Who is CHIRP

Improving safety in the air and at sea

We focus on the underlying human factors of safety issues

We are confidential

We are independent and impartial

We follow-up reports with the organisations concerned

CHIRP (Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme) is an independent charity dedicated to improving safety in the air and at sea. Our primary focus is to ensure that individuals involved in aviation and maritime can share their safety concerns and report close-call incidents and lessons learned through our confidential reporting service without fear of being identified or harming their careers. If they agree to us contacting stakeholders, we will follow-up with the relevant organisations to ensure that the right actions are taken at the right time.

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Why report to CHIRP?

Your voice matters. Confidential, voluntary reporting provides a vital safety net for collecting reports that would otherwise have gone unwritten. Each report we receive has the power to improve safety standards and practices, whether it is from the findings of one report or when combined with others to identify wider trends and safety issues. Our team of experienced professionals reviews every report we receive and we publish our anonymised findings to raise awareness of safety concerns and to encourage stakeholders to take action where necessary.

What is a just culture?

CHIRP believes a just culture is central to encouraging safer environments. A just culture facilitates appropriate safety improvement by valuing people and their reporting of safety-related concerns. This allows everyone to learn essential lessons from those concerns, and ensure that people feel listened to, treated fairly and taken seriously. A just culture operates within a structured organisational framework where unacceptable behaviour will be fairly addressed. In a just culture, behavioural principles are agreed upon and are transparent, at every level of an organisation with clear lines of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, with appropriate and proportionate positive action taken where necessary.

“An atmosphere of trust, where people are encouraged, even rewarded, for providing essential safety information – but in which they are clear about where the line must be drawn between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

A culture that recognises the difference between errors made that through the natural limitations of human performance and those that are the result of wilful intent.”

PROFESSOR JAMES REASON PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

What are human factors in safety?

Despite rapid evolutions in technology and ways of working, maritime and aviation activities are still at their core carried out by people. As we know, human performance depends on a variety of factors. In our sectors, the design and manufacture of ships, aircraft and technology we use, day-to-day operations undertaken by staff and the support that is provided to us can be exposed to human vulnerabilities and variability of performance. This means that the systems and technology that we use in our sectors need to be as user-friendly as possible.

For every fatal accident, it is hypothesised that there are about 10 serious accidents/incidents, 30 reportable incidents and hundreds of minor errors, mistakes, omissions or unsafe acts that occur in normal daily operations. We primarily focus on the day-to-day occurrences that might not always be formally reported but which may have important lessons that could help prevent more serious incidents in the future.

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The bigger safety picture

“What drives us is our collective aspiration to make the maritime and aviation sectors safer for everyone. Positive changes to safety are rooted in people reporting their concerns – to improve safety in the air and at sea, we must all share incidents, close calls, lessons learned and best practices.”

RUTH KAUFMAN OBE CHAIR OF TRUSTEES

Our mission is to improve safety for everyone across aviation and maritime, one report at a time. We use data-led insights to identify wider safety trends and real-world lessons from the reports we receive and share the learnings in our safety briefings and various publications.

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