NASA Controller Fatigue Assessment Report - Faa.gov

DOT/FAA/HFD-13/001Federal Aviation AdministrationEvaluating the Effectiveness ofSchedule Changes for Air TrafficService (ATS) Providers:Controller Alertness and FatigueMonitoring StudyJudith Orasanu, Ph.D., NASA Ames Research CenterBonny Parke, Ph.D., San Jose State UniversityNorbert Kraft, M.D., San Jose State UniversityYuri Tada, Ph.D., San Jose State UniversityAlan Hobbs, Ph.D., San Jose State UniversityBarrett Anderson, San Jose State UniversityLori McDonnell, San Jose State UniversityVicki Dulchinos, San Jose State UniversityDecember 2012Technical ReportThis document is available to the public through the National TechnicalInformation Service (NTIS), Alexandria, VA 22312. A copy is retained forreference at the Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors Division’sLibrary.U.S. Department of TransportationFederal Aviation Administration

NOTICEThis document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department ofTransportation in the interest of information exchange. The United StatesGovernment assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. The UnitedStates Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade ormanufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essentialto the objective of this report. This document does not constitute FederalAviation Administration (FAA) certification policy. Consult your local FAAaircraft certification office as to its use.

1. Report No.Technical Report Documentation Page2. Government Accession No.3. Recipient’s Catalog No.DOT/FAA/HFD-13/0014. Title and Subtitle5. Report DateEvaluating the Effectiveness of Schedule Changes for Air Traffic Service (ATS) Providers:Controller Alertness and Fatigue Monitoring StudyDecember 20126. Performing Organization CodeNASA Ames Research Center7. Author(s)8. Performing Organization Report No.Judith Orasanu, Ph.D., NASA Ames Research CenterBonny Parke, Ph.D. and Norbert Kraft, M.D., San Jose State UniversityYuri Tada, Ph.D., Alan Hobbs, Ph.D., Barrett Anderson, Lori McDonnell, and VickiDulchinos, San Jose State University9. Performing Organization Name and Address10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)NASA Ames Research CenterMoffett Field, CA 94025-000111. Contract or Grant No.12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address13. Type of Report and Period CoveredFederal Aviation AdministrationHuman Factors DivisionMail Stop: ANG-C1 Room 932800 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, DC 20059Technical Note14. Sponsoring Agency CodeANG-C115. Supplementary Notes16. AbstractThe FAA’s Fatigue Risk Management Program is developing a Fatigue Risk Management System that will include science-based shiftscheduling and other strategies designed to maintain air traffic controllers’ alertness over the 24-hour clock and to reduce negativeimpacts of fatigue on Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations. NASA was tasked with conducting research to provide up-to-dateknowledge about the state of controller shift work, sleep, alertness and factors contributing to controller fatigue. To that end, the NASAresearch team conducted a two-pronged effort: a web-based survey of fatigue factors that was available to the entire ATC workforce anda field study that obtained objective measures of sleep, fatigue and alertness in a sample of controllers from selected facilities, includingEn Route Centers, TRACONs, and ATC Towers. During 2010, 3,268 United States ATC personnel completed the online fatigue survey.The field study resulted in complete data being obtained from 211 controllers working at 30 facilities across the country. Data consistedof 14 days of continuous sleep and activity monitoring using wrist-worn actigraphs, daily sleep and activity logs, a brief objective measureof alertness, and subjective ratings of sleepiness and workload. The purpose of the present study was to establish a quantified baseline forevaluating the impact of the FAA’s planned fatigue risk mitigation strategies. Findings also will identify factors affecting fatigue and assistin targeting and designing future research areas. Results from this study were compared to those obtained from a 1999 survey (DellaRocco et al., 2000a) and several field studies conducted by the FAA between 1995-2005 (Della Rocco & Cruz, 1995; Cruz & Della Rocco,1995b; Della Rocco & Cruz, 1996; Della Rocco et al., 2000b; Cruz et al., 2002; Della Rocco & Nesthus, 2005; Broach & Schroeder,2005).17. Key Words18. Distribution StatementAir Traffic ControlFatigueHuman PerformanceShift WorkThis document is available to the public through theNational Technical Information Service, Alexandria,Virginia, 22312. A copy is retained for reference at theFederal Aviation Administration Human FactorsDivision’s Library.19. Security Classification (of this report)UnclassifiedForm DOT F 1700.7 (8-72)20. Security Classification (of this page)UnclassifiedReproduction of completed page authorized21. No. of Pages20622. Price

