Crew Resource Management Development

Abstract

Crew resource management (CRM) is the product of a paradigm shift in safety thinking from ‘finding the problem' to ‘finding the solution'. Until the ‘crash of the century' took place in Tenerife in 1977, the first officer was only to be seen and not heard. He was ‘a good for nothing' sandbag sitting in the right seat. But all changed in 1977-1978 with the introduction of CRM, initially cockpit resource management and now crew resource management. It was so elaborate a system created out of necessity by aviation that no matter which high-reliability organization (HRO) was and is present, they took it up as the most efficient and effective method to reduce human fallibility. Starting from the civil nuclear technology sector to medical science to firefighting, all have adhered to CRM principles. The latest innovation which comes across from the experts is threat and error management (TEM), which is coincidentally the revision or version six of CRM. The aim of the present effort is to relate how CRM has come of age, the purpose behind it, and a deeper view of its successful cross-functioning into various vocations and industries.