5 Dos and Don’ts: Compliance with SOPs

5 Dos and Don’ts: Compliance with SOPs

Avoid the “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset.

By Andrew Parker

Do you have your own way of doing things in the hangar? A mindset of following internal norms instead of standard operating procedures (SOPs) can be a liability in aircraft maintenance. Numerous accident reports document how deviations from the rules enabled those tragedies to take place. Follow the suggestions below to strengthen your safety culture.

1 DO turn near misses into learning opportunities. “A near miss is a gift. It’s telling you something is wrong,” says Mark Tyler, VP and general manager at Precision Aviation Services. “If you have a near miss, discuss it. Use it as a chance to make corrections.”

2 DON’T let pressure affect your decision-making. Maintenance technicians can’t let the pressure to get an aircraft in the air lead to assumptions about safety, says Tyler, who cites the time he and a pilot had to abort a flight because a brand-new oil-filter O-ring was defective. “I looked at the O-ring when I put it on, but I hadn’t inspected it,” Tyler recalls. “Once you deviate from a standard and nothing goes wrong, and then you do it again, you’ve normalized the deviation and that becomes the new norm.”

3 DO say something if you see something wrong. “If it doesn’t look right, if it doesn’t feel right, talk to someone,” says Tyler. “Be the greasy wheel. Silence is considered agreement or acceptance.”

4 DON’T get into the habit of bending the rules. “You must be disciplined. You can’t just fly by the wind,” Tyler says. “I like to say that discipline equals victory.”

5 DO maintain a just culture within your team. Company leaders should foster a culture in which maintenance technicians feel they can freely talk about mistakes, discuss rules and norms, and share their viewpoints about the safest and most logical ways to return an aircraft to service.

Andrew Parker is VAI’s copy editor.

Thanks to Mark Tyler for these tips, which are based on his presentation at the Jun. 13, 2024, VAI webinar, “Do You Do Maintenance by the Rules or by the Norms?” To learn more about the dangers of deviating from SOPs, watch the recording of the webinar.