United States Department of Transportation
i
The Role of Shift Work and Fatigue in Air Traffic Control Operational Errors and Incidents
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1999-01-01
[PDF-2.24 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:This report was developed from a collaborative effort between the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute's (CAMI) Shift Work and Fatigue Research Program and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center's Fatigue Countermeasures Program. The purpose of this report was to examine existing databases to assess the extent to which shift work and fatigue might be factors associated with incidents and errors in air traffic control (ATC) operations. The first study in this report examined the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) database, a voluntary reporting system administered and maintained by NASA. The ASRS database was searched for reports concerning ATC incidents. Of the 5773 ATC reports in the database, a search of 19 fatigue-related keywords identified 153 (2.7%) reports referencing controller-related fatigue in the narrative section of the ASRS incident report. These reports spanned the years from 1988 to 1996. These reports were categorized by year of occurrence, aircraft type, fatigue category, incident type, time of day, day of the week, and lighting condition. Controller fatigue was the most commonly identified category in the 153 fatigue-related reports, followed by workload and duty or scheduling factors. Fatigue was reported as a performance-impairing factor affecting personnel at all times of the day, in all types of operations, and manifested itself in a variety of anomalies in ATC operations. The second study in this report examined the Operational Error/Deviation System (OEDS) database, a mandatory reporting system managed and operated by the FAA. A total of 3222 records was examined. These reports spanned the years from 1988 to 1994. The analyses in this study included: 1) descriptive statistics for shift work-related variables, 2) correlations between shift work variables and severity of OEDs, and 3) Chi-square analyses of causal factors and shift type. Frequency counts revealed that 80% of OEDs occurred between 0800 and 1900 and nearly 50% of errors occurred within the first 30 minutes on position, usually upon returning from a break. None of the shift work variables was a strong predictor of the severity of operational errors. Data-posting types of errors were more likely on the midnight shift, possibly reflecting declines in alertness and vigilance on that shift. Unfortunately, many of the variables related to shift schedules and fatigue were unable to support much analysis because of data quality problems and confounding with air traffic volume. To adequately assess the changes in OED rates as they relate to time of day, an estimate of exposure is needed.
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