ADVANCING THE HUMAN FACTORS BUSINESS CASE: Maintenance Human Factors Federal Aviation Administration ADVANCING THE HUMAN FACTORS BUSINESS CASE: Maintenance Human Factors William B. Johnson, Ph.D. Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor Human Factors in A/C Maintenance Systems bill.johnson-dr@faa.gov 14th Symposium on Aviation Psychology Dayton, OH, April 25, 2007

Human Factors #1 Causal Factor Maintenance Human Factors

Presentation Topics Discussion as Time Permits Operator‘s Manual for HF in Aviation Maintenance (4) ROI Discussion and Examples (12) Discussion as Time Permits

www.hf.faa.gov/opsmanual

Sample display from Op’s manual

3 key references plus slides

Presentation Topics Discussion as Time Permits Operator‘s Manual for HF in Aviation Maintenance (4) ROI Discussion and Examples (12) Discussion as Time Permits

The Reality of Sustainment and Justification Continental Airlines had a HF program and does not now! US Airways had a HF program and does not now! Northwest had a HF program and does not now! Some airlines had an HF person , not now……. WHY?

ROI Challenges - What is it difficult? Assigning cost to a particular challenge/event Establishing cost of intervention Matching HF intervention to performance change Assigning value to what did not happen Add your reasons here……

Here are Example ROI Approaches* Cost vs. Lost Product Production Costs of R&D and Returns – FAA Style Justification from Improved Work Performance “Trust Me”: A NonAnalytic Approach * Described in paper

Five steps to calculate ROI RATIO Estimate annual cost of a specific event: COST Estimate cost to address the contributing factors: COST TO FIX Estimate the probability the COST TO FIX will be successful: PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS Multiply COST times PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS and then subtract COST TO FIX: RETURN Divide RETURN by COST TO FIX: ROI RATIO

Example : Ground damage during towing 16 significant towing incidents at one hangar during 1999. (Average Year) Cost is $260K/year The organization conducted focus groups and event analysis to understand the contributing factors.

Ground damage during towing: Prevention Measures Paint Centerlines, Clear zones, tail zones, etc. Standardize lights on hangar doors Modify work platforms Train personnel Audit performance and deliver feedback Total Cost to Fix: $52K

ROI on Fixes for ground damage 1. COST $260K 2. COST TO FIX $52K 3. PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS 75% (.75) 4. RETURN ((.75x$260K)-$52) = $143K 5. RETURN ON INVESTMENT RATIO ($143K/$52K) = 2.75

The Conference paper has 3 examples Ground Damage During Towing ROI = 2.75 Damage in the Paint Hangar ROI = 5.5 Technical Documentation ROI = .52

Observations about ROI ROI calculation is not high enough priority. Organizations often don’t count the cost of error. Organizations don’t count error costs very well. Workers are not sensitive enough to the cost of error.

Observations about ROI (Con’t.) When something breaks you fix it and don’t calculate it. When something is not safe you fix it and don’t calculate it. When work conditions are not safe you fix it and don’t calculate. You just don’t calculate it!

Observations (Con’t.) Most interventions are seemingly intuitive and cost justifiable. But the times are changing… ROI for HF interventions is in infancy. It does not have to be complicated to make the case! Numerous small justifications make a big point!

Presentation Topics - Summary Operator‘s Manual for HF in Aviation Maintenance (4) ROI Discussion and Examples (12) Discussion as Time Permits Thank you For these slides and more: www.hfskyway.com