Human Factors in
Design for Systems Safety
09 July 2009
A Conference presented by the
Royal Aeronautical Society Human Factors Committee
at the Royal Aeronautical Society, 4 Hamilton Place, London
and co-sponsored by the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
Synopsis
There have been a number of perplexing accidents in recent years that have posed the question as to what extent the design of the systems have contributed to the outcome. The reason why these questions have been raised is that the analysis of the causes of the accidents have suggested pilot behaviour that was extremely atypical and certainly difficult if not impossible for designers to predict. The two accidents that demonstrate this are the Helios Boeing 737 and the TAM Airbus 320 accidents.
In the Helios accident the crew became hypoxic before correctly identifying the warning sound as referring to a failure in cabin pressurisation rather than takeoff configuration. In the TAM accident the crew failed to select idle thrust on one of the engines on landing and ran off the end of the runway. A possible reason for this was that the Captain, aware that the thrust reverser was unserviceable and used to an auto-throttle system where levers do not move, just left the throttle lever in the Climb (normal flight) detent position.
Aim of Conference
The aim of this conference, which has been developed jointly with the UK Ergonomics Society, is to share industry knowledge and experience from a wide audience on the importance of human factors in design so that systems are safer.
Objectives:
– Exploring any conflict between safer design and design for certification.
– Examining how much is compromise a key issue in design.
– Recognising the need for comprehensive operator input.
– Understanding new regulations in HF certification.
Who Should Attend
The seminar is intended for Design and Development Managers, Operations Directors, Regulators, Systems Developers, Ergonomists, Applied Psychologists and Scientists.
Programme and Presentations
Presentations are available from the Royal Aeronautical Society Conference Office in the form of Proceedings.
| Time | Presentation | Author |
| 0830 | Registration, Coffee | |
| 0900 | Chairman’s Opening Remarks | |
| 0910 | New regulations in HF Certification | Prof. Don Harris (Cranfield University) |
| 0955 | Human Factors considerations in the design of next generation weather Radar Systems | Ratan Khatwa (Honeywell) |
| 1040 | Coffee Break | |
| 1100 | The role of Human Factors in the acceptance and certification of the Eurofighter Typhoon head equipment assembly | Laird Evans (BAe Systems) |
| 1145 | TBA | Dr. Alan Jacobsen (Boeing Flight Deck Design Group) |
| 1230 | Luncheon | |
| 1330 | Flight crew training for both advanced & basic flight deck systems | Airline TBA |
| 1415 | Airbus Design | Florence Reuzeau (Airbus) |
| 1500 | Tea Break | |
| 1520 | Impact of dynamic mission management is on mission survivability, effectiveness and timeliness | Robert Taylor (Dstl Farnborough) |
| 1605 | Design issues in recent accidents | TBA |
| 1650 | Chairman’s Closing Remarks | |
| 1700 | Close of Proceedings |
New regulations in HF Certification