Human Factors in Maintenance

Maintenance errors are preventable, but human error is inevitable. This comprehensive course transforms maintenance operations by revealing the human factors behind equipment failures and safety incidents. Participants master error prevention skills and organisational strategies through real-world case studies. Learn to identify error traps, strengthen communication, and build resilient systems that catch mistakes before they become costly failures. The course covers strengthening safety culture, learning from incidents, and developing tailored error-management strategies for your department.

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Course Outline

2 Days

3 Core Modules

Introduction to Human Error in Maintenance

  • Role of human factors in accidents and incidents
  • Human reliability statistics
    • What can error probability statistics tell us?
  • What makes maintenance different to other types of work?
  • Common maintenance problems related to maintenance error
  • The different types of errors and procedure violations
  • Two approaches to error management
    • Reduce and eliminate errors
    • Capture, correct, and (if necessary) reduce impact of error
  • Why do maintenance errors occur?
    • Error-producing conditions in maintenance
  • The Dirty Dozen: Twelve conditions that produce error

Managing Maintenance Error: Non-technical Skills for all Personnel

  • Communication skills for maintenance personnel
  • Best practices for handovers
  • Effective task briefings
  • Replacing negative norms with positive norms
  • Assertiveness
  • Managing pressure (self-imposed and external)
  • Managing distractions and interruptions
  • Awareness of error-producing traps built into equipment design
  • Best practices for decision-making
  • Professionalism
    • What does the concept mean in maintenance?
  • Threat and error management
  • Task assignment and planning
  • Leadership styles

Managing Maintenance Error at the Level of the Organisation

  • Documentation
    • Dealing with mismatches between procedures and practice
    • Creating better maintenance documentation
  • Barriers to protect systems from maintenance errors
    • Assessing and strengthening barriers to prevent, capture, and correct maintenance errors
  • Fatigue
  • Management of fatigue for maintenance personnel
  • Safety Management Systems (SMS)
    • Human factors and SMS
  • Safety culture
    • Individual responsibility
    • How do organisations learn from experience?
    • And why do they sometimes repeat the same mistakes?
  •  Removing the barriers to reporting
  • Disciplinary policies and individual responsibility
  • Just culture policies and how to make them work
    • Applying a just culture policy to case studies

Student Expectations

Course Objectives

Who should attend

Snapshot

Introduction to Human Error in Maintenance

Managing Maintenance Error: Non-technical Skills for all Personnel

Managing Maintenance Error at the Level of the Organisation

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Get in touch with our team

Your Instructors

Alan Hobbs

Alan Hobbs

Human Factors Researcher and Author

SJSU Foundation/NASA Ames

World-renowned human factors expert. Has trained maintenance professionals globally across aviation, mining, oil & gas, and manufacturing industries. Combines academic research with real-world investigation experience. Co-author of influential book "Managing Maintenance Error". Ph.D. in Psychology from the UNSW.

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Human Factors in Maintenance

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Whether you have 15 or 1500 people to train, our schools can be offered at a time and location most convenient for your company.

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Our Clients

Asset Schools give peace of mind that the investment in our Maintenance and Reliability professionals will provide a great return to both them and the business.

Gwyn Garland

Senior Manager

Asset Health Newmont

Asset Management School was absolutely fantastic! Not just the content, but also the networking evening, the whole experience. Despite 23 years as a maintenance engineer and planner, I learnt so much to take back to apply in my business.

Salman Rashed

Assets Maintenance Planner

Waikato Regional Council

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