Other Voices: The Link Between Diversity and Aviation Safety

Aviation safety is dependent on synergy, not just in the flight deck, but within the flight department as a whole. The hidden dangers of miscommunication and unconscious bias deteriorate our safety margins, limit our access to new talent, and hinder our operational functionality. It’s time for the third wave of aviation safety, and that must include unconscious bias training.

Following a series of fatal air crashes in the 1970s, the aviation industry became focused on how humans interact and communicate. A common trend of these crashes exposed the toxicity of the singular-captain mentality and revealed the necessity to educate aviators how to operate more collaboratively. New training protocols, known as Crew Resource Management (CRM), rapidly washed over the industry and became the international standard still in practice today. The initiative was so successful that the medical sector adopted its own form of CRM.

The second wave of aviation safety came decades later in the form of Safety Management Systems (SMS). This system is a comprehensive approach to safety which includes human factors training and the measuring of one’s flight department safety culture.

Each wave of safety system amalgamates the importance of human interaction, communication, and collaboration as essential components to aviation safety. Yet both systems overlook the fundamental structure that controls how humans interact and communicate—our unconscious bias.