Meeting Notes

Date & Place: / RAF Bentley Priory / 2 April 2004
Issue date:
From: / Fiona Merritt / Tel: / 01293 573485
To: / Cliff Edwards, Alan Simmons, Phil Hall, Alan MacDonald, Fiona Merritt, John Summerfield, Tony Hines, Andy Ebdon, Gary Blenkinsop / Copy:
Apologies: / Phil Hall, Brian Pattinson, Peter Pope, Brian O'Connor, John Dunne, / File:
cc / Peter Winebloom

Engineering/Maintenance HF Standing-Group Meeting

A sub-group of the RAeS Human Factors Group

Item / Subject and Detail / Action/Date

RAeS Human Factors - Engineering Standing Group Meeting,

1 / Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes were agreed, and matters arising are discussed under specific headings below.
2. / Membership
CE welcomed the two new members, Andy Ebdon and Gary Blenkinsop.
3. / MHF training standards and accreditation
As discussed at the last meeting, industry does not appear to be generally supportive of the need for formal accreditation for MHF trainers. However, as also agreed previously, the EMSG will continue to support the need for standards for MHF training.
TH advised that evidence from CHIRP indicates that first and second line managers would appear to need better training, and this would, in turn, only be effective if combined with the appropriate level of senior management support. It was suggested that more emphasis should be being placed on competence assessment.
Given that the UK SMS CAG is now unlikely to be pursuing MHF training standards and accreditation as a task, CE suggested that those individuals on the CAG who may still have an interest in the subject, be approached with a view to joining the EMSG. This was agreed. CE will talk to Simon Witts. / CE
4. / Ken Smart's paper
CE attended the RAeS recent conference on corporate responsibility, and was impressed by Ken Smart's paper which, among other things, highlighted the increasing problem of human error in aviation maintenance. AS will ask KS if there is a copy available which could be distributed to EMSG members and also, if relevant, to Woodford conference delegates. / AS
5 / Compliance project
CE is still working on this.
6. / Calendars
JS has agreement from John Murphy, Director of Flight Ops for First Choice Airways to fund the complete project, on the understanding some form of First Choice advertising will feature on every page, and that the cartoons would reflect a mixture of operational and engineering examples. Featured sponsorship does not exclude inclusion of the RAeS and DASC. The IPR would remain with Jake Jacobs, the DASC graphic artist.
FM was slightly concerned that the emphasis should still be on engineering, since the calendar was originally intended for an engineering audience (and had been advertised as such in the Woodford conference flyer). She asked that the flight ops examples be relevant to engineering in some way. AE suggested that a way round this would be to have a back to back calendar, with 12 engineering cartoons one way, and 12 flight ops cartoons on the reverse sides of the pages, so that the calendar can be hung whichever way suits the context. This was agreed as an excellent idea, but its feasibility would depend on (i) whether the MoD print facilities could produce it, (ii) additional cost and requisite funding and (iii) availability of 24 appropriate cartoon ideas, and willingness of JJ to produce these.
AMcD will check on the printing feasibility and any additional costs / AMcD
If the above is feasible, JS will see if First Choice are willing to cover the additional costs / JS
If First Choice sponsorship is limited to the originally agreed amount, FM will ask Rick Heybroek, HFG treasurer, if additional funding can be made available from conference proceeds (as was originally the intention). / FM
If printing and funding are feasible, CE will approach the HFG committee for ideas for cartoons on the flight ops side. / CE
TH will ask Mark Wilson for any ideas on the GA side. / TH
In the meantime, JS will pursue examples for engineering cartoons, working with JJ. / JS
GB asked if component maintenance could be included as one of the examples, eg. engineers who do not appreciate the function of the components they work on, and implications of their actions/errors.
There was a discussion of possible ideas for cartoons, prompted by some of the photos that JS had brought to the meeting of things that had gone wrong due to maintenance error. CE suggested that the list of top 15 faults/errors could be a source of inspiration. AAIB have many examples which could prompt ideas. Even the well known email doing the rounds quoting amusing exchanges between engineers/ flight crew/ ATC, could possibly generate ideas..
7 / European meeting in March 2004
