Human Factors in Airfield RFFS Purpose Create an environment where fire crews can deal with an incident in as safe and speedy a manner as possible 1 2 Objective 3 Human factors SHEL model The key stress points of an incident 5 Confirmation of human factors issues found during analysis Fundamental Objectives: To examine the station environment to see if it could be optimized to assist the initial response turnout sequence To look at pinch points within an incident to see if these could be minimised by adopting human factors principles To re-visit all of the training packages employed by the fire crews to better reflect actual incident conditions To raise the level of awareness in human factors so the fire crews can better understand the reasons for occasional poor decision making and better understand how this can be minimised by application of human factors principles. 6 Human factors are concerned with optimizing the relationship between people and their activities, by the systematic application of human science. In fire crews this involves concentrating on specific occasions within an incident where stress levels may rise and judgement may be compromised What are Human Factors? Confirmation of analysis led me to definitive stress points within an incident The process is applied – Across all crews Different times of day Different response areas The process is aligned to significant events during phases at an aircraft incident, a Pareto score was given on the basis of relative complexity of task. Collect data & Pareto results 4 S = Software, symbols etc H = Hardware, appliances, etc. E = Environment L = Liveware, humans = Management of the station L L S H E M M Liveware-Hardware is the study of how people interface with machines, seating in appliances, pumping systems, controls, Fire service equipment etc Humans may never be aware of a L-H deficiency even where it leads to a disaster because of the humans natural ability to adapt and mask problems L H Liveware-Software encompasses humans and the none physical aspects of the system such as procedures, layouts, symbology, problems can include misinterpretation and none-compliance with procedures L S Liveware-Environmental issues involve high work levels, shift work, sleep deprivation, economical restraints Although a lot of these factors are outside the personal control boundaries they should be correctly addressed by those in management with the power to do so L E Liveware-Liveware is the interface between people, competency has always been individually assessed and it was assumed the team containing individuals would be competent, this is clearly not always the case, many incidents fail as a result of poor team working / interfacing L L The SHEL model (Hawkins 1975) The initiation of the initial alert sequence Donning fire kit under pressure Donning breathing apparatus Assisting distressed passengers Entry and ventilation of the aircraft Injured or trapped passenger rescue Post incident trauma Receive message Mount appliance During rescueRespond to incident Post incident Level of stress noted Limited information intake Research shows under incident conditions individuals can demonstrate a reduced capacity for taking in information Fire fighters focus on a task or problem and lose the overall picture In many cases when we most need a comprehensive grasp of the situation our ability to take in the required data eludes us Premature hypothesis formation Another feature of stress during an incident is the tendency to form premature solutions to problems Our decision making is likely to be flawed and our proposed solution inadequate During incidents officers need to step back and check how plans are functioning, under stress this ability is often difficult Stress during the incident phase tends to make us fall back on tried and tested solutions, in other words we regress to what has worked in the past Quite often differences between past and present problems make proposed solutions inappropriate Regression During the early stages of an incident it is vital to correctly prioritise tasks, resources etc. unfortunately accurate prioritisation is one of the casualties of stress We may prioritise tasks which look most urgent but may not be or we settle on the easier tasks solving the problems we can instead of the ones which are most urgent, this is a classic feature of stressed behaviour Prioritisation