Maintenance Safety Tip - 1007

FAASTeam Maintenance Safety Tip

By Western-Pacific FAASTeam

July 2010

Little Things—Big Consequences

Little things may lead to BIG CONSEQUENCES. Where did that dropped hardware go? Can’t find that nut, bolt, or washer…no sweat…it’s only a few cents or it was to be discarded anyway; besides, the boss is on my back to finish this job. You get to the job site only to find the torque wrench you got is overdue calibration. You decide to use it anyway because the pilot wants to leave the gate before the flight gets cancelled.

This is human error. No big deal? Well ponder this. In 1962, a rocket had to be destroyed after launch when it went off course because of human error. Someone had left a minus sign out of the computer program. No injury or loss of life occurred but it cost over 18 million dollars. In 1997, a nuclear power plant had to be shut down for days because of human error. Someone had dropped their shoe into the reactor. After all was said and done, it ended up costing 2.8 million dollars. The point here is we are human and we make mistakes. If unsure, assume you made a mistake--do a “double take” to look for them. Do not base your decisions on a wager that nothing should go wrong.

On the other hand, if you know you made a mistake, take immediate action to admit it and correct it. If you know the action you are about to take is wrong, then don’t do it no matter how minor you think it might be.

This is what Professional Maintenance Technicians do.

___________ The FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) is committed to helping you achieve the highest level of safety by providing "tools" and resources to enhance your knowledge and proficiency . For more information on maintenance safety, go to http://faasafety.gov/AMT/pub/mh.aspx Send your suggestions for improving maintenance safety to Mailto:AMT@FAAsafety.gov