What will Human Factors training do for my business?

While the human side of the performance equation is often the most difficult to measure, studies have shown that somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of all the errors that occur in any operation can be attributed to either human error or to inadequate processes. Managing the human element in any process or operation requires that you first accept that humans are fallible. No matter how well trained or experienced a person is, their performance can be adversely affected by environmental factors such as fatigue, illness or extreme working conditions, emotional issues such as stress, or cultural issues such as peer or management pressure. Training is the first step in providing an understanding of the issues that affect human performance, learning to identify some of the warning signs, and understanding the risks associated with ignoring the issues. Human factors training will help level-set your organization and prepare it to further address the issues which contribute to errors in your operation.

What’s the next step beyond the human factors training?

Training is only the first step in addressing human error and risk in the workplace. For any business to understand the true cost associated with errors in their operation, they first must identify and track errors that occur. Human nature being what it is; the first response to error is usually to hide it, then fix it and finally deny it. This response is often a by-product of a corporate culture of punishing errors either by the peer group or by management. Recognizing and tracking errors and then analyzing why they occur will provide visibility not only what errors are costing you, but more importantly what needs to be done to reduce or prevent them in the future. Our Error Management Diagnostics tool will allow us to evaluate your organization, identify some of the problem areas and provide recommended solutions.

What is a “just culture”?

Culture plays a very important role in how we behave in any given situation. There are national or regional cultures, corporate cultures and divisional or departmental cultures. The cultural norm defines the accepted behavior in almost any situation. A just culture is a fresh approach to addressing errors and underlying conduct in the workplace. It is not a blame free culture, but rather a culture where clearly identified behavioral norms are aligned with the business objectives and processes are put in place that analyzes errors that do occur and processes or individuals are addressed to prevent a reoccurrence. It is also a culture where the right policies are put into place to facilitate open and honest reporting of issues that create risk. The typical ‘blame and train’ approach adopted by most of corporate cultures does not solve the problems. It results in lost productivity and wasted training dollars and even worse, it fosters a ‘fix it, hide it, deny it’ cultural norm. A just culture usually requires a significant cultural shift from senior management right down to the front line employee. Any cultural shift requires time and commitment to change, however, the rewards can be a much more productive workforce and a significant reduction in the cost of errors in the workplace.

Why should I use Baines Simmons Australasia training and consulting services?

There are several vendors that offer standardized human factors training; mainly taught from an academic perspective with little practical information that can be applied to your operation. Baines Simmons Australasia offers EASA compliant training that has been refined over the years by aviation professionals to ensure that we provide only useful and practical information. In addition to our training, our Error Management Diagnostics tool allows us to analyze your operation to identify potential problem areas and to customize the training to your specific needs. Different populations of your workforce need different types of human factors training. At Baines Simmons Australasia, we offer a full range of human factors training in both classroom settings and multimedia platforms to meet your needs.

What level of impact can I expect from using your training and consulting services?

There are several factors that affect the impact of any training or consulting intervention. If our diagnostics tool identifies problem areas such as communication gaps or inadequate tooling or manuals, then it is the responsibility of the management team to address these issues. We can train your population so that they have the required knowledge; however, if problem areas are not addressed and the cultural norms remain the same, then the actual training impact will be limited. If on the other hand we are allowed to partner with your management team we can help your workforce become more proactive in addressing issues and ultimately more productive. Our job is not just to train your employees; our job is to make a positive impact on the bottom line.