Maintenance resource management
Maintenance resource management (also known by its acronym, MRM; hereinafter, MRM) is a human-error-reduction strategy, process, team-based behavior and/or training framework for improving communication, effectiveness and safety in aviation maintenance operations.
Contents
Philosophy
Both the maintenance and flight operations should be understood as systems. An understanding of the systemic nature of operations is vital to understanding how one's individual actions affect the whole organization. A person who understands the big picture is more apt to think things through before acting.
MRM vs CRM
- Although MRM was initially developed as an aircraft maintenance variant of crew resource management (CRM), these two studies vary significantly and may be considered the opposite in several areas.
- Indeed, the philosophy including concepts and approaches of MRM is based on the philosophy of CRM, but with emphasis on how maintenance operations differ from flight operations. Maintenance systems tend to be more complicated than flight systems and safety nets are far more complicated in the maintenance than in flights.
- In comparison with flight operations, the work environment of maintenance personnel encompasses:
- A greater variety of tasks in more varied settings with a greater number of people.
- A possibility of more sophisticated human errors, most of which lead to latent failures and not to active failures. Many human errors in airplane maintenance are hidden until the tragedy happens. At the same token, actions of the aircraft crew are validated immediately by the plane behavior.
- More time room to make decisions. Maintenance personnel is not as restrained by urgency of actions as their crew colleagues.
- Because of those differences, MRM more than CRM is oriented on organization's safety culture and less on promptness of decision making that CRM promotes. The promulgation of a good, pervasive safety culture is at the core of MRM's basic philosophy.
Areas of operations
- MRM is concerned about four areas of operations:
- Equipment design and manufacture;
- Manufacturers' documentation and procedure writing;
- Airline procedures and work areas;
- Airplane mechanic training and performance.
Contributing disciplines
- Three disciplines are believed to be contributing to MRM the most:
- Human factors. The scientific study of interactions between people and other entities that form one system, as well as influence of human properties on those interactions.
- Ergonomics.
- Safety culture.
Training
The overall goal of MRM training is to integrate the technical skills of maintenance personnel with interpersonal skills and basic human factors knowledge in order to improve communication effectiveness and safety in aircraft maintenance operations. The FAA AC 120-72 provides guidelines for that training.
Concentrations
- MRM training concentrates on three issues:
- How the effects of individual actions ripple throughout organizations.
- How to utilize available resources safely and effectively.
- How to propagate a positive culture of safety in the organizations through specific, individual actions.
Components
- MRM training is comprised of three components:
- Initial indoctrination/awareness.
- Recurrent practice and feedback.
- Continual reinforcement.
Terms
Glossary
- According to the FAA AC 120-72,
- Active failure. A type of human error whose effects are felt immediately in a system.
- Assertiveness. The ability to verbalize a series of “rights” that belong to every employee. Some of these “rights” include: the right to say no, the right to express feelings and ideas, and the right to ask for information.
- Asynchronous communication. Communication in which there exists a time delay between responses. Asynchronous communication is typified by a unique set of characteristics, such as the lack of non-verbal communication cues (e.g., body language, verbal inflection, etc.). Examples of asynchronous communication include an e-mail message sent from the day supervisor to the night supervisor or memos left between shifts or passed between a shop and the hanger.
- Authoritarian leader. A person who dictates the action and the course of a team with little input from team members.
- Communication. The process of exchanging information from one party to another.
- Complacency. Satisfaction with a situation to the extent that a degradation of vigilance occurs.
- Crew resource management. Team-based human factors training for flight crews.
- Dirty Dozen. The twelve most common maintenance-related causes of errors. These twelve causes are: (a) lack of communication, (b) complacency. (c) lack of knowledge, (d) distraction, (e) lack of teamwork, (f) fatigue, (g) lack of resources, (h) pressure, (i) lack of assertiveness, (j) stress, (k) lack of awareness, (l) norms
- Egalitarian. Relating to the doctrine of equal political, economic, and legal rights for all human beings.
- Ergonomics. The scientific discipline of studying interactions between humans and non-human systems, including human-computer interaction (HCI), in order to adapt work or working conditions to enhance performance of the worker. Ergonomics can be considered as a part of human factors, which studies influence of human features on interactions with both non-human systems and human beings. When applied to design, the study of ergonomics seeks to optimize both human well-being and system performance.
- Inter-team. Occurring between separate teams.
- Intra-team. Occurring within a team.
- Instructional systems design. A generic term for the methodology of creating and implementing a training program.
- Human factors. The scientific study of the interaction between people and machines.
- Latent failure. A type of human error whose effects may lie dormant until triggered later, usually by other factors.
- Leadership. The ability to direct and coordinate the activities of group members and stimulate them to work together as a team.
- MGM. A general process for maintaining an effective level of communication and safety in maintenance operations.
- Mental model. A depiction of a system in a person's mind, i.e. how a person thinks a system is put together and how it works.
- Norms. Expected, yet implicit rules of behavior that dictate a person's dress, speech, and basic interaction.
- Participatory leader. A person who encourages member participation and input to help lead the team's course of action.
- Safety culture. A pervasive, organization-wide attitude placing safety as the primary priority driving the way employees perform their work.
- Situational awareness. Maintaining a complete mental picture of surrounding objects and events as well as the ability to interpret those events for future use. Situational awareness encompasses such concepts as attention, and vigilance.
- Stressor. An event or object that causes stress in an individual.
- Synchronous communication. Communication in which a minimal delay exists between the message being sent and the message being received. Examples include face-to-face conversation and communication via radio.
- Team. A group of interdependent individuals working together to complete a specific task.
- Team situational awareness. Maintaining a collective awareness across the entire team of important job-related conditions.
- Teamwork. Joint action by a group of people, in which each person subordinates his individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group.
