Use of a nominal group technique in the exploration of safety hazards arising from the outsourcing of aircraft maintenance

This study sets out to identify hazards that are likely to occur when airlines outsource aircraft maintenance operations, as well as the causes of these hazards and their impact on safety. Qualitative research design was preferred for the purpose of this study, where the data was collected through a nominal group technique with the participation of subject experts selected by purposive sampling. The inductive approach was adopted for data analysis. The study reveals thirteen themes that may potentially affect aviation safety. The outsourcing of aircraft maintenance by airlines in order to lower maintenance costs and to reduce the time during which aircraft remain idle for maintenance place cost and time pressures on MRO providers, which eventually leads to potential threats arising from the human resources factor of MRO providers.
Source: Safety Science - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research