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe FAA Human Factors Division coordinated the research requirement, and its principalrepresentative acquired, funded, and technically managed the execution of the research service underFAA/NASA Interagency Agreement #DTFAWA08-X-80020. The FAA sponsor for the work is the FAAATO Safety and Technical Training Fatigue Risk Management Program Office. We are grateful to ourFAA Program Managers Edmundo A. Sierra, Dino Piccione and Paul Krois, and to our FAA Sponsors,Ken Myers, who initiated the study, and Frederick L. Huss, our present sponsor, for their continuingadvice and support throughout this study. We also express our thanks to members of the FAA/NATCAArticle 55 Fatigue Risk Management Work Group for their suggestions on design of the project. TomNesthus of the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) generously shared his experience andlessons learned from prior Air Traffic Control fatigue investigations. Conduct of this study was truly ajoint effort involving many people from numerous organizations in the FAA, NASA and the scientificcommunity. Initial design of the study benefitted from input from the scientific advisors to the FAA’sFatigue Risk Management Program Office, especially Steve Hursh and Melissa Mallis. Execution of thestudy would have been impossible without the ongoing support and assistance of members of theFAA’s Fatigue Risk Management Program Office, led by Rick Huss, including Dave Buczek, ShayneCampbell, Annie Glenn, and Bill Yoder. Jeff Richards provided invaluable assistance in working withthe facilities to conduct the field study. Edward Austrian, Katherine Berry, and Michael Sawyer providedtechnical input to the final version of this report. We especially want to thank the FAA air traffic controlpersonnel who gave their time to participate in the survey and the field study. Without their input thisproject would not have been possible.The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Howard Houben, who facilitated dataanalysis.We also thank Alonso Vera, Chief, Human Systems Integration Division, and Mary M. Connors, DeputyChief, Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames Research Center, for their continuingsupport, which enabled completion of this project. Thanks also are extended to Kevin Jordan of SanJose State University for his contributions throughout the study.

PREFACEThe NASA research team consisted of two coordinated and interleaved work teams that each hadprimary responsibility for one component of the project. Dr. Bonny Parke led the Fatigue FactorsSurvey team, which included Dr. Alan Hobbs, Lori McDonnell, and Vicki Dulchinos. Dr. Parke’s teamdesigned, conducted, analyzed, and wrote the survey report. The CAFM Field Study team was led byDr. Norbert Kraft, and included Barrett Anderson and Lori McDonnell. Dr. Kraft’s team designed thefield study, trained participants at various field locations, managed collection of the objective field studydata, and contributed to the final report. Our statistical expert, Dr. Yuri Tada, conducted the analyses ofthe field study data and contributed to writing the Results section of the field study report.

FAA FOREWORDThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long considered the operational impacts of humanfatigue on Air Traffic Control (ATC) performance and safety. In October 2009, the FAA’s Air TrafficOrganization (ATO) established the Fatigue Risk Management Team (FRMT), formally committingresources to the topic of fatigue risk and the managed improvement of operational fatigue safety. InJuly 2011, the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) signed aMemorandum of Understanding that contained agreements on a set of fatigue related mitigations,which are on track for completion. In June 2012, the FAA implemented an ATO Fatigue RiskManagement System (FRMS), with Agency and union membership on the Fatigue Safety SteeringCommittee. The FRMS will institutionalize the goal of effective management of operational fatigue risk,executed in alignment with FAA’s Safety Management System (SMS) principles.The NASA Controller Alertness and Fatigue Monitoring Study (CAFMS) was sponsored and monitoredby the FRMT, which partnered with NATCA to assist with the design, planning and execution of thiscomprehensive ATC research. The FAA Human Factors Division provided funding and managementfor the project. The results of this study will establish a body of objective data from which to identifyfatigue hazard areas and identify future research areas.The ATO has recognized that the complex challenges of human fatigue cannot be solved with a singleremedy. Thus, the ATO is addressing this important safety issue in the ATC workforce with acomprehensive, multi-layered approach to fatigue risk mitigation. The elements of this approachinclude: Establishing a scientific understanding of the operational fatigue landscape through:o a comprehensive fatigue research agenda,o data collection, fusion and analysis, ando fatigue modeling, all focusing on the fatigue challenges in the ATC shiftwork environment. Providing fatigue education, training and promotion within a broad fatigue safety awarenesscampaign that informs new hires, controllers, managers and all elements of the FAA that influenceATC operational fatigue. Collaborating with FAA Aerospace Medicine on sleep disorders, with specific attention toobstructive sleep apnea. Providing science-based recommendations within the joint FRMS to improve fatigue safety throughpolicy evolution.NASA Ames has provided an independent source of data, which will potentially assist the FAA andNATCA in implementing risk mitigation initiatives and which will identify the need for further researchand data collection.