Crew Resource Management for Offshore Teams: Lessons from Aviation

Abstract

Abstract The European and North American airlines now use a specialized form of human factors training for pilots, ground and cabin crew, called Crew Resource Management (CRM). It is mandatory in the UK that all airline pilots undertake CRM training. CRM emerged as a result of accident analysis (e.g. Tenerife air disaster) which showed that human factors relating to leadership, problem solving, communication, team working and stress management were contributing to near misses and accidents. The training is based on ongoing research which identifies particular areas to target and the aim is to reduce errors by catching them before they become problems, and to enable crews to function at the highest level of efficiency if a problem does occur. CRM is being used with medical teams, nuclear power plant crews and maintenance crews, and it appears that this type of focused human factors training is particularly suitable for offshore safety management. Using the results from our offshore research projects we are designing a prototype version of CRM for offshore crews. This is one method of ‘closing the loop’ between accident analysis and response. Details of the CRM training and new evaluation project for the UK oil and gas industry will be covered. This work is a part of a larger project called ‘Factoring the human into safety: Translating research into practice being carried out by the Industrial Psychology group of Aberdeen University. This 2 year project sponsored by: Agip; AMEC; AOC/Brown & Root; BP; Coflexip Stena; Conoco; Elf; Health & Safety Executive (OSD); Oryx; Salamis; Sedco Forex; Shell; Texaco; and Total. The aims of the project are to: Develop a bench-marking study to identify, analyze and share best practice on human factors safety-related issues. Develop crew resource management (CRM) packages for training offshore teams in human factors issues. Systematically analyzing the human factors causes of accidents so that the information can be used to develop training programs for CRM.