So many of us have fallen into the trap that human factors will be a game changer in safety critical industries. Let’s look at how Human factors is being applied in the maritime industry.
I will take an example of an audit check at three levels (Technical, Process and Human Factors) on a ship.
Audit question:
Were the captain and navigation officers familiar with the company procedures for the set up and operation of the electronic navigation charts fitted to the ship?
Technical finding: Free from deterioration or deficiency.
Process finding: As expected
Human Factors finding: Junior Deck Officer not as expected.
Reason: The observed person on the ECDIS [electronic charts] unit was unable to adjust or isolate the active cross track error.
Observe how the shipping company responds to the non-conformance:
Root cause
The observed person was well versed with ECDIS operation and alarm settings. It was a momentarily nervousness from the observed person that the cross-track alarm could not be isolated when the inspector asked for it during the inspection.
Corrective Action
Training conducted by captain for the observed person to explain how to isolate the Active cross track alarm.
Captain briefed all the officers to remain calm and not to get nervous with questions being asked.
Preventative Action
Observation shared with all the ships of the fleet to ensure fleet-wide compliance.
Can you see what is happening?
A seafarer is nervous during an audit. Next thing, the captain is training him and calming him and others. The company safety manager is telling the entire fleet not be nervous during an audit. (Lessons learned)
But no one is asking why this person is nervous in the first instance?
Is he put under pressure; is he worried about being seen as incompetent; is he concerned about not meeting the KPIs; is it the fear of being judged by his peers or questioned by someone in authority. Is it the inspector that is causing this nervousness?
This is the classic problem of implementing human factors without an ethical foundation. Humans are ‘factored’ into the system just like cogs in machines waiting to be fixed or replaced when needed.
At no point, we make an attempt to understand how people relate with each other, how power and authority undermines the meek, and why human beings behave the way they do when they are under pressure. And so we end up adding more layers of bureaucratic checks, and blaming and shaming people that ultimately leads to dehumanising and making things worst.
Human Factors is becoming the next big ‘product’. Be mindful of this overhype. Not everything that starts with the word ‘Human’ is humanising.
If you are serious about improving the human condition, start with ethics before you come to factors.
Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below