of

adrenalin and noradrenalin by the adrenal gland. Noradrenalin acts on
organs which prepare the body for fight, and it is associated with anger
and feeling in control. Adrenalin acts on organs which prepare the body
for flight and is associated with fear.

 As a result: The muscles tense, ready for action. The pupils of the eye dilate.
The heart beats faster to get extra blood to the tense muscles and this raises
blood pressure. The extra blood for the muscles means that there is a need
for more oxygen and so a person breathe more quickly. The liver releases
glucose to provide extra energy for the muscles. The digestive systems shut
down so mouths will go dry. The person sweats in anticipation of expending
extra energy. The immune system slows down. •Noradrenaline is the main neurotransmitter of
the sympathetic nerves in the cardiovascular
system.
•Adrenaline is the main hormone secreted by
the adrenal medulla.
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Stress- Human Responses

 However, in today's world humans often cannot fight or flee - socking the
boss on the jaw is unlikely to help one survives in the workplace and running
away from an unhappy marriage is seldom an immediately available option!

 Without the ability to release the cumulative effects of bodies' stress

responses, humans soon develop symptoms – blood pressure remains
high and muscles stay tense giving rise to headaches, backaches,
digestive problems, stomach ulcers and heart disease. There are also
behavioural and emotional symptoms.

 Humans’ reaction to stress and the ability to perform depends on how much
of it there is. Everyone follows an inverted U shape of some description and
the rise in the curve is normally described as arousal. That is an individual
needs to be aroused to a certain level to perform well. The downside of the
curve is normally synonymous with stress as a negative issue.

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Best Task Performance

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Best Task Performance

 At low levels of arousal, our attentional mechanisms will not be particularly
active and our performance capability will be low (complacency and
boredom can result). At the other end of the curve, performance deteriorates
when arousal becomes too high.

 To a certain extent, this is because we are forced to shed tasks and focus on
key information only (called narrowing of attention). Best task performance
occurs somewhere in the middle.

 In the workplace, arousal is mainly influenced by stimulation due to work

tasks. However, surrounding environmental factors such as noise may also
influence the level of arousal.

Towing aircraft, wings hitting the hangar doors

Pilot flew aircraft with an intake cover on one

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Which of the following statement is NOT correct in

describing the achieving of best or optimum task
performance with reference to the Performance vs Arousal
curve?
a. At low levels of arousal, our attentional mechanisms will
not be particularly active, and our performance
capability will be low.
b. At the other end of the curve, performance peaks when
arousal becomes too high.
c. Best task performance occurs somewhere in the middle
of the curve.
d. Complacency and boredom can result at low levels of
arousal.

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Factors determining Workload

 The degree of stimulation exerted on an individual caused by a task is

generally referred to as workload and can be separated into physical
workload and mental workload.

 Humans have limited mental capacity to deal with information. We are also
limited physically, in terms of visual acuity, strength, dexterity and so on.
Thus, workload reflects the degree to which the demands of the work we
have to do eats into our mental and physical capacities.

 Workload is subjective (i.e. experienced differently by different people) and is

affected by the nature of the task, such as the:
 physical demands it requires (e.g. strength required, etc.);
 mental demands it requires (e.g. complexity of decisions to be made,
etc.)

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Factors determining Workload

 The circumstances under which the task is performed,
such as the:
 standard of performance required (i.e. degree of
accuracy);
 time available to accomplish the task (and thus the
speed at which the task must be carried out);
 requirement to carry out the task at the same time as
doing something else;
 perceived control of the task (i.e. is it imposed by
others or under your control, etc.);
 environmental factors existing at time (e.g. extremes
of temperature, etc.).

 The person and his state, such as his:

 skills (both physical and mental);
 his experience (particularly familiarity with the task in
question);
 his current health and fitness levels;
 his emotional state (e.g. stress level, mood, etc.).
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Air Traffic Controller (3 mins)

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Overload

 Overload occurs at very high levels of workload (then the engineer

becomes over aroused). As highlighted previously, performance deteriorates
when arousal becomes 'too high and we are forced to shed tasks and focus
on key information. Error rates may also increase.

