A resilience engineering-based approach to improving service reliability in maintenance organizations

Abstract

Resilience engineering (RE) has introduced new ideas into reliability engineering and safety science and has highlighted new concepts of safe work that could be considered for reliability improvement. The aim of this paper is to put forward an approach within the framework of resilience engineering to service reliability improvement in maintenance organizations. The strategy for reliability improvement is based on mutual learning through collaboration among maintenance departments of a public gas company in 11 districts. The proposed approach first assesses RE in the maintenance departments using a standardized questionnaire. Using a linear regression model, then the relationship between RE and service reliability in the maintenance departments is identified. Service reliability is defined as the probability of undesirable events: non-working valves, gas leaks, unavailability of valves due to coverage by asphalt, and gas flow cut-offs. The pros and cons of departmental collaborative learning in terms of absorbing the RE best practices, managerial or political conflicts, and collaboration costs are discussed. Finally, a linear integer programming is formulated to find the best collaborative connections so that the maintenance departments could find those peers from whom they can benefit most, boost their RE practice, and finally improve their service reliability, while minimizing their costs and possible conflicts.

Appendices

Appendix 1

RE factor	Items
Management commitment	Top management is always aware of potential threats in the working environment
	Organization supplies vital resources and equipment to keep a reliable record of safety
	Top management presents comprehensive training plans to bring about further improvement in the safety levels of repair and maintenance services
	Top management applies an adequate expertise to govern working practices
	Top management devotes a reasonable amount of time to the coordination of activities
	When repair and maintenance services and safety at work are as a matter of concern, organization places the first priority on safety
	Budgetary allocation has a marked effect on safety levels
	Management system always considers safety issues as an important matter to discuss
Just culture	Top management imposes a severe punishment for tragic events leading up to safety hazards in the working environment
	Friendly working environment makes it easy to report safety hazards to top manager
	Employees may create a great impression on Top management to make a decision in my working environment
	Employees find freedom in stopping an unsafe practice
	Decision-making process for safety hazards in the working environment requires a joint effort
	A direct relationship exists between the reported incidents and the instructional materials
	Individuals accept responsibility for their mistakes in my working environment
	Always there is a way to share my mistakes at work and communicate them with others
Learning culture	I have enough time to consider strategies developed by my organization
	A close analysis of faults must be conducted, and a comprehensive explanation of their reasons must be provided to draw valuable lessons from them
	A specialized team is formed to investigate the precise details about the reasons behind the repetition of errors or mistakes with a negative impact on safety performance
	Intra-organizational consultations on safety or risk develop preventive strategies for safety hazards in the working environment
	Our organization spends enough budget on instructional materials
	In our corporate culture, the entire system feels a sense of responsibility towards inaccuracies, not a particular individual
	In my opinion, my colleagues enthusiastically embrace the learning culture
Awareness	Instructional manuals are only used to offer helpful tips
	Our organization provides detailed information about actions need to be taken
	Employees must receive a special award to anticipate future challenges
	Safety policies require practical guidelines about how to meet possible health threats
Preparedness	An event never happens in the future, if it has not happened in the past
	The designed instructional strategies are effective to do practices in a safe environment
	I have acquired necessary expertise to do my tasks in a safe manner
	Instructional strategies are simple to follow in cases waiting for an emergency response
	I give a great performance in unfavorable conditions
	A risk to the system is avoided with the public assistance in case of emergencies
	Our working environment is susceptible to the improbable events
Flexibility	In our workplace, appreciation is extended to everyone who voluntarily takes effective actions against safety hazards
	Organization provides alternate means for coping with unlikely situations
	In a difficult situation, decisions are made with the full permission of top manager
	Organization provides vital equipment for operation in different conditions

Appendix 2

RE learning coefficients

$$ \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} 0 & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.01} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.02} & 0 & {0.01} & {0.02} & {0.015} & {0.01} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & 0 & {0.02} & {0.01} & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & 0 & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.02} & 0 & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.01} & {0.02} & {0.02} & 0 & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} & 0 & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.02} & 0 & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & {0.5} & 0 & {0.5} & {0.5} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & 0 & {0.01} \\ {0.02} & {0.5} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.02} & {0.5} & 0 \\ \end{array} } \right] $$

Appendix 3

Inter-district geographical distances and costs of commuting

$$ \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} 0 & {16} & {27} & {22} & {16} & {19} & {28} & {31} & {28} & {41} & {40} \\ {29} & 0 & {25} & {36} & {43} & {38} & {25} & {25} & {18} & {28} & {43} \\ {34} & {23} & 0 & {19} & {30} & {33} & {39} & {31} & {20} & {20} & {27} \\ {27} & {30} & {15} & 0 & {25} & {28} & {37} & {36} & {26} & {34} & {22} \\ {19} & {30} & {31} & {24} & 0 & {25} & {32} & {40} & {38} & {46} & {43} \\ {26} & {32} & {35} & {35} & {26} & 0 & {23} & {31} & {37} & {51} & {50} \\ {28} & {26} & {34} & {36} & {30} & {22} & 0 & {15} & {21} & {33} & {51} \\ {35} & {30} & {26} & {41} & {39} & {35} & {18} & 0 & {14} & {24} & {43} \\ {37} & {21} & {22} & {37} & {46} & {38} & {23} & {18} & 0 & {20} & {38} \\ {40} & {28} & {11} & {32} & {43} & {47} & {35} & {27} & {22} & 0 & {29} \\ {41} & {41} & {28} & {26} & {44} & {49} & {51} & {41} & {37} & {28} & 0 \\ \end{array} } \right] $$

Appendix 4

Inter-district differences and possible conflicts

$$ \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} 0 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 6 & 5 & 5 & 5 \\ 4 & 0 & 5 & 6 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 6 & 5 & 4 & 6 \\ 5 & 5 & 0 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 5 \\ 5 & 6 & 5 & 0 & 6 & 5 & 4 & 4 & 4 & 5 & 5 \\ 4 & 5 & 5 & 6 & 0 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 4 \\ 5 & 5 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 0 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 4 \\ 5 & 4 & 4 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 0 & 6 & 5 & 5 & 4 \\ 6 & 6 & 5 & 4 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 0 & 5 & 5 & 5 \\ 5 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 0 & 5 & 5 \\ 5 & 4 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 5 & 0 & 4 \\ 5 & 6 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 4 & 4 & 5 & 5 & 4 & 0 \\ \end{array} } \right] $$