ABSTRACT
Human factors (HF) is a cross-disciplinary field of science that is strongly associated with safety, especially in regards to the role of human performance in ensuring safe actions and outcomes. Although ‘cross-disciplinary’ in this context represents the admirable aim to use all available knowledge to enhance safety, even the field of human factors has to outline the limitations of itself as a field of science. Such limitations may be constructive in defining human factors as an academic field, but may in practice also have the effect of excluding important influences on human performance which fall outside of these limitations. Recent aviation accidents and incidents related to mental health issues have revealed what seems to be an exclusion of the field of mental health in human factors and thus in the understanding of pilot performance. The resulting rift has roots that need to be understood and bridged to ensure and enhance the current level of safety in the aviation industry.
