A review of human error in aviation maintenance and inspection

Aviation safety depends on minimizing error in all facets of the system. Wh ile the role of flightdeck human error has received much emphasis, recently more attention has been directed toward reducing human error in maintenanc e and inspection. Aviation maintenance and inspection tasks are part of a c omplex organization, where individuals perform varied tasks in an environme nt with time pressures, sparse feedback, and sometimes difficult ambient co nditions. These situational characteristics, in combination with generic hu man erring tendencies, result in varied forms of error. The most severe res ult in accidents and loss of life. For example, failure to replace horizont al stabilizer screws on a Continental Express aircraft resulted in in-fligh t leading-edge separation and 14 fatalities. While errors resulting in acci dents are most salient, maintenance and inspection errors have other import ant consequences (e.g., air turn-backs, delays in aircraft availability, ga te returns, diversions to alternate airports) which impede productivity and efficiency of airline operations, and inconvenience the flying public. Thi s paper reviews current approaches to identifying, reporting, and managing human error in aviation maintenance and inspection. As foundation for this discussion, we provide an overview of approaches to investigating human err or, and a description of aviation maintenance and inspection tasks and envi ronmental characteristics. Relevance to industry Following an introductory description of its tasks and environmental charac teristics, this paper reviews methods and tools for identifying, reporting, and managing human error in aviation maintenance and inspection. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.