Runway Incursion Avoidance Series 2 – (Human Factors) Part 1

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Written by Jason L Hamlett CM, ACE, GSP, CPI  (6/23/2023)
Health and Safety Management Systems for Airports | Facebook

Runway Incursion Avoidance Series 2 – Human Factors (part 1) 👫👫

The airport movement area contains systems designed to prevent and lower the risk of runway incursions and aircraft ground collisions. Despite the sophistication and effectiveness of runway protection systems, runway safety data suggest a steady increase in surface events since the end of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This can be partially contributed to increased operations, however if the recent trends continue, incursions and surface incidents will soon surpass pre pandemic numbers. Runway incursion and airport surface incident statistics can be found here: Runway Safety Statistics (faa.gov) The human interaction with simple and complex systems, machines, processes, and environments has been identified as a direct cause and contributing factor to countless runway related accidents and incidents. In Series 2 we will explore the human aspect of runway incursion avoidance, and how this effects airport movement area safety.

What we heard about Human Factors 👂

Explaining the human aspect of safety in the Airport Operations Area AOA is no small task. Pilots, controllers, mechanics, ramp workers, fire fighters, police, security, field maintenance, airside operations, and construction workers, all perform their daily task on the movement and non-movement areas of the AOA. With an increase in airline service levels, an increased presence of aeronautical service providers exists on the AOA as well. Each employee no matter the classification and skill level, have specific tasks, procedures, and training exclusive to their organizational goals. Each classification also strives to attain the highest level of quality regarding safety and productivity. Despite these efforts and systems designed to manage safety efficiently, accidents, incidents, and near misses still occur on active runway surfaces.

The Federal Aviation Administration FAA defines Human Factors Safety as:

“A multidisciplinary effort to generate and compile information about human capabilities and limitations and apply that information to equipment, systems, facilities, procedures, jobs, environments, training, staffing, and personnel management for safe, comfortable, and effective human performance” (FAA Order 9550.8A).

Simply put, abating human factors errors encompasses the application of research from sciences, and engineering, to understand the characteristics and limitations of human workers as they interact with work systems.  The mental and physical capabilities of the human workers must be matched to all aspects of the job, or performance and safety will be negatively affected.

Scientific disciplines involved in human factors research that affect runway safety include physiology, phycology, kinesiology, and neuroscience. Scientist such as phycologist strive to apply their broad disciplines to better understand human behaviors and mental capacities. For example, a clinical phycologist will strive to identify the effects of medications, recreational drugs, and alcohol on how we think and make decisions. Human factors experts apply the research and findings from scientist to reduce safety risk. Engineers involved in runway incursion avoidance include safety, industrial, systems, and mechanical. Engineers develop tools and machines that increase human output and safety for a given job task or system interface. In contrast human factors experts examine the application of the tools and or machines developed by engineers from the human perspective to increase safety and efficiency.  Often the discipline of workplace Ergonomics can be mistaken and used as a catch all for the abatement of human injuries in the workplace. Although ergonomics does address the physical, cognitive, and organizational aspects of human interactions with work systems, ergonomics focuses more on efficiencies and risk to the individual, not all who operate within the system.  

Have a PEAR to better understand Human Factors 🍐

I’m not referring to a yummy piece of fruit. PEAR is an acronym that is used in the aviation industry to describe and better understand the application of human factors. PEAR stands for:

People

Environment

Actions

Resources

People: These are the individuals who perform work on the AOA. The demographics (age, sex, education level, physical abilities, mental capabilities, and etc.) of each individual must be equally considered as no one person is created equally to another. Have you considered the differences in personal communications between cultures? Human factors experts do. As mentioned above all aspects of the work and associated systems must be designed around the capacities and limitations of the people.

Environment: Environment ties into people as it represents the physical, social, and organizational environment the people work in. Runways are located outdoors, which is subject to extreme temperatures, noise, lighting, and darkness depending on where you live and the time of day. Most workers who access runway surfaces do so in some form of vehicle, be it a plane, tug, or car. The condition and use of the vehicle must be considered.  Organizational environment is directly related to the company’s safety culture and overall attitude towards working safe, just culture, accident investigations, and hazard abatement.

Actions: Actions include how well the employees are trained, certified, licensed, and made fully competent to execute the functions of the job task safely. Organizations who excel on actions keep excellent documentation of training, performance reviews, job hazard analysis JHA’s and job task analysis JTA’s. Tasks steps, sequence, communication standards, and quality of deliverables are all high priority items.

Resources: Resources tie into people, environment, and actions. Typically, resources can imply any item needed to complete a task. As mentioned earlier airport workers approach runway surfaces in vehicles. The vehicle can be both a working space (mobile office) and an organizational resource. The working space aspect will affect the employee’s environment. Does the AC work in the vehicle on hot summer days?   From the organizational standpoint the people performing a task are also a resource. According to the FAA, resources can best be measured by the amount of additional or less resources needed.

I have provided an overview of what the discipline of human factors is, and its relation to runway incursion avoidance. All too frequently airport safety managers fall back on lack of situational awareness as an incident cause. Same goes for airlines and the use of the term pilot error. With a strong understanding of what makes up human factors safety we can begin to explore further its application to avoiding runway incursions at airports.

Can you:

Determine how this knowledge can improve runway safety at your airport?

Think of any methods of identifying and controlling human factors errors for airport employees?

I look forward to hearing from you very soon!!!

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