Greg writes:
>I disagree that ORM stops at the duty desk, and CRM takes over then. They
each operate on both sides of the dispatch desk.<
I couldn't agree more!!
The point I was trying to make in the original message was that ORM is
inherenly a top down system and CRM is inherently a bottom up system. To
try to make CRM a top down system by renaming it Error Management CRM is a
mistake. CRM being bottom-up doesn't mean that it can be done without top
management support, indeed it cannot. It means that we make the
input/adjustment to the system at the task/skill level and it has
subsequent effects on the workplace and the organization. Top down means
that we make the input or adjustment at the organization level and it has
an effect on the workplace and the task.
>ORM and CRM are each a continuous process, not some checklist to
touch-and-forget as the crew goes to the airplane.< >Something is terribly
wrong with this program. <
Unfortunately everyone associates Air Force ORM exclusively with the one
program currently in place to weight risk factors numerically before flying
a sortie. There is so much more that could be done beyond this one system.
We can all hope that the Air Force massages this scheule risk assessment
system a bit and expands the benefits ORM beyond this one program. It
appears that the behavior change with this scheduling system happens in the
first week because schedulers quit scheduling sorties that have high risk
numbers. After the behavior change, the system seems to become an
annoyance to the pilots. The system as it exists is certainly not perfect
but it does recognizes the reality of ORM being top down.
Is error management an attitude? a skill? or a program?
If we approach error management as an attitude we are right back to where
we were with CRM 10 years ago.
If we approach error management as a skill we find that our existing CRM
skills lists include all the elements of operational error management. An
organization could reshuffle the CRM list to include error management or
risk management as a primary category but it wouldn't change any of the
core skills. They would just be placed in a different bin. CRM appears to
already have error management covered at the skill level. The two
additional things we could do at this level is to 1: Add a sentence in a
CRM mission statement stating that the CRM program is part of a larger
error management program. 2: Systematically expose pilots to known error
producing conditions in their training and provide an audit trail to this
training.
Its only when we approach error management as a program that we see it
cannot be accomplished within an inherently bottom up program like CRM.
Thanks for the excellent comments Greg!
Vince