How can Human Factors affect the profitability of your company? - ITS Academy 07/06/23 08.

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How can Human Factors affect the

profitability of your company?
Keith Fryer 21st February 2020

Human factors will have a significant impact on the efficiency, customer

retention, and profitability of your business.

For almost 30 years ITS Academy has been working with some of the
world’s largest airlines (and some of the smallest!). In fact, we have around
400 clients in more than 70 countries. We have also worked within the rail
and medical environments.

The single focus over this period has been to minimise incidents and
accidents in clients’ operations by improving safety through reducing
human error. Of course, an added bonus is that by reducing error,
efficiency and profitability can be improved.

So how can this be achieved?

Well, aviation is a high-risk business and there are many elements within
an operation which can go wrong, with potentially devastating
consequences. Having said that, in fact most airlines are risk-averse and
there are, for example, very many systems, procedures, training courses,
checklists and mandatory requirements which are all designed to minimise
risk.

However, humans are ultimately responsible for the manufacture,

maintenance and operation of aircraft, and for the overall management of
the operation; and the one thing we know about humans is that
unfortunately we can, and we will, make mistakes.

So, working from the premise that we want to minimise aviation incidents
or accidents, it is clear that we need to address the possibility of human
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How can Human Factors affect the profitability of your company? - ITS Academy 07/06/23 08.56

error. This leads us to Human Factors, and the concept of Threat and Error
Management (TEM).

Then what is a threat?  

A threat is anything from within the operation, or external to it, which can
have a negative impact upon the operation. Threats may be
known/anticipated or unknown/unexpected. Threats therefore are
generally not ‘clear and present’ but are future-based.

The two key aspects to managing threats are: 

1. the need to understand, and to prepare, for threats which can be

anticipated in the normal run of the operation.
2. the ability to project ahead and to consider the possibility of
unexpected threats which may impact the operation.

What about error management?

Given that error is ubiquitous, we can expect them to occur at any time,
and at any phase, of the operation.

The two key aspects of managing error are:

1. recognising the incipient onset of an error and preventing it from

occurring or from further developing.
2. at the point at which the error has actually occurred, either correcting
it or mitigating the consequences of the error.

Human Factors

Having briefly outlined TEM we should now consider the implementation

of the concept, and this is where the Human Factor comes into play. We
have a number of ‘tools’ at our disposal and, within aviation, mandatory
annual training (known as crew resource management) is required

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How can Human Factors affect the profitability of your company? - ITS Academy 07/06/23 08.56

regarding these ‘tools’. Typically, the training will include subjects such as:

Communication                    Decision Making                   Teamwork

Leadership                             Stress                                      Fatigue

Information Processing       Human Error                         Personality

Attitudes & Behaviours        Company Culture                 Situation

Awareness

Standard Procedures            Assertiveness                       Briefing

Training is interactive, discussion-based, company-specific, and case-

based. To achieve this, we spend some time with a client to understand
their needs, their issues and their objectives. The aim is for personnel,
through self-assessment and critique, to modify their behaviour where
beneficial, and to reinforce their existing desirable behaviours.

The understanding, and application, of these ‘tools’ can have a significant

impact upon the safety and/or profitability of an airline.

But you may not be an airline, so what is the relevance for your
company?

Well, you may be a high-risk business, and so you will be concerned about
causing damage or injury to your clients’, or to your own property or
personnel. In which case, you will be considering similar risks to an airline;
although of course such risks will be of a different nature and context. 

If your business is not of a type which creates such risks, then your
primary concerns will be for efficiency and profitability.

In either case the Human Factor will have a direct impact upon your
company, its safety where relevant, and its efficiency and profitability.

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How can Human Factors affect the profitability of your company? - ITS Academy 07/06/23 08.56

Mistakes can be very costly; they can reduce profitability and lead to the
loss of customers.

So, your primary concerns, for example, should be to:

1. Minimise expensive mistakes

2. Ensure first class communication and decision making
3. Create high performance teams
4. Ensure your different teams interact effectively. Cross-functional
teamworking
5. Oversee compliance with your standard rules and procedures
6. Reinforce an effective company culture

In other words, you need to manage all the Human Factors mentioned
above!

There are a number of training interventions which will fulfil this

requirement or, if time is at a premium, there are a number of short
workshops which can be utilised.

To discuss your specific requirements, with no obligation, please enquire

here.

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How can Human Factors affect the profitability of your company? - ITS Academy 07/06/23 08.56

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