[Basic] Why do mechanics use pointing and calling?

Good evening.
Have you all heard of this before?

Pointing and calling

Regarding

I would like to explain it as a basic manner for aircraft mechanics.
I will explain it.

Pointing and calling is
one of the behaviors
that aircraft mechanics should acquire.

However,

even in our daily lives,
there are times when it is better to use pointing and calling.

I believe this content will also be useful in your daily life,
so
please take a moment to read it.

What is pointing and calling?

Yubisashi Kosho

What is pointing and calling?

In the aviation industry,
it is one of the behaviors performed as a matter of course,
and in addition to this,

contact confirmation

is sometimes added to increase the methods of safety confirmation.

As an aircraft mechanic,

before an aircraft departs,
we confirm that doors and panels are closed
by pointing and calling.

When parts installation work is completed,
to ensure the parts are securely installed,
we confirm by pointing and calling after contact confirmation.

and so on,
it is used as a confirmation action in various situations.

In this way,
looking at the object,
pointing a finger,
and confirming by speaking out loud,
this is pointing and calling.

Why go to the trouble of pointing and speaking out loud?

The reason is simple.

Research by the Railway Technical Research Institute reports that
performing pointing and calling
"significantly reduces" confirmation errors.

When people confirm things only with their eyes,
even if they are thinking about something else in their heads,
they may mistakenly believe they have 'confirmed' it.

However,by performing the action of pointing and speaking out loud,you use multiple senses simultaneously:

* Seeing with your eyes
* Indicating with your finger
* Speaking with your voice
* Hearing with your ears

This mechanism increases your level of attention,
making it easier to prevent oversight.
In other words,
pointing and calling is

not just a mere shout,
but a basic safety-supporting action created
based on the premise that "humans make mistakes,"

to reduce those mistakes as much as possible.

This way of thinking, that humans are creatures who make mistakes,
is called "human error,"
and it is an essential concept in the aviation industry.

Humans overlook things more than they think.

You will definitely attend lectures
that use accidents caused by human error as subject matter.

Hearing that,
"I wouldn't make a mistake like that."

Everyone wants to think that,
but in reality, no matter how experienced a veteran you are,
you cannot completely eliminate mistakes.
These mistakes caused by humans


are called human error.Human error
does not occur solely due to lack of knowledge or skill.

For example,
* Being in a hurry
* Being distracted by other tasks

* Being spoken to while working
* It was a routine task
* Being tired
It occurs due to situations like these that can happen to anyone.
In the industry as well,
the reality is that mistakes occur due to

"assumptions" such as
"I thought I had tightened it"

"I thought I had confirmed it"

"I thought it was fine because it's always like this"
The reason this happens is that


the human brain does not perceive information exactly as it is.We see things while supplementing information using our experience and assumptions.Therefore,even though we haven't actually confirmed it,
we have the illusion that "I must have confirmed it."

This is an act that must not be done as a mechanic.

However,
this is not a problem of ability,
but a characteristic of human nature itself.

That is why in the aviation industry,
safety mechanisms are built on the premise that "people will always make mistakes."
Pointing and calling is one of them.

I believe you have understood the necessity of pointing and calling up to this point,
so

I will delve deeper into the reasons why pointing and calling is effective.

The mechanism by which pointing and calling reduces mistakes

Pointing and calling reduces mistakes.
I will delve into its effectiveness.

The reason, as mentioned in the previous section, is that

by using multiple senses simultaneously when confirming, the brain can perceive information more strongly.

It is.

In pointing and calling, you perform multiple actions simultaneously:
* Look at the object with your eyes
* Point at the object with your finger
* Confirm by speaking out loud
* Hear your own voice with your ears
This allows the brain to recognize information not just as "something seen," but as "information consciously confirmed."

In aircraft maintenance, there are situations where you must confirm the lock status after closing a door before flight.
If you only look with your eyes, you might rely on memories like
"I'm sure I closed it"

"I'm sure I checked it earlier."

If you were to take off after that, you might feel anxious, wondering,
"Wait, did I close it?"

This is the same phenomenon as wondering "Did I lock the house door?" in daily life.
However,

here,

by pointing at the object and saying,

Door closed, confirmedyour consciousness becomes focused on the point that needs to be confirmed.

This ensures you recognize that it is closed without error and reduces the likelihood of being driven by anxiety.

I make it a habit to do this even with my house keys in daily life.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it has become a habit.

Summary

Pointing and calling is not just a shout or a formal rule.

No matter how much experience a human has, they will cause human errors due to fatigue, assumptions, or habituation.

That is why the aviation industry does not focus on raising

people who do not make mistakes


, but rather on building

systems that make it difficult to cause mistakes.One of those systems is
Pointing and callingIf you have never done it, if you were doing it but the reason was vague, if you felt it was just a formality, or if you ever felt that pointing and calling was a "troublesome task," please remember this article.That action is not for your boss or for the company.It is an important action to prevent future human errors and protect yourself and the safety of the skies.

I believe a mechanic who has internalized this is a "cool mechanic" even from the perspective of other mechanics.