npor. Ing. Bc. Monika Vaňková

Content ATC Physical factors Psychological factors Prevention

Air Traffic Control servis 24 hours per a day demanding and responsible work stressful situations more airplanes = the higher workload (civil sector) variability of workload (military sector) in addition the military duties (military sector)

Factors influencing ATCs Physical – caused by - fatigue (too many shifts – permanently at work) - temperature in the room - noise - disease Psychological - during the dealing with complicated situations - stressful situations - too much responsibility for one person - private problems (in family, with love) - problems with the colleagues and the superiors

Physical factors Fatigue - temperature at the workplace is too high - after lunch - too many shifts in a short time - the time of reaction is longer - the memory is getting worse - the activity decreases - the worst consequence of the exhaustion is lossing of the attention and the higher amount of faults

Physical factors Work at night - 25 hours shifts - more difficult to stay up and concentrate on the traffic situation - it can change the biorhythm - the lack of sleep can cause worse concentration and changing of mood

Psychological factors Special responsibility - it can cause pressure on ATCs – necessity of the reliability - small mistake can bring the death of many people Experiences, knowledge and a good training - very important for doing your work at a top level - minimisation of errors

Psychological factors Time pressure - it´s important to make a quick and corect decision how to solve an air traffic situation - a lot of airplanes at the same time (posibility of miscomunication, wrong callsing, …) - emergency situation - communication failure (alfa scramble) - conflicts with pilots (leaving areas e.g. TRA without permition)

Psychological factors Attention and watchfulness - it´s necessary to maintain the attention during ATC - the reaction must be quick and in time - one hour with heavy air traffic and another one with less air traffic - deal with a lot of pieces of information about flights (route, altitude, meteo information, unknown traffic, activated areas…)

Psychological factors Separation from family - because of lack of air traffic controllers - negative influence on work because of family arguments and conflicts at home Problems at workplace - with colleagues and superiors - uncertainty of work possition - no motivation (no feedbacks) – neglecting of work

Preventive precautions Regular medical and psychological examinations Training on simulator (maintenance training with non-standard situations, emergencies, communication failure, etc.) – e.g. once a month Keeping the break between working hours (relaxing, …) 14 days of rehabilitation per a year – for relaxing and rest from ATC Lower temperature and enough light at the workplace