Critical Incident Stress Management in Air Traffic Control and Its Benefits

Abstract

In 2004, we reported about a pilot study [Vogt et al., 2004] investigating the implementation of the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Program with the German Air Traffic Control Services (Deutsche Flugsicherung, DFS) under cost-benefit-considerations. The current paper describes how CISM is used in ATC and what the specific requirements in this application area are. The main DFS CISM evaluation study is then reported based upon 309 questionnaires from air traffic controllers (ATCOs), 43 questionnaires from CISM Peers, 39 interviews with operations room supervisors, and 11 interviews with top managers. The collected data confirm the results of the pilot study in that the program’s estimated fiscal benefits had exceeded the program costs several times. Moreover, the study gave information about the causal chains of critical incidents (CI) impairing certain important ATCO abilities, on-the-job behaviors, and work outputs, which in turn reduce the capacity of the individual ATCO and the whole system. The immediate application of CISM in combination with time off for the rest of the work day resulted in the lowest after-effects of the CI at work.