Article 6 INCREASING SAFETY BY STRESS MANAGEMENT

Abstract- Psychosocial factors play an important role in occupational health and safety. Stress is probably the most prevalent psychosocial problem and hence stress management ranks among the most promising health and safety promoters. This contribution deals with the stress of air traffic controllers (ATCOs) which results from workload on the one hand and the responsibility for air traffic safety on the other. Four steps in the stress management of German ATCOs will be described aiming at increasing air traffic safety and reducing stress: A current state analysis with 328 employees of the German Air Traffic Control Services (DFS) revealed a sufficient quantity and quality of safety instruments. In several field and simulation studies with 130 operational staff, the most important workload factors were identified and implemented in the work agreement. Now German controllers are paid and given breaks according to their workload measured as the number of aircraft under control, the probability of conflict situations between aircraft and pilot errors in the particular airspace, as well as the percentage of climbing/descending opposed to level flying aircraft. A simulation study with 40 air traffic controllers proved active relaxation to accelerate the recovery after work and to prevent safety problems. Controllers can experience critical incidents like separation losses between aircraft, near misses or accidents. A critical incident stress management (CISM) can support coping with these problems as a questionnaire survey with 60 air traffic controllers showed. This study was conducted for Eurocontrol, Brussels, and revealed also an improvement of safety culture by the DFS CISM programme. Moreover, an economic return on investment could be proven: Controllers reported a quicker and more sustainable recovery from critical incidents. In conclusion the DFS implemented a comprehensive safety and stress management which maintains the highest standard of air traffic safety and reduces work stress related problems. In the long run, these measures will pay off also economically