Learn
Why watching normal work finds the risks that incident reports miss, and the model NOM uses to make the ramp safer. Short answers; the research page has the detail.
What is Normal Operations Monitoring?
Normal Operations Monitoring is a way of learning about safety from normal work. Trained observers from the workforce watch normal turnarounds and record what they see: the conditions the ramp team works in, how work as done differs from work as imagined, how the team handles problems, and how the turnaround ends. Because it looks at many normal days rather than a few bad ones, it shows patterns that incident reports miss.
It comes from Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA), the flight deck programme airlines have trusted for more than two decades, recommended by ICAO and the FAA. LOSA showed that peer observers, a promise of no jeopardy and careful data checking give a true picture of normal operations. Ramp versions followed, and a PhD at UNSW Aviation tested the approach on more than a thousand turnarounds. NOMIC Ramp is that work, rebuilt for today.
Work as imagined and work as done
Work as imagined is how the work is meant to go: the procedures, the loading instruction, the schedule, the training. Work as done is how it actually goes on the day, with late freight, a missing loader, a short team or a bay that isn't ready. There is always a gap between the two, and that gap isn't a failure: people adjust to get the job done safely. Normal Operations Monitoring makes the gap visible, so the organisation can see where work as imagined needs to change, and where people are quietly holding the system together.
The NOM model
NOM is built on the LOSA Threat and Error Management model, redeveloped for the ramp. Threats are conditions in the environment that may increase risk. Variations are where work as done differs from work as planned or prescribed, with no cause inferred. Each one is managed (resilient action resolves it), unmanaged (no action) or mismanaged (action that doesn't work). NOM also records the enablers that support work going well.
Safety-I and Safety-II
Safety-I asks why things go wrong and tries to reduce what fails. Safety-II asks why things usually go right, and tries to support and expand what makes them go right. The ramp needs both: like playing defence and offence at the same time.
NOMIC Ramp puts Safety-II first, with Safety-I inside it:
- Conditions can help as well as hinder. A spare loader on the bay matters as much as a broken one.
- Variations, where work as done differs from work as imagined, are recorded without blame, with their purpose when it's visible. Often the variation is what keeps the turnaround going.
- Good practice is recorded in its own right, grouped as Plan, Coordinate, Adapt and Learn.
- Results are shown as Expand (what goes with work going well) and Shrink (what goes with work getting harder), not as a compliance score.
The ten LOSA operating characteristics, on the ramp
LOSA is defined by ten operating characteristics (ICAO Doc 9803). They are why crews and managers trust it. NOMIC Ramp keeps all ten:
| LOSA | In NOMIC Ramp |
|---|---|
| 1. Jump-seat observations during normal flight operations | Observers watch normal turnarounds from arrival to pushback, never after incidents or as checks |
| 2. Joint management and pilot sponsorship | Management and the ramp workforce (and unions, where there are any) sign the agreement together |
| 3. Voluntary crew participation | The crew are told before each observation and can say no |
| 4. De-identified, confidential, safety-minded data collection | No names, staff numbers, flight numbers or registrations; never used for discipline. On-time is reported separately from safety and never by crew, shift or observer |
| 5. Targeted observation instrument | A form and code list made for turnarounds, from ramp research |
| 6. Trusted and trained observers | Ramp people, trained with practice exercises and checked for agreement before they start |
| 7. Trusted data collection site | Observations are encrypted with the organisation's own key, on the phone, before they go anywhere |
| 8. Data verification roundtables | The checking group reviews every observation's coding before it counts |
| 9. Data-derived targets for enhancement | Expand and Shrink findings, and a Learning Team pack for each |
| 10. Feedback of results to the line | Results go back to ramp crews first, who help decide what changes; the next round measures it |
What's new compared with LOSA
Everything people value in LOSA stays. What changes:
- Ramp work, not the flight deck. The codes, the form and the training are for loading, unloading and pushback.
- Built for today. An app on the observer's phone: spoken notes, works offline, and sends finished observations to the team's computers. No old database software.
- Statistics link things together. The tool tests which conditions go with which variations and outcomes, rather than reporting counts alone.
- Safety-II first. Enablers and good practice are recorded, not just threats and errors.
- Your data stays yours. Encrypted with your organisation's own key.
If you use Threat and Error Management
The thinking is the same; some words are gentler, so observers record what they see without judging it and crews keep trusting the programme. The management terms are kept, because the industry knows them.
| TEM and LOSA | NOMIC Ramp |
|---|---|
| Threat | The same, plus enablers |
| Error, violation | Variation: where work as done differs from work as imagined, with its purpose if visible |
| Undesired aircraft state | Undesired state |
| Managed, mismanaged, unmanaged | The same |
| Countermeasures | Good practice: Plan, Coordinate, Adapt, Learn |
The person who runs the loading at the aircraft has many names: leading hand in Australia and New Zealand, crew chief or lead in North America, team leader in parts of Europe. NOMIC Ramp uses IATA's term, loading supervisor.
Public sources
- International Civil Aviation Organization. Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA). ICAO Doc 9803.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Line Operations Safety Audits. Advisory Circular 120-90.
- Klinect, J. R., Murray, P., Merritt, A. and Helmreich, R. L. (2003). Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA): definition and operating characteristics. Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology.
- Helmreich, R. L., Klinect, J. R. and Wilhelm, J. A. (1999). Models of threat, error, and CRM in flight operations. Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology.
- FAA research on Ramp LOSA for ground handling
- Hollnagel, E. Safety-I and Safety-II (2014)
Alongside IGOM, ISAGO and Ramp LOSA
NOMIC Ramp adds to your procedures, audits and safety management system rather than replacing them. See how it fits, and LOSA, Ramp LOSA, GOSA and NOM for the family it comes from.