1. History
Wars
Accidents
Emergency Services
Daily Operations

2. CRITICAL INCIDENT
any event that has the potential to create significant human distress and to overwhelm someone’s usual coping mechanisms

3. Critical Incident Stress
Normal Reaction to Abnormal Event
Critical Incident
Stress Management
Critical Incident Stress Management
Critical Incident Stress
Management

4. Psychological First Aid Confidential
Voluntary
Not Counselling
Psychological First Aid
Confidential
Peer Support
Peer support personnel have a
credibility that no academic
training programme can provide!

5. Individual Intervention
Group Intervention
Crisis Management Briefing

6. Individual Intervention (Defusing)
Within 12 hours
Peer Support
minutes

7. Group Intervention (Defusing)
Within 12 hours
Peer Support
Small Groups (max 4)
minutes

8. Group Intervention High Impact Events Within 7 days
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
High Impact Events
Within 7 days
Peer and Clinical Support
1 - 3 hours
Highly Structured

9. Crisis Management Briefing
Provide information
Provide a sense of leadership
Reduce sense of chaos
Enhance credibility
Rumour control
Provide coping resources
Engender cohesion and morale
Re-establish a sense of community/social cohesion
Psychological screening

10. 2004
ATCOs only
2006; Engineers
2008; Award for Outstanding Achievement
2010; All Personnel
2011; CISM for Managers

11. 40 Individual Defusings per month 2 CISDs per year 220 Defusers
2010
40 Individual Defusings per month
2 CISDs per year
220 Defusers
15 Interventionists
19 Units

12. DOES IT WORK?
"I do not doubt that CISM played a crucial part in helping my staff to
come to terms with this incident and cope emotionally."
Debbie Westley, ATC Watch Supervisor
“I’m really grateful to the controller who ‘defused’ us. They were available immediately and although I didn’t think it was something that I needed, it was really valuable to have done it.”
Jill Martin, Flight Information Service Officer (FISO)

13. £ € $ IS IT WORTH IT? ATC Case Study: 11 Senior Managers
38 Operational Managers
352 ATCOs
11 Units
66 Incidents
48 Incidents followed by CISM intervention $
Case Study: Human Performance and Air Traffic Management WHITE PAPER, EUROCONTROL, September 2010

14. IS IT WORTH IT? Every € returns 3.6 times
IS IT WORTH IT? €
ATC Case Study:
CISM
Reduced emotional stability
Performance unaffected
No loss of productivity
ATC Case Study:
NON-CISM
Reduced emotional stability
Impairment of traffic flow
Delays of flights
10% Loss of productivity over 7.7 days $
IS IT WORTH IT? Every € returns 3.6 times
Case Study: Human Performance and Air Traffic Management WHITE PAPER, EUROCONTROL, September 2010

15. CISM has become a standard part of an SMS in ANSPs world wide.
CONCLUSION
CISM has become a standard part of an SMS in ANSPs world wide.
There is no reason to believe that CISM would not work in any other Aviation SMS

16. Any questions?