I see the elevator followed by the blue carpet to the office of the CEO of the company, muted, cold and devour of an idea of thinking alone. I am a new guy here and the route to his office transports me to all the records that I have reviewed in these first fifteen days.
The quality bureaucracy of this maintenance organization comprises manuals, procedures, forms, and regulations of the Civil Aviation Authority. But the results of the latest reviews look at me and with pity they are recognized as lifeless documentation. Like just a pile of clean paper, which still smells like freshly printed cellulose.
The first days have been a disaster to me. How to assemble a puzzle without any idea of what the complete picture is like. However, I had all my reports completed, accurate, detailed, as in my days at the CAA of my country.
It was about standards. Procedures that nobody complies with. Step-by-step tasks that nobody understands. Activities that have an obvious end to me, but to which we must dedicate time and concentration. But engineers don’t always have those resources. They have to carry out maintenance tasks, set torque, make sure that the tool is calibrated and if it is an own tool, that it is inventoried, adjust nuts and install safetywire, clean at the end and, of course, that is not the end, fill in the card maintenance, the log book and sign. There are always rules for that. We already know. When was the last time you read RAP 43? It is one of the first questions I launched in a Human Maintenance Factors course. Well, to be honest two years ago, when my license was renewed. Hence never again, the accurate answer comes to me, without guilt. Mental note of mine: RAP 43 already changed now!
I follow the route and the noise of the elevator engine makes me concentrate better for my meeting. I go forward and arrive at the office. We complied with the protocol and I showed the results: Inspections begin as soon as the plane arrives at the hangar; that is, they didn’t make the aircraft preliminary inspection. The team leader for each plane has been not assigned. The records are not completed as the Maintenance Organization Manual states. Engineers execute maintenance cards to record part numbers, but if they find dirt or any breakages, they perform the additional service without opening a non-routine card. They borrow parts in the same fleet and do not accurately record the movement of the components. My boss listens to me attentively and tells me that they always try to deliver the plane on time at the lowest possible cost because it is mandatory to be profitable. Then, I showed to him graphs made in spreadsheets with the lowest compliance percentage accomplished. He cuts the air at the meeting and tells me “it is clear that we need you here. I never had this information. But everything here is fast. Everything is production. The customer needs the plane as soon as possible. That is why, from now on, you will be dedicated to quality procedures monitoring and I will be in charge of production!”
It might seem flattering all of this. In the meantime, I started thinking about the balance between production and protection. I imagined flying with a steep angle of attack that made me stall or, better, that the safety center of gravity in this company shifted dangerously, like a virus that was invading vital organs and had already reached the own heart of the company.
So, I remember something I read from Joseph B. Sobieralski some time ago: “The direct costs are estimated and the indirect costs are estimated via the human capital approach in addition to the willingness-to-pay approach. The average annual accident costs attributed to general aviation are found to be $1.64 billion and $4.64 billion (2011 US$) utilizing the human capital approach and willingness-to-pay approach, respectively.”
My breath gets cut and I hear these questions in my mind:
- How to correctly relocate the safety center of gravity in this company?
- How to be profitable and safe at the same time?
- Is it more profitable to be unsafe?
Three months passed in which I prepared informative brochures with all the opportunities for improvement, I even designed and delivered study sessions where I explained what was Quality, Safety, Standards, Risk Analysis, Mission, Vision and Values of an organization. I was a nuisance to the CEO until I convinced him that he should also participate in the workshops. What do you think? He also participated. I did many workshops with the managers, administrators and engineers in which I showed them the actions they did against the requirements they need.
I went back to the same office. I felt excited. I was living in the operational line. There was no better way. Engineers approached to me all the time to greet me kindly. We shared many things. I had to submit my final management report. This measurement told me that it was possible that way. Making the quality of this organization operational. It is not only to write a procedure and audit it to state that someone did not comply with. Where is the operational part of this? I lived it with them. I approached the standards to them, but in the operation itself. Final score. We had reached 89% from 22% when we started. Shifting the safety center of gravity does not happen overnight. Did we make it? I just remembered my old man, an engineer rated in Fokker 27s and 28s, L-1011s, B-727s and DC-8s, with his thin and torn voice “Hey blackie, figures just don’t deceive.”
