Human Factors and Errors in Security Aviation: An Ergonomic Perspective

Abstract

In a previous study we have identified the incidence of human factors and errors in the security screening process, concerning the Brazilian civil aviation. This finding led to the analysis of labor activity in the security checkpoint from an ergonomic perspective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the various labor conditions in the security checkpoints of Brazilian airports, in order to promote safer and higher performance of the AVSEC professionals, as well as the security equipment. For this purpose, we analyzed 14 of 60 questions of a self-observation questionnaire based on the theory of Generic Error–Modelling System (GEMS) and the four themes about human factors recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The questionnaire was responded to by 602 AVSEC professionals who worked in the security checkpoints of 18 Brazilian airports. Our analysis focused on the preponderant indexes of each question, taking into account the sequential arrangement in which the questions were displaced in the questionnaire and the classification of human factors and errors.