Who Should Sit at the Exit Row? A Human Factors Perspective

Emergency exit row seating allocation represents a critical and underexamined safety decision in commercial aviation. Whilst regulatory frameworks mandate passenger capability assessments, limited empirical research exists on systematic methodologies for evaluating passenger suitability profiles. This study addresses this gap by developing a comprehensive framework for assessing optimal and contraindicated passenger characteristics for emergency exit responsibilities. We employed a triangulated Human Factors approach integrating Work Domain Analysis (WDA), Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), and Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST). The WDA framework mapped the functional requirements of emergency exit operation within the broader cabin evacuation system, identifying critical physical, cognitive, and temporal constraints. HTA decomposed exit operation tasks into constituent actions, revealing seventeen discrete task elements requiring specific competencies. EAST methodology captured the distributed cognition, and coordination demands between passengers, cabin crew, and the operational environment during emergency scenarios. Analysis identified six primary selection criteria: physical capability (strength, mobility, reach), cognitive capacity (stress response, decision-making under pressure), communication ability (language proficiency, assertiveness), absence of impairments (visual, auditory, mobility limitations), willingness to assist, and social responsibility factors. Optimal passenger profiles demonstrate high scores across all criteria, whilst contraindicated profiles include those with mobility impairments, cognitive limitations, unwillingness to assist, or care responsibilities for dependents. The research contributes a theoretically grounded, methodologically rigorous framework applicable to airline operational procedures and regulatory policy development. By explicating the systemic interdependencies between passenger capabilities and emergency task demands, this work advances organizational safety culture through evidence-based seat allocation protocols.

Keywords: Aviation safety, emergency evacuation, passenger selection, human factors, work domain analysis, task analysis.