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2021/22 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

AVIA2070 Safety Science, Engineering and Management

10 creditsClass Size: 60

Module manager: Professor WF Gale
Email: w.f.gale@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2021/22

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Leaders and managers of any aviation activity, be this in the private or public sector, need to make responsible, ethical decisions that protect the safety and health of an organisation's employees, users of the organisation's products/services and the wider public. Operating with a strong regard for health and safety protects not only people, but also the organisation's reputation and future. There can be a substantial, positive return on investment in health and safety, for example through avoiding productivity and property losses, impact on future insurance premiums, uninsured costs, fines etc. This module aims to equip students with the ways of thinking and tools needed to conduct aviation activities in a fashion that is safe and does not have negative impacts on health. The module therefore focuses on the intersection of technology, people and processes. The concepts covered in the module are illustrated by means of case studies of real organisations. This module is taught as a flipped class, with extensive in-class discussions, focusing on both a wide variety of safety topics and numerous case studies. Formative MCQs are used to enhance each student understanding of safety on all levels from strategic to frontline. A summative assignment focuses on analysis of safety problems and design of safety strategies for a fictional company, which includes a division of the student's design, based in their country. Inclusion of this division enables students to consider how the topics covered in the module apply to the country and type of aviation or related organisation in which they intend to work, after graduation.

Objectives

The module aims to equip students with the ways of thinking and tools needed to conduct aviation activities in a fashion that is safe and does not have negative impacts on health. This module therefore focuses on the intersection of technology, people and processes. The concepts covered in the module are illustrated by means of case studies.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students should:
1. Gain insight into key issues in health and safety, in an aviation context.
2. Develop the ability to identify, analyse and respond to safety and health issues in aviation organisations.
3. Become familiar with tools for thinking about safety and identify how to apply these to aviation organisations.
4. Gain a clear appreciation of the human contribution to safety and how this can be optimised.
5. Demonstrate familiarity with the design and implementation of safety management systems.
6. Build the ability to take an integrated, systemic and systematic approach to safety strategy for aviation organisations.

Skills outcomes
ABBREVIATED DUE TO WORD LIMIT
P = practiced ACTIVELY, F= Formatively assessed, S = Summatively assessed.

SM1: P through in-class discussion topics on safety science, S by application in analysing safety situation of a company.

SM2: P through in-class activities on application of statistical approaches. F, S through application in assignments.

SM3: P because intrinsically interdisciplinary. S because major assignment requires students to integrate knowledge across engineering.

EA1: P through in-class activities on engineering aspects of safety. F through inclusion in MCQ. S via application of engineering principles in major assignment.

EA3: P through in class activities focusing on the application of quantitative tools (e.g. LOPA). S through application in assignment.

EA4: P through in-class discussions of whole systems approaches. S as integration and whole systems approach are essence of major assignment.

D2: Investigating the problem is P, F, S because module is problem and investigation based. Ethics P as a major strand and S in major assignment. Health and safety are focus of module (P, F and S). Major P and F on hazard and risk. Environmental and sustainability aspects are P through in-class discussions and are expected to feature in responses to the assignments (S).

D4: S as problem solving is basis of major assignment. Requires use of technical insight to render safety system fit for purpose. Strategies that students design expected to encompass production/operation/maintenance/disposal.

D6: Rich in verbal communication (P) and written communication (S). Students to experience communicating both in-depth to an engineering audience (e.g. case studies, P) and to broad range of actors and stakeholders (in major assignment, S) including engineers.

ELSEE 1: Professionalism, ethics and codes of conduct are major strands for in-class discussions (P). F through portion of MCQ. S, especially for ethics, in major assignment.

ELSEE 2: Business and economic aspects P through in-class discussions, F in MCQ and S in major assignment. Social science features strongly and is P (in class discussions), F (MCQ) and S (underpinning major assignment).

ELSEE 3: Safety management is one of the three strands of module and extensively P (in class discussions), F (MCQ) and S (major assignment).

ELSEE 4: Module considers how safety forms an integral aspect of sustainability and is P through in-class discussion. S through application in assignment.

ELSEE 5: Legal requirements and liability are considered in UK and selected international contexts. Students are encouraged to consider legal requirements in their country (P). Legal aspects are one of the variables in major assignment (S). Aspects of legal requirements are in MCQ (F).

ELSEE 6: Major topic of risk in its various forms and how to manage this and features prominently in class discussions (P), MCQ (F) and major assignment (S).

EP1: All of these are covered, in context of safety engineering and interface with safety operations/management and pervade discussions (P), case studies and also impact major assignment (S).

EP5: Safety law (UK and selected other countries) and requirements on organisations feature in discussions (P) and MCQ (F).

