The Analysis of Occurrences Associated with Air Traffic Volume and Air Traffic Controllers ’ Alertness for Fatigue Risk Management

AbstractFatigue is an inevitable hazard in the provision of air traffic services and it has the potential to degrade human performance leading to occurrences. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requires air navigation services which providers establish fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) based on scientific principles for the purpose of managing fatigue. To develop effective FRMSs, it is important to investigate the relationship between traffic volume, air traffic management occurrences, and fatigue. Fifty ‐seven qualified ATCOs from a European Air Navigation Services provider participated in this research by providing data indicating their alertness levels over the course of a 24‐hour period. ATCOs’ fatigue data were compared against the total of 153 occurrences and 962,328 air traffic volumes from the Eurocontrol TOKAI incident database in 2019. The result demonstrated that ATCO fatigue levels are not the main contributory factor associated with air traffic management occurrences, although fatigue did impact ATCOs’ performance. High traffic volume increases ATCO cognitive task load tha t can surpass available attention resources leading to occurrences. Furthermore, human resilience drives ATCOs to maintain operational safety though they suffer from circadian fatigue. Consequently, FRMS appropriately implemented can be used to mitigate the effects of fatigue. First‐line counterme asure strategies should focus on enough rest breaks and roster sc...
Source: Risk Analysis - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Original Research Article Source Type: research