Human Factors - SM4 Safety Articles & Resources
Understanding Human Factors in Safety Assurance: The Bowtie Method
Human factors may be the final frontier in aviation risk management. While those factors can’t be handled in the same way as, for example, issues with mechanical systems, there is new thinking in risk management that can help. It includes viewing a high-risk situation as an event and then using a so-called “bowtie diagram” as a tool for defining and addressing it.
Riptide: Psychological Safety in a Cancel-Culture World
There is a dangerous riptide taking place between what is acceptable in our society and what is necessary in our workplace. As everything turns into an “us vs. them” war of opinions, the ability to respectfully listen to others is rapidly becoming a lost art. Aviation must, once again, demonstrate its leadership in constructive communication.
Managing Fatigue with Quantitative Data
It may be November, but the clouds are clearing for air operators. People are flying again. Business meetings are being scheduled live. And the busy holiday season is coming up soon. Is your flight department ready?
Caffeine Will Enable Me To Power Through My Day. Right?
Worrying about the current public health crisis and how it affects our jobs, our lives and our health is something that all of us have experienced to some degree over the past year. Unsurprisingly, an increasing number of people have been reporting sleep disturbances since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
How to Combat Revenge Procrastination
We all know that sleep is important. When we don’t get the 7‐9 hours of daily sleep recommended by the National Sleep Foundation and endorsed by a consensus of top scientists, we feel groggy and irritable. It can affect our relationships. Our performance at work suffers.
How Many Hours Are You Really Working?
While commercial airlines continue to struggle amid a dearth of passenger volume, many business aviation and charter air operators have experienced a strong recovery since the initial COVID-19 slowdown this past spring—and indeed, some are busier than ever.
Aviation Needs More Poets Right Now
Most of us began as dreamers and poets, all wanting to “slip the surly bonds of earth… dance the skies on laughter silvered wings… and reach out to touch the face of God.” Most know these words came from John Gillespie Magee Jr., who was a World War II Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot and poet. Most don’t know that he was killed in a mid-air collision over England in 1941.
Managing Workplace Fatigue During COVID-19
It has been barely six months since the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was first identified, four months since the first U.S. cases were mentioned in the news and some 10 weeks since lockdowns were imposed to help stem the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
How to Fly Reliably Alert
Clearly, you don’t want to be in a safety‐sensitive situation when a lapse of attention occurs. For your own safety and that of your passengers and fellow crew, it is imperative that you be reliably alert throughout your duty period. But how do you go about ensuring alertness?