 Overload can occur for a wide range of reasons based on the factors
highlighted above. It may happen suddenly.
Airborne troubleshooting on engine IFSD

 Although SAR145 states that "The SAR145 approved maintenance

organisation must employ sufficient personnel to plan, perform, supervise
and inspect the work in accordance with the approval, and "the SAR 145
organisation should have a production man hours plan showing that it has
sufficient man hours for the work that is intended to be carried out" , this does
not prevent individuals from becoming overloaded.

CAAS reporting by MRO

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Underload

 Underload occurs at low levels of workload (when the engineer becomes

under aroused).

 It can be just as problematic to an engineer as overload, as it too causes a

deterioration in performance and an increase in errors, such as missed
information.

 Underload can result from a task an engineer finds boring, very easy, or
indeed a lack of tasks.

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Characteristics of Workload Management

 Ensuring that staff have the skills needed to do the tasks they have been
asked to do and the proficiency and experience to do the tasks within the
timescales they have been asked to work within;

 Making sure that staff have the tools and spares they need to do the tasks;

 Allocating tasks to teams or individual engineers that are accomplishable

(without cutting corners) in the time available;

 Providing human factors training to those responsible for planning so that

the performance and limitations of their staff are taken into account;

 Encouraging individual professionals, supervisors and managers to

recognise when an overload situation is building up.

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Workload Management

 If an overload situation is developing, methods to help relieve this include:

 seeking a simpler method of carrying out the work (that is just as
effective and still legitimate);
 delegating certain activities to others to avoid an individual engineer
becoming overloaded;
 securing further time in order to carry out the work safely;
 postponing, delaying tasks/deadlines and refusing additional work.

 Thus, although workload varies in aircraft maintenance engineering, the

workload of engineers can be moderated. Much of this can be done by
careful forward planning of tasks, manpower, spares, tools and training of
staff.

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Landing without landing gear selection down and locked
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What is NOT a key characteristic of a good

workload management?
a. Ensuring staff has the necessary skills and
experience and adequate time to perform the
task.
b. Ensuring staff has the tools and spares to
perform the task.
c. Ensuring staff must rush the work when there
is a tight deadline to meet
d. Ensuring planners have human factors training,
and to take account of workers performance
and limitations when allocating work
schedules.

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Workplace Stressors
 Intrinsic job characteristics:
 task content (complexity, variety, workload – under or over)
 work environment (vibration, temperature, noise, new technology)
 work scheduling factors (control over pace, work hours etc).

 Organisational Roles: Aircraft grounded due to defect in

 role ambiguity/conflict thailand
 responsibility
 image of role

 Work Relationships:
 Leadership styles
 Abrasive personalities

 Career Development is part of the equation in the form of:

 Job in/security
 Over/under promotion
 Lack of promotion
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Workplace Stressors

 Organisational Factors need to be included as:

 Structure and climate (office politics)
 Poor communication, lack of consultation
 Lack of participation in decision-making

 Home-Work Interface:
 Conflict between job and non-job roles (time, inter-role, emotional
interference like taking work home and vice versa).

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Interventions for Stress

 Primary Interventions
 Scope – Preventative: Reduce the number and/or intensity of stressors.

 Target – Alter work environments, technologies, or organisational

structures.

 Underlying assumption – Most effective approach to stress management

is to remove stressors.

 Examples – job redesign (increase employee autonomy and control

over job functions and work schedules), role restructuring (changes in
decision-making processes, such as increased employee participation in
relevant decisions), organizational restructuring (reorganisation of lines
of authority), redesign of the physical work environment, more
constructive feedback on job performance.

