Farnborough Branch 2026 Roger Green Lecture: From Human Factors to Safety Intelligence - 25 Years on the Front Line of Aviation Safety

The Farnborough Branch Roger Green Lecture features Bob Simmons FRAeS, Co-Founder of Baines Simmons, discussing the evolution of human factors in aviation safety over 25 years. The lecture traces the journey from Roger Green's pioneering work in moving human factors from the laboratory into operational aviation environments through CHIRP and accident investigations, to contemporary safety management practices.

Bob Simmons draws on extensive experience working with over 800 civil and defence organisations—from major airlines and national authorities to small maintenance organisations—to examine how human factors thinking has been integrated into operational reality. The presentation progresses from mandated human factors training through error management and just culture principles, to modern safety risk management and integrated management systems under ICAO Annex 19, EASA Part-145.A.200 and the MAA/EMAR framework.

Building on foundational work by James Reason and Patrick Hudson, the lecture argues that human factors remains the load-bearing foundation of Safety Management Systems rather than being superseded by them. Simmons brings a candid practitioner's perspective, having both contributed to human factors failures and experienced their consequences first-hand, including as a passenger in an aircraft accident.

Using real cases from civil and defence sectors, the presentation examines why safety cultures built on just culture philosophies are essential to whether management systems deliver genuine assurance or merely compliance documentation. The lecture concludes by considering what these principles mean as automation, artificial intelligence and new market entrants reshape the operational aviation landscape.

Speaker: Bob Simmons has worked in aviation since 1978, beginning with eleven years' Royal Air Force service on Victor tanker and Tornado fleets before qualifying as a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer. Since 1994, he has held safety-specific roles including service as an Airworthiness Surveyor with the UK Civil Aviation Authority, where he was responsible for maintenance and continuing airworthiness policy.