Assessing safety through agent-based simulation for aircraft carrier flight decks

Abstract

Aircraft carrier flight decks are dangerous work environments that require high degrees of coordination between humans in and around aircraft. It is impossible to run experiments in such settings to determine if new policies and rules could reduce the risk of injury. In order to explore possible safety improvement strategies in such settings where deaths still occur, an agent-based simulation environment was developed that allows for exploration of the impact of new procedures and technologies during aircraft launches. In this Optimal Manning Simulation (OMS), safety is measured through unexpected halo violations, where people inadvertently enter a bubble of high risk around an aircraft. An analysis with OMS demonstrated that safety-focused agent-based simulations could uncover not only where personnel face high risks but also when such risks could significantly increase. Thus, OMS can be used not only in a descriptive and predictive manner but also prescriptively to inform future policies.