Going Above And Beyond To Avoid A Spanner In The Works

By Author: O Jelley
Total Articles: 1
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Accidents brought about by Foreign Object Damage (FOD) costs the aviation industry an estimated $13 billion per year.

That’s $26 per flight in aircraft repairs in the United States as well as an estimated $312 in such additional indirect costs as flight delays, plane changes and fuel inefficiencies.

Rather more significantly FOD also costs lives. A significant part of FOD is tool control or rather the lack of it. This is where tools used by maintenance engineers are unaccounted for and go missing in the aircraft due to a lack of a proper control system.

But in terms of tool control why can such an avoidable occurrence cause so much collateral damage?

The answer is detailed within the industry’s maintenance regulation document Part 145. This small passage relating to tool control does not require operators to put a strict tool control system in place.

Uncontrolled tooling is therefore unfortunately widespread, with justifications for not employing such a system ranging from ‘our engineers have their own tooling’ to ‘our engineers are extremely careful’ .

However, just one ...
... out of place tool can result in a catastrophe with potentially severe human and financial costs and as we are all aware, individuals can become distracted and are fallible so safety net procedures are vital.

Passengers, pilots and aircrew unwittingly place their lives in the hands of maintenance engineers and therefore operators should go above and beyond the paltry legal requirements to ensure their safety.

As experts in our field, FOD Tool Control Ltd provides bespoke tool control systems which ensure tools are accounted for at any time during maintenance. We work with operators to put in place systems which save lives and money and can offer marketing benefits to clients willing to put these procedures into place. And it’s not just tool control we specialise in – we offer a complete maintenance FOD prevention service.

www.fod-toolcontrol.co.uk