Aircraft Maintenance Technology

MAY 2017

The aircraft maintenance professional's source for technological advancements, maintenance alerts, news, articles, events, and careers

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www.AviationPros.com 39 Perhaps you're tired from too much overtime or too many days without a 24-hour break. Beware of excessive over- time. If overtime is a corporate norm then it puts a question to the company commit- ment to safe flight and satisfied customers. Speak up, continuous overtime must be controlled. Tired workers become injured workers. Can you really afford to lose work due to a personal injury? FAA Advisory Circular 120-115 pro- vides extensive guidance on fatigue risk management in maintenance (see AMT, December 2016). Come to work fit for duty. COMMUNICATION Many negative events result from poor communication at shift change or when one worker completes a job that someone else started. The result is rework and/or flight delays. Talk to one another while recognizing that clear, correct, and com- plete communications will help ensure customer satisfaction. It is best to have written communications to help ensure that things "don't fall through the cracks." Clear communication and documentation leave nothing to chance. FOLLOW THE TECHNICAL INSTRUCTIONS "Failing to Follow Procedures" is the No. 1 challenge in maintenance work. Management must support a culture of using the job cards and other procedural information. Following procedures must become as automatic as wearing a seat- belt when driving. Everyone must do it, without exception. Colleagues must question others when they see them working without docu- mentation. If we are serious about safety, injury, and satisfied/safe customers then we must shift our individual and corporate culture to 100 percent compliance with technical publications. Everyone must cooperate to identify and correct difficult documentation. If it's broke then get it fixed. Also, sometimes you remove wires or other parts to get access. Document all such removals to increase the likelihood of proper reassembly. When someone does not use documen- tation ask "Why". Then, ask "Why" enough times to identify the multitude of factors that lead to the failure to use documenta- tion. Finally, find ways to fix the issues. That is the only way to address this issue. VOLUNTARY REPORTING SYSTEMS When something goes wrong avoid the practice of fixing the problem and moving on. When a professional sports team has repeated an error they find the problem and find a solution. Sometime the sports team fires the manager. It is important that aviation maintenance technicians report organizational hazards as well as errors that they may have made. Of course, there must be a fair/just system that permits one to report without serious repercus- sions. A maintenance error can lead to an event where one or more customers are not satisfied. Failure to find and cor- rect the underlaying cause(s) of an error is another, more serious error. In fact, a decision not to investigate and correct an error is an intentional action! Revisit the term "fiduciary responsibility." PEER-TO-PEER ASSESSMENT Peer-to-peer assessment permits mechan- ics to "look at" and "look out" for one another. The practice is named Line Operations Safety Assessment (LOSA) (See www.humanfactorsinfo.com). The website provides process information and checklists to set up ways for formalized peer-to-peer observations during normal working conditions. These programs have helped some organizations to enhance the safety culture. Of course, an enhanced safety culture is a plus to ensure the best customer service. CONTINUING PROCESS IMPROVEMENT High customer service is not a steady state. You don't merely reach it and then stop. It must be on the way up or it is on the way down. The maintenance organization must strive for ways to improve every pro- cess, if only a little. Small positive changes continue to add to customer service. Like the cultural change described in "Follow the Technical Instructions," organizations must keep looking for ways to improve. ELLIOTT AVIATION MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST FOR HIGH CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ❏ Fitness for Duty ❏ Communication ❏ Technical Publications ❏ Voluntar y Reporting ❏ Peer-to-Peer Obser vations ❏ Continuing Process Improvement ❏ Convey Competence and Professionalism ❏ Customer's Viewpoint

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