This week, Acmena Principal Human Factors Consultant, Keryn Pauley, presented at the Airservices Australia human factors team event held in Brisbane.

Focusing on the processes and challenges involved with integrating human factors (HF) into large, complex projects, Keryn provided the Airservices team with some insight into her experience leading the HF programs on Brisbane’s $5.4b Cross River Rail project.

In her presentation, Keryn outlined her overall approach and methods to ensure that human factors activities aligned with the project’s systems engineering and safety assurance programs, which is a critical step to ensure project success.

“When you’re working on any project, resources such as time and staff can be limited, so it’s really important that you have the ability to integrate human factors in a smart way,” Keryn said. “In a project environment, we are practitioners, not academics.

“Due to the constraints we face, sometimes it’s simply not possible to apply the same level of academic rigor to HF integration as we would in a university setting when we’re working on a large project. Subsequently, we need to ensure that we focus on the things that matter and add value to the project.

“I really enjoyed the opportunity to share knowledge and experience with the Airsevices team. Both the aviation and rail industry recognise and mandate the integration of human factors into projects.

“From our discussions, it was clear that the Airservices team shared many of the same challenges as we do at Acmena, so being able to discuss our various approaches, the challenges we face and methods we use to overcome them was really valuable. Going forwards, being able to draw on the diverse range of experience and expertise in both teams will be very beneficial for both Acmena and Airservices Australia.”

 

Related Content: Podcast – Integrating HF & Systems Assurance into Major Projects