EP6: E.g., covers ACOPs and role in safety management (in-class discussions, P). Benefits and limitations of national, versus ISO standards for health and safety are covered in-class discussion topic (P). S through building on these in assignment.

EP8: Safety decisions often have to be made with limited information and processes for handling uncertainty - in class discussions (P), MCQ (F) and best student efforts at major assignment (S).


Syllabus

Topic 1: Introduction to health and safety
Why does health and safety interest me?
Finding your way around health and safety
Leadership required
A voyage into the unknown
Errors and accidents
Safety as a system issue
Health and safety or safety and health?

Topic 2: Why health and safety?
Legal imperatives
Ethical dimensions
Return on investment
How big a problem?

Topic 3: Consequences
Injury or death to workers and/or third parties
Negative health impacts
Damage to the organisation
Damage to the environment
High consequence industries

Topic 4: Examples of some well-known industrial accidents and what the aviation industry should learn from them
Transport accidents
Industrial fire and explosion
Structural failure/collapse
Release of hazardous and/or environmentally damaging materials

Topic 5: Hazard and risk
Hazards: Definition. Source of harm and to whom? Hazard classification. Hazard identification
Risks: Definition. Probability is not certainty! Perceived risk. Risk matrix. Control measures and the hierarchy of controls. Risk profiling. Risk register. Risk assessment. Risk management

Topic 6: Occurrences, incidents and accidents

Topic 7: Safety as a system
System components and interactions: what happens when people, engineering, regulation, policy and processes meet?
Technical factors: Plant and process design. Engineering failures. Reliability. How design interacts with operation, inspection and maintenance. Detecting engineering failures before they happen
Human factors (see also topic 9)
Organisational factors, local workplace factors and unsafe acts (Reason)

Topic 8: Tools for thinking about safety:
Approaches to safety: From reactive to proactive to predictive methods. Encompassing technology, human factors and safety management
A socio-technical approach to safety
The 5m model
The SHEL model
Reason’s "Swiss Cheese" model
Domino models
Plan, do, check, act (HSE's favoured approach)
Crew resource management (CRM)
Designing redundancy into technology, processes and procedures
Hazard and operability study (HAZOP)
Layer of protection analysis (LOPA)
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)

Topic 9 Human error
The importance of human error
Ergonomics/human factors
Errors in judgement and decision making
Classes of human error
Why do human errors happen?
Some aspects of, and factors in, human performance
Why does human error cause accidents? Reason's viewpoint
Responding to human error: Introduction. Person and system approaches (Reason). Engineering responses. Regulatory/administrative/procedural responses. Responses focused on the individual. Management practices and procedures. Integrating the response

Topic 10: How can organisations enhance safety?
Corporate safety culture: Features. Getting the balance right. An organisation's safety culture is strong if…]How does this apply in a real world example? Results of an active safety culture. Mutual trust
Five keys to a healthy workplace (WHO)
Corporate safety management systems (SMS): Definition. ICAO's minimum requirements for an SMS. Features of an SMS (US National Safety Council). Two sets of four pillars. Integration with corporate management systems

Topic 11: Accident investigations
Why investigate accidents?
Who investigates accidents?
Steps in the accident investigation process
Identifying primary causes and contributory factors
Root cause analysis
Fault tree analysis
Recommendations: SMART recommendations. Specific, versus systemic. Immediate versus longer-term

Topic 12: Reporting systems and employee consultation
Reporting: Mandatory. Voluntary. Confidential, versus anonymous
Employee consultation

Topic 13: ISO 45001 - Occupational health and safety

Topic 14: Case studies of how two global corporations approach safety
GE
Honeywell

Discussion topics and case studies are included throughout the module and use is also made of in-class polls to facilitate participation.

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Seminar112.0022.00
Private study hours78.00
Total Contact hours22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)100.00

Private study

This module is taught as a flipped class and so students are expected to read and think about the detailed slides, prepare for the in-class discussion topics, prior to each lecture. Students also need to view the videos, animation and podcasts that seek to support various aspects of the module and bring the knowledge gained to the in-class discussions. A key aspect of private learning is working on the formative and summative assignments.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Formative feedback from the weekly formative MCQ in weeks 1 to 5.
Part 1 of the major assignment is both formative and summative and feedback on this will enable students to enhance their efforts in part 2 of the assignment.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
EssayPart 150.00
EssayPart 250.00
In-course Assessment5 Formative MCQ Assignments0.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)100.00

Design of a corporate safety system for a global company (offered as a two part assignment, with intermediate feedback): - Part 1: Overall analysis of the global company's current approach to safety and design of safety strategies. 800 words maximum, on a template. - Part 2: Detailed analysis and strategy development for a division of the company based in the student's country. 800 words maximum, on a template.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 14/12/2021

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