Maintenance Resource Management for Technical Operations

This chapter starts with a brief historical overview of the MRM program, presents the key findings of the research program, discusses the typical training content and the different delivery models, and their outcomes, and concludes with the review of the influence of MRM programs on the overall safety culture in Technical Operations. Maintenance resource management (MRM) or maintenance human factors (MHF) programs started with a unique, three-party research program. The aviation industry (airlines and repair stations), federal agencies (the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)), and the academic community came together to study specific safety issues in the technical operations environment (line and base maintenance facilities, maintenance, repair, and overhaul-MRO-facilities, as well as ramp operations). The FAA and NASA funded this research, university faculty members and students conducted the research activities, and the industry partners provided access to facilities and personnel. At an international level, the FAA and NASA, Transport Canada, and United Kingdom. Civil Aviation Authority participated in another three-way partnership that enabled information sharing among the researchers, regulators, and practitioners. This chapter also reviews some of the most commonly used incident review tools and the associated taxonomies. With the increased use of structured approach to incident investigation, the use of MRM programs moved from simple awareness programs to reactive error-correction programs, and subsequently matured to proactive, error-avoidance programs, paving the way for predictive trend analysis programs. Finally, this chapter reviews the influence of MRM programs on the safety culture in technical operations and identifies some emerging opportunities for continued research and development.