Maintenance Powerplant; Maintenance Airframe
Communication Breakdown; Distraction; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Chart Or Publication; Procedure; Human Factors; Company Policy
April 2013. My partner and I were assigned to take over a window shade replacement on the overwing emergency escape door. Removal of the door is necessary requiring disarming the Off-Wing Escape System. Job Card 25-92-03; as well as the Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) references were on hand and utilized. With the start of the Arm/Disarm procedure; a 'Caution' about personal hazard and aircraft damage was called out on the Job Card; which referred you to Maintenance Manual 25-65-00-442. It was a procedure to check for the possibility of stray voltage before installation of the electrical connectors (4 total) to the squibs [for the overwing slide]. A multi-meter; as well as an [electrical] shunt; could not be located. Multi-meter COM1793 or shunt were not at ZZZ; or anywhere that could be located. Management instructed us to proceed without testing for stray voltage; and also that they would assume responsibility; should the slide deploy. We 'Armed' the Off-Wing Escape System without incident as instructed. We were also told that Technical Support and the Training module said that once we started using the Maintenance Job Card; to not use any of the Maintenance Manual instructions within the Maintenance Job Card. The whole time we were being pressured to get the job completed; and the Manager could not understand why we wanted to refer to the Maintenance Manual; and not just complete the job.
Two Aircraft Maintenance Technicians (AMTs) were directed by a Maintenance Manager to ignore the 'Caution' instructions and Maintenance Manual (M/M) references in a Arm/Disarm Job Card for the Overwing Escape Slide System; before attaching four electrical connectors to slide squibs; on a B757-200 aircraft.