BA's second new A320neo damaged?
May 4, 2018, 1:40 am
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
I can't add to 13900's explanation of what a good safety culture needs, but the worldwide numbers show that every airline struggles with this and it's not just BA. IIRC, at about the time of that article, there was a rather memorable quip that one big difficulty on ramps is that there are a lot of low-tech people doing low-tech jobs adjacent to some very high-tech equipment. Added to that is the intense time pressure under which everyone works. Despite the efforts made by the whole industry (and it may be that things have got a bit better since 2005), "sh*t is going to keep on happening".
May 4, 2018, 4:40 am
#18
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Brexile in ADB
Programs: BA, TK, HHonours, Le Club, Best Western Rewards
Posts: 7,067
The obvious reaction would be to go Maoist on those who err, but it'd be wrong. Sure, negligence is punished and repeated offences are too, but it's also important to have a culture where people aren't afraid to say that they've done a cock-up. More often than not those issues are reported by the same person who's done it, and in the overwhelming majority of cases there is little if any consequences on them personally: it's better to help them understand the human factors that caused the problem, and ensure that potentially problematic issues are raised, than to punish and actually risk the safety of the plane. The airport is a dangerous environment, like the death of that Engineer proved just a few weeks ago; sh*t is going to keep on happening. It's important to avoid that people are afraid to raise their hand and raise problems.
May 4, 2018, 5:07 am
#19
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,227
I fully understand the need for an open safety culture and applaud BA for this, but if there is a reoccurring issue which by it's nature may have an impact on safety not to mention costs, I am surprised that it is allowed to happen as often as suggested. There must be non Maoist to influence behaviour.
May 4, 2018, 5:51 am
#20
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Manchester, UK.
Programs: BAEC Silver, then a handful of points on everything else.
Posts: 185
Just as an anecdote, when I was in Galleries Club in T3 on Wednesday, G-TTNA was sitting outside the window at gate 9 (with my plane on gate 11). As I was leaving the lounge TTNA was pushing back, but by the time I boarded it was back on stand. Looks like it was operating BA502 which eventually left with a delay of 85 minutes. "DELAY ZO" according to EF -- maybe everybody had moved to the back and they had to move the cargo forward. 