Human Factors are the issues that affect how people do their jobs. In the aviation industry, they are the social and interpersonal skills, such as communication and decision-making, that ensure an aircrew team works together safely and efficiently. Crew Resource Management (CRM) is the collective name for the training techniques used to address potential situations where human error may cause aviation accidents. An airline’s CRM training is a vital part of its overall safety strategy. VJC’s Human Factors course draws on these techniques to improve the interaction of trainee teams.

Flying an aircraft safely from point A to point B is much like any other project – only with the added spur that failure could cause a fatal crash. There is no better environment to test and develop the leadership, decision-making and communication skills of high performance teams, whatever the sector.

On 1 June 2009, Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Two years later, following recovery of the Black Box, an independent analysis commented: ‘The men are utterly failing to engage in an important process known as crew resource management, or CRM. They are failing, essentially, to cooperate. It is not clear to either one of them who is responsible for what, and who is doing what.’

This is an extreme example of what can happen if a team fails to communicate and responsibilities become blurred. CRM is a tried and tested method of improving communication and decision-making within the teams responsible for maintaining and flying aircraft.

These problems impact on performance and productivity, affecting customer satisfaction and retention, and eroding competitive advantage. This is why you need a Human Factors training course.

There are many to choose from, but only VJC delivers the science-based techniques that have dramatically improved safety and efficiency in aviation. In the unique environment of our specially designed Boeing 737-800 flight simulator, trainees work together to set up their team, allocate responsibilities and formulate a plan to make sure their mission is executed as efficiently as possible.

Individual abilities, characteristics and limitations must be taken into account. Every scenario is carefully designed by our psychologists to ensure the nature of the task and its challenges meet the client’s needs.

If you have a high performance culture but you know it is failing, then you need to assess what’s wrong by undergoing a Human Factors course.

If you can identify issues amongst your teams due to poor communication, poor leadership or even bullying you need to apply the lessons from a Human Factors course.

If you can answer honestly to any of the questions to the right it will help you identify if you have a problem within your organisation or amongst your teams that needs solving by a Human Factors training package.