Hangar / Flight Line integration, deploy to

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Interventions for Stress

 Secondary Interventions
 Scope – Preventative/reactive: Modify individuals’ responses to
stressors
 Target – Individual
 Underlying assumption – May not be able to remove/reduce stressors,
so best to focus on individuals’ reactions to these stressors.
 Examples – stress management training, communication and
information sharing, “wellness” programmes

 Tertiary Interventions
 Scope – Treatment: Minimise the damaging consequences of stressors
by helping individuals cope more effectively with these consequences
 Target – Individual
 Underlying assumption – Focus in on “treatment” of problems once they
have occurred
 Examples – EAPs, counselling

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CRM training is to be included as part of recurrent training. Recurrent CRM

training should include modular classroom or briefing room CRM training to
review and amplify CRM components, followed by practice and feedback
exercises. All major topics of CRM training should be covered over a period not
exceeding 3 years.

These topics of CRM training should include the following:

(i) Human error and reliability, error chain, error prevention and detection;
(ii) Company safety culture, SOPs, organizational factors;
(iii) Stress, stress management, fatigue and vigilance;
(iv) Information acquisition and processing, situational awareness, workload
management;
(v) Decision-making;

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What are the factors determining the workload

experienced by an engineer / ground crew
working on the aircraft?
a. Degree of accuracy required; Time available to
perform the job; Existing environmental
factors at time of work.
b. Degree of accuracy required; Time available to
perform the job; Good control of outcome.
c. Degree of accuracy required; Time available to
perform the job; Ability to multi-task.
d. None of the above.

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Steps for effective Stress Mngt Intervention

 Identify the sources of stress

 Assess levels of stress

 Resolve the problem, not treat the symptoms

 Evaluate a variety of outcomes, not just subjective well-being

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Time Pressures and Deadlines

 Set goals that reflect one’s priorities. With the priorities in place, the person is
now in a position to set goals that help to fulfil them.

 Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

 Each goal needs an action plan.

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Time Pressures and Deadlines

 To be able to improve time management skills a person must first be

able to identify time wasters. Look at the log and decide between items
that are time wasters and legitimate time consumers. Determine if the time
wasters are external or self-imposed, then assess which of the external time
wasters can the person do something about.

 Organize time around priorities. With priorities and goals in place, a

person is in a position to schedule his or her time accordingly.

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Time Pressures and Deadlines

 Another time management strategy is known as single handling. This

means completing a task the first time the opportunity presents itself, which
often requires practice, and an iron will. It takes time to re-orientate to a task
so following through with one thing at a time and finishing it saves time.

 However, if it is necessary to stop midway through a task, then try to find a

natural stopping point and immediately put the unfinished task on the list for
tomorrow. If continuity is a problem, try grouping similar items into time
blocks.

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Setting goals should take this approach.

a. specific, positive, realistic and measurable
b. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic
and time-bound
c. specific, manpower-availability, achievable,
realistic and time-bound
d. successful, measurable, achievable,
realistic and time-bound

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How do you describe your sleep?

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Sleep
 Everyone has an ideal amount of sleep they require to feel fully rested.

 For example, some people require 9 hours of sleep per night to feel well
rested and function the next day, while others may only need as little as 5
hours sleep per night. What ever an individual need is, when the person gets
less sleep than this or remains awake for an extended period of time he or
she becomes sleepy.

 Sleepiness is a physiological signal that the body requires sleep. It is

similar to hunger indicating the need for food, or thirst indicating the need for
water. However, unlike hunger or thirst, if the person continues to ignore the
body’s signal for sleep the person will eventually fall asleep no matter
where he or she is or what he or she is doing.

 With as little as 2 hours sleep loss, a person’s performance begins to

decline. So, if an individual needs 7 hours sleep per night to feel fully
rested, but only get 5, then the individual can expect his or her performance
to be worse the following day.

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Sleep

 Sometimes it is not possible to get as much sleep as one would like, but
some sleep is always better than none. Research has shown that as little
as 30 minutes of sleep can help a person stays awake for longer and
perform better than no sleep at all. Because a person will eventually fall
asleep wherever the person is if he or she goes without sleep for long
enough, then it is important to plan to have a short nap rather than fall
asleep unintentionally at work or driving to or from work.

