Mitigation of human factors in aviation maintenance.

Human factors during aircraft maintenance have a significant impact on aviation safety. Human factors analysis, therefore, is an essential aspect in aviation. The researchers have analyzed human factors in detail. yet, the existing studies are mostly reactive in nature. In the present study, incidents during aircraft maintenance related to human factors were investigated using the HFACS-ME classification system. Critical human factors and their latent conditions were identified and mapped. Identification of active and latent human factors enables proactive mitigation of weaknesses in the system thus ensuring maintenance safety. Interventions to mitigate human factors and improve the maintenance setup at the shop floor, management, and organization levels were formulated. The proposed model validated that past incidents could be effectively utilized as predictors to identify and mitigate active and latent human factors during aircraft maintenance by implementing proactive interventions. KEY POINTS: A proactive approach to identify, prioritize, and mitigate active and latent human factors in maintenance tasks in aviation. Active and latent human factors in aircraft maintenance incidents were analyzed and mapped using HFACS-ME. Dependency of factors was established. interventions at all levels in the organization were proposed to mitigate human factors. The proposed model could be effectively utilized to mitigate human factors by implementing proactive interventions during aircraft maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]