0. 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
14th Symposium on Aviation Psychology
Dayton, OH,
April 25, 2007

1. Human Factors #1 Causal Factor
Maintenance
Human Factors

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

5. Sample display from Op’s manual

6. 3 key references
plus slides

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

9. 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?

10. 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……

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. ROI on Fixes for ground damage1.
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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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!

19. 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!

20. Presentation Topics - Summary
Operator‘s Manual for HF in Aviation Maintenance (4)
ROI Discussion and Examples (12)
Discussion as Time Permits
Thank you
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