 For a long time, it was thought that sleep was a time when the brain and the
body shut down, and then were reactivated when a person woke up. In fact,
sleep is a complicated process where the brain alternates between being
very quiet, and very active. These two kinds of sleep are known as Non-
REM - which stands for non-rapid eye movement sleep; and REM -
which stands for rapid eye movement sleep.

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Sleep

 The main characteristic of non-REM sleep is that brain activity slows

down. When a person is awake and active, with his or her eyes open, his or
her brainwaves run at about 15-50 cycles per second. As the person falls
asleep into non-REM they slow down to around 8 cycles per second, and
get slower and slower as the person progresses into deeper sleep.

 Non-REM sleep is divided into 4 stages, from light (stages 1-2) to deep
sleep (stages 3-4), when the brain is slowed to 1-2 cycles per second. It can
be quite hard to wake someone up from deep sleep, and they can feel
groggy and sleepy, and may not be able to think clearly for as long as 30
minutes. This effect is called sleep inertia.

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Sleep

 Across a normal night of sleep, a person goes through a full cycle of non-
REM and REM sleep about every 90 minutes. This diagram shows an ideal
pattern across the night for a young adult.

 He or she continues to alternate between non-REM and REM sleep across

the night. However, most of the deep non-REM sleep (stages 3 and 4)
occurs in the first half of the night. REM periods, on the other hand, get
longer and more regular towards morning. Altogether, young adults spend
about a quarter of the night in REM sleep, about a quarter in deep non-REM,
and about half in light non-REM.

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Sleep

 There is wide variability in individual’s

sleep requirements with some people
naturally shorter or longer sleepers than
others.

 Sleep changes as a normal part of

development from birth, through
childhood, adolescence, and into
adulthood. It also begins to change
again at around age 50 years. It
becomes lighter, with less and less
deep non-REM sleep. Older people
wake up more frequently across the
night, and increasingly tend to wake up
earlier in the morning.

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Sleep

 However, it seems that what is really happening is that the ageing brain can
no longer produce a full night of unbroken sleep. Napping in the
afternoon is a natural strategy to counteract this.

 Age-related changes in sleep may create difficulties for shift workers. A NASA
study found that pilots aged 50-60 years lost 3.5 times more sleep per day on
international trips, than did pilots aged 20-30 years.

 The most important aspect of sleep quality, for how an individual feels and
function the next day, is sleep continuity. If a person’s sleep is broken up by
waking up many times, then its quality is reduced, even if the awakenings are
very brief and the person do not remember them. Sleep can be disturbed by
a wide variety of things, from environmental factors (noise, light, work
schedules), to physical sleep disorders. More than 80 different sleep
disorders have been identified so far.

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SURVEY / POLL : What time of the day are you

feeling the most sleepy or tired?
a. 9am
b. 11am
c. 12noon
d. 1pm (after lunch)
e. 3pm
f. 5pm

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Sleep
 Under “normal” circumstances, there are two times in the 24-h day when
people can fall asleep easily (around 0300-0500 and 1500-1700 for day
workers - siesta time).

 There are also occasions where it is very hard to fall asleep, even if a person
has gone without sleep. These times are known as “wake maintenance
zones”.

 The most important one, the “forbidden zone” occurs a few hours before a
person usual bedtime. This means that the person cannot necessarily fall
asleep earlier than usual, which makes it difficult if the person know that he
or she has to get up extra early the next morning for work.

 Humans also have an internal alarm clock that is a wake-up signal from the
circadian clock to the brain. This alarm clock goes off about 6 hours after the
daily temperature low point under “normal” circumstances and results in
humans finding it difficult to sleep past about midday.

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Circadian Rhythm

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Circadian Rhythm

 This biological system creates problems for night workers, because they
must try to sleep when their body is programmed to be awake, and work
when they feel most like sleeping.

 It is impossible to track the progress of the body clock around its daily cycle
(this would require an electrode permanently implanted in the brain). Instead
it is usual to track the clock indirectly by measuring the daily rhythm of body
temperature which is at its lowest around 3 - 5 am and peaks in the late
afternoon.

