The following is a quote
from the ICAO Accident Prevention Manual, 2005
“Until recently accident prevention
programmes have tended to focus on the safety of flight operations.
Less attention was devoted to systematically reducing risks arising from
the maintenance activity. Yet, maintenance and inspection errors are
cited as a cause for a number of accidents worldwide each year. Such
errors are contributory in even more accidents and incidents.”
These
statements are clearly supported by the evidence. For example, Boeing has
estimated that 2-30% of engine in-flight shutdowns and 50% of engine
related flight delays and cancellations are caused by maintenance error.
According to Ramp Safety Magazine, ramp accidents cost between $2 and 2.5
billion annually. The FAA reports that one airline estimates between $75
and 100 million is lost each year to maintenance related problems.
Clearly this is an area that deserves some attention.
Ramp and
maintenance activities are also the site of unnoticed safety hazards.
Baggage handling, servicing, launch, recovery, and ground movement of
aircraft, as well as all varieties of maintenance on and off the flight
line present important safety hazards and accident potential Because these
areas seldom produce “reportable” accidents and incidents, they do not
receive the attention that other more visible areas do. In the maintenance
areas workers are also exposed to all the common industrial hazards,
hazardous materials, noise, radiation, temperature and humidity extremes,
as well as the risks involving aircraft and moving equipment. These
combine to make aircraft
maintenance one of the potentially
most dangerous work environments.
There are
two aspects of an aircraft maintenance safety program. The first is
ensuring that only airworthy aircraft are provided for flight operations.
The other is emphasizing the requirements of occupational safety and
health necessary to protect the welfare of maintenance technician and ramp
workers. In this course, you will learn the basic occupational safety
and health requirements that apply to your organization.
This course is a very pragmatic, ICAO-based,
focused approach to safety in the ramp and maintenance areas designed to
be part of your overall Safety Management System (SMS). In addition to
covering the elements of an SMS for maintenance operations, the course
provides some basic information on the innovative, data-driven approach to
identifying and controlling human error in maintenance operations — HFACS-ME.
You will
also receive a set of guidelines for safety and health in aviation
operations. Developed from similar CAA-UK and Transport Canada
guidelines, they will provide an excellent reference when developing
your safety program. You will be
introduced to a risk management approach to dealing with safety hazards.
This approach equips you to identify the most serious safety problems and
develop solutions to them. You will learn techniques for identifying
hazards, how to evaluate those hazards and then how to establish controls
to prevent those hazards from causing accidents. You will receive a risk
matrix specifically developed by SCSI for
aviation ramp and maintenance
operations. You will become
familiar with some of the most important aspects of an SMS in regard to
maintenance operations, You will learn how to conduct an effective safety
audit to be sure your program is working, and learn what you need to do to
integrate maintenance into your overall safety management program
This course is an excellent introduction
to the important tasks of providing adequate safety focus on the areas of
aviation maintenance and ramp operations.
