Greater maintainability for improved safety

Dr. Fabien Bernard and Raphaël Paquin, ergonomics and human factors experts at Airbus Helicopters, explain how integrating their expertise from the design phase can improve the operating and maintenance conditions of our products, and ultimately enhance safety.

You are both ergonomics and human factors experts at Airbus Helicopters. What does this involve?

Fabien: Ergonomics and human factors is the science of studying people in a work situation. To do this, we analyse the key dimensions defined by the International Ergonomics Association: the physical aspect, involving effort and posture; the cognitive aspect – memory, mental workload and judgement–; and the organisational aspect, i.e. organisation in the workshop, flows between people, and cooperation between individuals.

We apply this analytical framework to existing work situations, in which case we make a diagnosis, or to future cases. This involves carrying out simulations. In both cases, our conclusions lead to recommendations for solutions.

What motivates you to engage with the maintenance aspects?

Raphaël: Safety reasons, first of all. Accidents due to maintenance errors are the second cause of helicopter accidents - the first one being pilot error. This higher rate can be explained by the complexity of helicopters. It is often said that a helicopter has the complexity of an aircraft but in the size of a car. Accessibility to areas is often a challenge. This can make the work arduous.

Then there are financial reasons. The cost of maintenance throughout the operating life is an important factor for our customers. Our aim is to try to control and reduce these costs. This is part of Airbus' competitiveness, given that operators are attentive to all aspects of aircraft operation.

Your profession is a recent creation. How did your area of expertise emerge?

Fabien: Historically, aviation safety improvements have been achieved first through cockpit design and aircraft reliability, then through air traffic management. The beginnings of the human factors approach can be found in the first psychological studies during the Second World War.

In maintenance, human factors gained traction in the 2000s in connection with the emergence of physical or digital simulation tools.

Today, to reinforce our industrial methodologies and associated tools, many research activities are being carried out. In my case, I supervise PhD students, and contribute to scientific publications. Three main axes are currently studied: How to improve the human factors skills for everyone involved in the design process, how to better use simulation tools such as virtual reality and augmented reality tools to anticipate and assess human factors in the early design stage, and how to better understand the real constraints of maintenance operators.

Raphaël: As far as Fabien and I are concerned, two dates stand out. The first is personal. In 2014, I supported Fabien during his internship in our department, on the subject of taking ergonomics into account in the design of maintenance tools used by our customers. It was this area that made us realise that we had a fairly broad and free field ahead of us in taking into account ergonomics, not only in maintenance tools, but more generally in the design of the helicopter. So we decided to launch a research project in the form of a PhD study with Fabien.

The second date is 2016. Airbus decided to make significant changes to the way it works. This led us to launch the Human Hazard Analysis project in 2018 in collaboration with HeliOffshore, an association of offshore helicopter manufacturers and users dedicated to improving safety. The aim was to improve the robustness of the maintenance activities carried out by our customers by taking human factors into account.

In terms of human factors, how does maintenance differ from other areas?

Fabien: In maintenance, complexity is linked to variability. The same maintenance task can be carried out by individuals of all sizes, from different cultures and with different levels of training. Conditions can also vary: is the task carried out at night or during the day, with easy access – or not – and are correct documentation and tools available? Is the overall organisation consistent? These variations generate totally different ways of doing things that are difficult to anticipate. But the simulations and our studies aim precisely to study these variabilities and, from the design stage onwards, to think about the health and safety of the operators.

Can you share a concrete example of your work?

Raphaël: We recently worked on a new development to enable pre-flight inspections of the aircraft to be carried out under optimised conditions. It’s a standard regulation that before each flight every morning, the pilot must climb onto the helicopter to check the condition of the blades, the rotor, the engine and the transmission, and the flight controls. If the integrated steps and handles that are needed in order to properly carry out this inspection are not designed optimally, if they are not the right size and/or position for example, it can create risks. The operator could fall or be unable to properly inspect the aircraft – and detect any damage – due to lack of balance or comfort. We therefore carried out a digital 3D study, followed by tests on wooden models supplemented by a mixed reality hologram to ensure that the positioning of this equipment was optimal. It should be emphasised that we conducted this study during the design phase, before the architecture was finalised and mass production launched.

What are the next steps to see ergonomics and human factors become more widespread in maintenance?

Fabien: The integration of our principles from the design stage of products is booming. It is driven in particular by customer feedback. For the H160 and H140’s development, we contributed by improving accessibility and simplifying documentation. Customer feedback tells us that it is an easier machine to maintain than the previous generation.

Despite this, ergonomics and human factors is still a relatively unknown science. We still have work to do to show that it is a science, and that it can contribute to the improvement of the helicopter sector, particularly in terms of safety.