Content area
Full Text
Abstract
The environment in which a worker is performing a function greatly impacts their performance and productivity. In the aircraft industry, maintenance and inspection plays a vital role in ensuring the aircraft airworthiness. These inspection and maintenance tasks often require a high level competency of the personnel performing the tasks. These levels of competency can often be compromised by extraneous factors associated with various types of job functions, one of which is confined space work. Some of the most important functions associated with aircraft inspection and maintenance are conducted in confined spaces. Because of this fact, special consideration needs to be placed on the tasks performed in confined spaces. This paper outlines a need for pursuing confined space research and provides a roadmap for pursuing confined space research.
Keywords
Confined Space, Aircraft Maintenance, Visual Inspection, Worker Performance
1. Introduction
The aircraft inspection/maintenance system is a complex one (Drury, Prabhu, and Gramopadhye, 1990) with many human and machine components. Some of the most important tasks associated with inspection and maintenance are done in confined spaces. Because of this fact, special consideration needs to be placed on the tasks performed in confined spaces. Though many industries deal with confined space work, these standards vary greatly from industry to industry and are often not adhered to.
According to NIOSH, a confined space is one, which by design has limited openings for entry and exit; unfavorable natural ventilation that could contain or produce dangerous air contaminants, and is not intended for continuous employee occupancy (NIOSH, 1994). Examples of confined space work can be found in many types of industries with many different tasks that must be performed in them. The tasks range from maintenance, inspection, observation, etc. depending on the type of work environment.
Because of the many hazards that are associated with confined space work, it is necessary to ensure that the worker while working in them exercises all safety cautions. Due to the fact that some confined space work has to be performed in industries, such as the aircraft maintenance industry, which are intolerant to maintenance/inspection errors, and because inspection and maintenance tasks often require a high level competency of the personnel performing the task, great emphasis must be placed on training the worker and developing...