The second of two meetings took place on March 15th, at Hoofddorp, called by the Maintenance Focus Group (MFG) of the JAA HF Steering Group. The two meetings were intended to seek views from a representative sample of European industry concerning human factors in maintenance, and whether anything further was needed to assist with the implementation of the JAR145 amendment 5 regulatory changes (or, indeed, whether these changes were appropriate)..
FM attended both meetings, and CE attended the second. Other representatives included various European regulators (including JAA), managers and trainers from various Operators and maintenance organisations, third party MHF trainers, union representatives, academics and researchers. FM can send a copy of the notes to anyone who is interested in the detailed discussions.
In summary, it was generally agreed that common European guidance material for MHF would be very welcome, and CAP 716 issue 2 was proposed as a candidate document. If this proposal gets the agreement of the JAA Maintenance Sectorial Team, FM has agreed to adapt CAP 716 to take out specific UK references, and to include more European references instead. It is proposed that this document would be placed on the JAA website. FM will keep the EMSG appraised on progress. / FM
A few changes are proposed to the document in the first instance, including a 'beefed-up' introduction aimed at senior management, which CE has volunteered to write.
In terms of longer term plans, FM advised that the European MHF guidance document was envisaged as a living document which would be updated with best practice examples from time to time. Any updates would have to be proposed, agreed by the MFG, and endorsed by the JAA HFStG before publication. CE has volunteered to join the MFG so the EMSG will be able to contribute towards such changes in the future.
8 / Woodford conference
The conference on Safety Culture and its measurement is due to take place at BAe Systems, Woodford, on Monday April 26th. FM advised that there have been 39 registrations so far, but many more enquiries. All EMSG members were encouraged to help advertise the conference via their various contacts. BAe Systems are charging £15 per head for use of the premeses, plus catering charges (£5 per head). Given that speakers and EMSG members would not normally be expected to pay, the conference will just about break even at present, assuming no cancellations and refunds.
TH will circulate the flyer at the forthcoming GAMTA meeting. Other EMSG members agreed to advertise the event further, if they had not done so already. / TH
EMSG
CE asked EMSG members if they were happy for him to be both Chairman and speaker - no one had any objections. FM will send information on each speaker to CE, for introductions. / FM
9 / Bentley Priory Conference
FM has drafted a flyer and already distributed this, along with the Woodford conference flyer, in order to get the dates in people's diaries. The dates are Nov 4th and 5th. Unfortunately, AMcD will probably have left DASC by then for another posting, but Cdr Ian Peck is happy to act as host, and AMcD's replacement will pick up any organisational responsibilities as far as the venue commitment is concerned.
In terms of the detailed programme, FM will put together further ideas after April 26th and circulate them to the group for comment. In the meantime, if anyone has got any specific proposals, please contact FM direct. It was suggested that day 1 comprise general presentations about concepts, such as requirements, competency and its assessment, training small organisations, etc., and day 2 be an opportunity for trainers to talk about what they are doing. / FM
10 / Cost benefits of human factors
AE suggested that cost benefit/ROI feature as one of the papers. FM commented that whilst agreeing that this was an important topic which needed to be addressed at some time, she felt that November would be too early to put together a paper featuring data to support the argument in favour of HF interventions. AS agreed that in his own research (for his MSc) he was not able to find any strong data on cost benefits. It may be that such data exists, but has not been published.
It was agreed that November may be too early for a paper, but the majority of EMSG were keen that the group should pursue this topic with a view to putting together a strong case for cost benefits of human factors. There are already examples which case be used, eg. the DASC Shap analysis, GB's work, CE's work with Shell. CE suggested planning for a mini-conference on cost benefits/ ROI for some time in 2005.
11. / AOB and DONM
There was no AOB.
DONM was proposed as July 7th, at Aviation House, at 11:00

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