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Humans get to the worst level on most tasks at

around the time of the low-point in body
temperature, which occurs around
___________. This is the time in the circadian
cycle when people are most vulnerable to
making errors.
a. 11pm to 1am
b. Midnight to Sunrise
c. 3am to 5am
d. 2am to 5am

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Circadian Rhythm
 Not only physical functions show daily cycles. Humans’ ability to do tasks
that require physical co-ordination goes up and down in parallel with the
temperature rhythm. Not all tasks reach their daily peak at the same time.
Around noon is the best time for doing tasks requiring more mental
(cognitive) work, like problem solving and making complex decisions.

 How well a person learns new information depends on when it is presented.

If a person is asked to recall it immediately, he or she can remember better
when the information is presented in the morning. If he or she is asked to
recall it much later (long-term retention), the person remembers information
better when it is presented in the afternoon or evening.

 Humans get to the worst level on most tasks at around the time of the low-
point in body temperature (3-5 am). This is the time in the circadian cycle
when people are most vulnerable to making errors. Anyone who has tried to
stay awake all night knows there is an early morning slump, when people
really struggle, then things seem to get easier. This happens as the body
clock starts swinging back into “awake” mode.

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Circadian Rhythm
 The bodies and brains do not work the same way at night as they do during the
day. All the major organs of the body have a time of day when they function best
and a time of day when they function least well. These daily highs and lows are
called circadian rhythms.

 Circadian rhythms are controlled by a "biological clock" in the brain – a tiny

clump of cells less than the size of a pinhead known as the suprachiasmatic
nucleus (SCN) – conductor of the orchestra.

 The clock programmes a person to be ready for sleep at night, and to be active
and awake during the day. Most animals and plants have circadian rhythms to
help them to match their activity patterns to the day/night cycle.

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Circadian Rhythm

 Temperature, as an example, changes across the 24-h day, reaching a peak

in the evening and it is lowest level in the early hours of the morning. Other
body processes that vary across the 24-hour cycle include blood pressure,
digestive processes, and hormone levels.

 When the body temperature reaches its lowest point in the earlier hours of
the morning the levels of alertness are also at their lowest. This is around
3-5 am. If someone is required to wake up at this time then he or she is also
likely to experience greater sleep inertia.

Sleep inertia is a physiological state of impaired cognitive and sensory-motor performance that is
present immediately after awakening. It persists during the transition of sleep to wakefulness, where
an individual will experience feelings of drowsiness, disorientation and a decline in motor dexterity.

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As little as _____ hours of sleep loss, a

person’s performance begins to decline.
a. 30 minutes to 1 hour
b. 1 hour
c. 2 hours
d. 3 hours

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Alcohol, Drugs and Sleep

 Alcohol can have major effects on sleep. A couple of beers or glasses of

wine before bed (with individual variations), can effectively block all REM
sleep in the first half of the night. This can lead to alcohol withdrawal effects
in the second half of the night, including broken sleep, nightmares, and
sweats. Many people use alcohol to help them relax and fall asleep.

 Used carefully, sleeping pills can offer short-term help if someone is having
problems sleeping. However, most do not give normal non-REM/REM sleep
patterns and effects of taking them for long periods of time are largely
unknown.

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Sleepiness
 Biological sleepiness is a signal from the brain telling a person that he or
she needs to get some sleep. The strength of the signal increases if an
individual has not had enough sleep recently. It is also stronger at certain
times of day, particularly in the early hours of the morning and in the middle
of the afternoon (“siesta time”). The only way to get rid of biological
sleepiness is to sleep.

 Humans tend not to be very good judges of the strength of biological

sleep drive, until humans are close to the point of falling asleep
uncontrollably. One reason for this may be that humans are in the habit of
using a variety of techniques to try and help in staying awake. When
someone is driving, this might be turning on the radio or winding down the
window. These are ways of increasing the stimulation coming from the
environment.

