ARSA CORNER BY SARAH MACLEOD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHRISTIAN A KLEIN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND BRETT LEVANTO, VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS, AERONAUTICAL REPAIR STATION ASSOCIATION JUST ADMIT IT!
Question 1: What must I admit? (a) I am human. (b) I am knowledgeable. (c) I am a professional. (d) I am just trying to get through this test.
Working through ARSA’s training
series on human factors in aviation [and life] will make one quite familiar with this central question. It leads the multiple-choice test — completion of which is required to obtain a training certificate — on each of the 14 sessions produced by the association’s management firm Obadal, Filler, MacLeod & Klein, P.L.C. and available on-demand via
arsa.org/training. The answer underscores a point made and remade throughout the series (and in life): You are human, just admit it! Making good on human factors training and translating the principles into reality requires accepting your own humanity — and the humanity of those around you. After spending months researching, planning and presenting 14 hours of training on the subject, the presentation team has realized that getting over that hurdle opens the door to learning. To celebrate the completion of this phase of ARSA’s human factors content (more is under development), each of us reflected on what was learned through the effort.
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DOMmagazine.com | dec 2019 jan 2020 BRETT LEVANTO –
DON’T GET TOUCHY-FEELY. While working at the Pentagon in my former job, I ran into individuals instantly repulsed by anything perceived as straying from the cold, technical execution of their work. “I don’t care about feeling all ‘kumbaya’ with everyone else,” they would intone at the mention of teamwork, interpersonal communication or anything else appended with “human.” When we began our work on human factors content in 2018, that experience surged back into my memory. Would we be producing hours and hours of kumbaya-laden fluff with no relatable use in the highly technical world of aviation? It turns out the answer is no — we took the challenge of approaching human factors in a systematic, technical way very seriously. We worked to connect every element back to the aviation safety rules — after all, “start with the rule” is a prime directive at ARSA — focused on practical examples, provided pragmatic mitigations and always
offered exercises for participants to apply lessons learned to their own life and work. In fact, while leading the session on “teamwork,” I noted how there were no mentions of “trust falls,” team- building exercises or other “kumbaya” experiences. We approached the matter as we would any other — establishing relevance, identifying issues and planning corrective approaches.
SARAH MACLEOD –
NOTHING SIMPLE ABOUT IT No one calls a lawyer when they are having a good day — the regulations are written by humans with their own “take” on the requirement being established, which makes negotiating compliance an exercise in knowledge and good judgment. Every aspect of human factors leads to one basic fact — humans will make mistakes. In aviation, mistakes can lead to non-compliance and to accidents. While most mistakes are not fatal to either the business or another human, mitigation is essential to reducing negative outcomes. Every facet of human factors — whether the “dirty dozen” or the 400+ touted by academics — is linked to another element. Humans are not simple, but we sure want things to be simple. That dilemma is why the ARSA training focuses on the key to developing basic knowledge and understanding so simple but effective solutions and mitigations can be implemented.
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