Symposium on safety management

A recent Swinburne University-led symposium on safety management and human factors explored complex global issues confronting the aviation, medical, rail and road industries.

Keynote speakers of the symposium were US human factors experts Professor Robert Helmreich (Director, University of Texas Human Factors Research Project) and Dr Kathy Abbott (Chief Advisor, Flight Deck Human Factors, United States Federal Aviation Administration).

Both covered issues surrounding current aspects of human factors and safety research, the impact of innovation and advanced technology on human error, and the influence of culture on safety-critical industries.

The symposium has a multi-modal format with the medical, rail, aviation and road paper presentation streams running concurrently for two days. It aims to build upon the postgraduate aviation programs offered at Swinburne.

Swinburne Aviation Human Factors Manager Jose Anca said the symposium providec a "˜snapshot' of safety management and human factors as the most effective countermeasures to combat the risks, hazards, threats and errors facing such industries.

"This symposium brought together key international practitioners and seek to integrate the variety of tools and strategies from the rail, aviation, road and transport industries. "

The symposium's presenters represent international airlines, road and rail safety organisations and included medical specialists as well as consultants, scientists and researchers.

Examples of key issues and topics covered include:

• Managing operational threats and errors
• Impact and effects of fatigue
• Developing meaningful safety systems
• Investigating relationships between safety and normal operations