 Eventually, no amount of stimulation or motivation will be enough, and sleep

will win out. This starts with micro-sleeps lasting a few seconds. If the
person persists, the micro-sleeps get longer and more frequent. If the person
is unlucky, he or she will crash into something, or drive straight off the road
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Identifying Fatigued People

 Acting “out of character” - moody,

unresponsive, negative, aggressive,
uncooperative, sleepy.

 Cutting corners - e.g. on paperwork,

regularly failing to carry out specific tasks.

 Comments from co-workers. Comments

from family.

 Recent work history - taking on too much?

 Recent incident/accident history, near-

misses.

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Shift Work

 Most aircraft movements occur between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. to fit in with the
requirements of passengers. Aircraft maintenance engineers are required
whenever aircraft are on the ground, such as during turn arounds. However,
this scheduling means that aircraft are often available for more significant
maintenance during the night.

 Thus, aircraft maintenance engineering is clearly a 24 hour business and it is

inevitable that, to fulfil commercial obligations, aircraft maintenance
engineers usually work shifts.

 Some engineers permanently work the same shift, but the majority cycle
through different shifts. These typically comprise either an 'early shift', a 'late
shift' and a 'night shift', or a 'day shift' and a 'night shift' depending on the
maintenance organisation.

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Rotating Shift Patterns

 When an engineer works rotating shifts and changes from one shift to
another (e.g. 'day shift' to 'night shift'), the body's internal clock is not
immediately reset. It continues on its old wake-sleep cycle for several days,
even though it is no longer possible for the person to sleep when the body
thinks it is appropriate, and is only gradually resynchronised. However, by
this time, the engineer may have moved onto the next shift.

 Generally, it is now accepted that shift rotation should be to later shifts (i.e.
early shift late shift night shift or day shift night shift) instead of rotation
towards earlier shifts (night shift late shift early shift).

3 years of rotating shift work. Feeling tired, body

warm, zombie like in the day trying to sleep

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Continuity of Tasks and Handovers

 Many maintenance tasks often span more than one shift, requiring tasks to
be passed from one shift to the next.

 The outgoing personnel are at the end of anything up to a twelve hour shift
and are consequently tired and eager to go home. Therefore, shift
handover is potentially an area where human errors can occur.

 Whilst longer shifts may result in greater fatigue, the disadvantages may be
offset by the fact that fewer shift changeovers are required (i.e. only 2
handovers with 2 twelve hour shifts, as opposed to 3 handovers with 3 eight
hour shifts).

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Alcohol, Medication and Drugs Abuse

 Fitness for duty means “Readiness to perform” which is the capability of

effectively and safely performing their duties at work.

 It should come as no surprise to the aircraft maintenance engineer that his

performance will be affected by alcohol, medication or illicit drugs. Under
SAR legislation it is an offence for safety critical personnel to carry out their
duties whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

AOC Requirements Rev 3 (Jan 2017): “Psychoactive substances” means

alcohol, opioids, cannabinoids, sedatives and hypnotics, cocaine, other
psychostimulants, hallucinogens, and volatile solvents, but excludes
coffee and tobacco.

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What would you do?

 One of your colleagues has arrived at work for an early shift, appears to be
tired, has bloodshot eyes, and smells of alcohol. You have worked with this
person a number of times before, and this behaviour appears
uncharacteristic. Your colleague acts as if things are normal and is preparing
to start the shift. Do you:

 Turn a blind eye, ignore him, and hope for the best?
 Pull him aside and have a quiet chat, asking if anything is wrong? In
your conversation, you suggest that if he has been drinking some time
before work, he should call sick and go home.
 Go straight to your supervisor, saying you think your colleague may be
under the influence and his ability to do his normal job could be
impaired.
 Quietly suggest that he sees the supervisor himself, as you think he
might be unfit for work. Remind him that being 'not fit for work', is
unacceptable, given the potential safety implications..

