There has been a great deal of discussion lately about organizational responsibility versus individual responsibility for aviation mishaps. Although the main body of research for the last 30 years has shown that aviation accidents mainly are organizational accidents, the role of the individual — the pilot, maintenance technician, dispatcher, etc. — cannot be discounted. The answer to the organization/individual dilemma might lie in the role of perception in hazard identification.
A previous article (see, “TEM’s Unspoken Language”)1 discussed the unspoken language of threat and error management (TEM), which comprises three words: Huh?, Whoa! and Phew! The central theme was that each of us builds up a valuable library of lessons based on our training and experience. Some lessons are easily recalled as they are stored in our con…
