How to question authority in order to prevent mishaps

NASA reported that the primary cause of the majority of aviation accidents was human error, and that the main problems were failures of interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision making in the cockpit. As a result, Crew Resource Management (CRM) was formulated.

According to the Wikipedia article, "CRM fosters a climate or culture where the freedom to respectfully question authority is encouraged....The primary goal of CRM is not enhanced communication, but rather enhanced situational awareness. It recognizes that a discrepancy between what is happening and what should be happening is often the first indicator that an error is occurring."

"A CRM expert named Todd Bishop developed a five-step assertive statement process that encompasses inquiry and advocacy steps:"

1) Opening or attention getter: Address the individual. "Hey Chief," or "Captain Smith," or "Bob," or whatever name or title will get the person's attention.

2) State your concern: State what you see in a direct manner while owning your emotions about it. "We're low on fuel," or "I think we might have fire extension into the roof structure."

3) State the problem as you see it: "I don't think we have enough fuel to fly around this storm system," or "This building has a lightweight steel truss roof. I'm worried that it might collapse."

4) State a solution: "Let's divert to another airport and refuel," or "I think we should pull some tiles and take a look with the thermal imaging camera before we commit crews inside."

5) Obtain agreement (or buy-in): "Does that sound good to you, Captain?"