Eradicating root causes of aviation maintenance errors: introducing the AMMP

Abstract

This is the second of two papers in the area of aviation maintenance safety enhancement utilizing human error risk management in engineering systems methodology. The first focused on the retrospective analysis of human error in aircraft maintenance, where the impact of human reliability on aviation maintenance safety was investigated. The purpose was to explore the actual mechanisms of maintenance errors initialization and propagation, with the aim of identifying requisite characteristics for future solutions. This second part focuses on a prospective approach to proactive safety techniques that can be applied to the field. It builds on the findings from the previous work and introduces a proposed Aviation Maintenance Monitoring Process (AMMP); an integrated process that is to be collectively implemented by industry to proactively monitor existence of human error causal factors. These factors are typically pre-initiated during design practices, manufacturing processes, or at later stages due to organizational, individuals, or workplace conditions within maintenance, repair, and overhaul organizations (MRO). As a result, such causal factors can be gradually eliminated. This generic AMMP is based on user software built applying the fuzzy Analytic Network Process (fuzzy ANP) theory, with a database of a communal total of 870 assessment criteria designed within the software. The full process is validated practically in real world within industry.