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Stages of Alcohol Intoxication

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blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
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 A standard drink is any drink containing 10 grams of alcohol. One standard

drink always contains the same amount of alcohol regardless of container
size, or alcohol type (i.e. beer, wine, or spirit).So:

 A stubby of full-strength beer is about 1.5 standard drinks

 A stubby of mid-strength beer is about 1.2 standard drinks
 A stubby of light beer is just under one standard drink
 One 30ml nip of spirits (a standard full nip) is one standard drink
 A glass of wine is about two standard drinks, and a bottle of wine
contains about eight standard drinks.

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Guidelines & Legal Limits

 As a general rule, aircraft maintenance engineers should not work for at least
eight hours after drinking even small quantities of alcohol and increase
this time if more has been drunk.

 Medication is usually taken to relieve symptoms of an illness. Even if the

drugs taken do not affect the engineer's performance, he should still ask
himself whether the illness has made him temporarily unfit for work.

Under Singapore law, the legal limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milli-
litres of breath, or 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milli-litres of blood. The
more that you exceed this limit, the more likely you are to face a harsher
penalty.

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Under Singapore law, the legal limit is ___

micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of
breath, or ___ milligrams of alcohol per 100
millilitres of blood. The more that you exceed
this limit, the more likely you are to face a
harsher penalty.
a. 25 micrograms ; 60 milligrams
b. 30 micrograms ; 70 milligrams
c. 35 micrograms ; 80 milligrams
d. 40 micrograms ; 80 milligrams

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Effects of alcohol and other drugs include

 Slowed processing of information; Slowed perception

 Longer reaction time. Responses to hazards are slower, and the number of
inappropriate avoidance manoeuvres increases

 Reduced coordination and ability to track or follow movement

 Reduced ability to concentrate; Reduced ability to see alternative solutions,

to think flexibly

 Attention problems
 Focused attention-concentrating on a single task
 Divided attention-coping with a number of sources of information at once
 Sustained attention-concentrating on one thing for some time

 Memory (including short-term memory, and the memory store for visual and
spatial information)

 Increased risk taking.

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Alcohol and drug abuse

 There are also changes in both attitude and physical appearance.

 - Uncharacteristic anger or belligerence
 - Unprovoked emotional outbursts and irritability
 - Sudden changes in mood
 - Blaming others for own shortcomings
 - Avoiding colleagues and supervisors
 - Deteriorating personal appearance and personal hygiene

 Finally, there are associated health and safety hazards.

 - Increased health and safety hazards
 - Increased number of on-the-job accidents or injuries
 - Careless handling and maintenance of equipment
 - Needless risk-taking
 - Disregard for others’ safety

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Effects of alcohol and other drugs can result in

Engineers developing attention problems, such
as:
a. Focused attention-concentrating on a
single task
b. Divided attention-coping with a number of
sources of information at once
c. Sustained attention-concentrating on one
thing for some time
d. Divided attention-coping, coupled with
increased risk taking

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Helping At-Risk Workers

 Once a worker has been identified as “at risk”, the likely follow-up is as
follows:

 Remove employee from safety-sensitive function

 Seek medical advice Employee to be tested as soon as possible
 Employee assessed to determine needs, e.g. treatment or rehabilitation
 If an employee receives treatment or rehab, the employer MAY decide to
return the individual to work
 Employees returned to safety–sensitive duties are subject further testing

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Summary
 Fitness and Health

 Emotional Imbalance

 Physical Exercise

 Domestic and Work Related Stress

 Factors determining Workload

 Time Pressure and Deadlines http://interviewquestionanswer.com/hr-interview/can-you-work-under-pressure

 Sleep

 Fatigue and Jetlag

 Shift Work

 Alcohol, Medication and Drug Abuse

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Thank You &

Have a Pleasant Day!

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References

 Morgan, D. 1996 Sleep Secrets for shift workers and people with off-beat
schedules. Whole Person Associates

 Stokes, A., Kite, K. Flight Stress: Stress, Fatigue and Performance in

Aviation. Avebury Technical.

 CAP 175, CAA (UK). January 2002. An Introduction to Aircraft Maintenance

Engineering Human Factors for JAR 66. United Kingdom

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