I bring you a weekly bite-sized chunk of the science behind helicopter human factors and CRM in practice, simplifying the complex and distilling a helicopter related study into a summary of less than 500 words.
TITLE:
Resilience and brittleness in the offshore helicopter transportation system
WHAT?
This study looks at how pilots in Brazil’s offshore oil industry manage daily challenges and pressures from a resilience engineering perspective. It focuses on two ideas: resilience—the ability of a system to adapt and keep working safely under stress—and brittleness—the points where the system is fragile and can break down under pressure.
WHERE?
Offshore oil region of Campos Basin north of Rio de Janeiro.
WHEN?
Research carried out 2007-2008. Published in 2009.
WHY?
Resilience engineering argues that safety must go beyond barriers and safeguards and instead actively consider and revise risk using foresight by asking how work is actually being done rather than how it should be done. Rather than simply learning lessons from past incidents and accidents, it asks: How do pilots and operators juggle real-world safety and efficiency, and where does this balance start to crack?
HOW?
63hrs of interviews with pilots, managers, and support staff. Researchers asked about work as it is really done: everyday problems, the shortcuts people take, and the trade-offs between keeping flights safe and keeping the business profitable.
FINDINGS:
Across many interviews, the same themes emerged: poor communication, heavy workloads, financial pressures, and challenging flying conditions. Crews constantly invent workarounds, but these also create increased risk.
Work ‘as done’ in a complex system such as this creates a trade off between resilience and brittleness explained by the following scenario:
A pilot just landed on a platform, but the helicopter is vibrating unusually. He knows this could signal a mechanical problem, but it’s probably nothing significant. He now faces a “sacrifice decision”: If he reports it officially, the helicopter will have to be grounded until inspected. That means delays, dissatisfied customers, and financial penalties. If he mentions it informally to an engineer but keeps flying, the issue can get investigated later—and the flights (and money) keep flowing.
This decision illustrates resilience and brittleness at the same time:
Resilience: The pilot adapts under pressure, finding ways to keep the system running despite constraints like deferred faults, too-tight schedules, or sub-standard equipment. The system “bends” but doesn’t break.
Brittleness: Adaptation also hides risks. Over time, unreported problems build, safety barriers erode, and the system operates closer to the edge than anyone realises.
SO WHAT?
Resilient organisations require people in complex systems such as offshore helicopter transport adapt to the pressures and realities of their working environment.
The findings support the idea that safety cannot only be about fixing problems after accidents. Organisational resilience also creates brittleness, and brittleness requires adaptations and deviations which erode safety. Safety organisations need to develop foresight by actively looking for the small warning signs of brittleness before they erode safety to the point of incidents and accidents.
Organisational resilience should not be just about individual acts of adaptation by crews; it also depends on building systems where safety and productivity are balanced, and where hidden sacrifices to resilience are identified, discussed, and managed.
REFERENCE:
Gomes, J. O., Woods, D. D., Carvalho, P. V. R., Huber, G. J., & Borges, M. R. S. (2009). Resilience and brittleness in the offshore helicopter transportation system: The identification of constraints and sacrifice decisions in pilots’ work. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 94(2), 311–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2008.03.026
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