Development and Evaluation of Cabin Crew Expected Safety Behaviours

Within the airline industry, expected safety behaviours are being increasingly used to assess or observe flight crew non-technical skills (CRM) performance. While safety and human factors programs are well established components of cabin crew training, airlines are yet to identify the non-technical skills required of cabin crew to successfully manage safety critical tasks and situations. In addition, there is a lack of data on how cabin crew deal with threats and avoid, recover and manage error. This paper describes a two-part research project being undertaken within Qantas Airways. Phase 1 involved the application of the Critical Decision Method protocol to identify successful decision making skills amongst experienced cabin crew. From a qualitative analysis of interviews with eighty Customer Service Managers (CSMs), expected safety behaviours were identified, and grouped under the following seven elements: situational awareness, information & resource management, operational understanding, passenger management, crew management, negotiation & influencing skills, and workplace safety. The use of these expected safety behaviours in training and performance planning is discussed. Phase 2 of the project involves the proposed implementation of a LOSA-type program within the Cabin Crew environment, utilising the expected safety behaviours developed in Phase 1. The applicability of LOSA for cabin operations as well as the logistical and practical challenges of planning and implementing normal operations monitoring for cabin crew is discussed. In addition, an outline of the expected benefits of this research to air operators and the wider aviation industry is provided.