DOT/FAA/HFD-13/001 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Federal Aviation Administration Schedule Changes for Air Traffic Service (ATS) Providers: Controller Alertness and Fatigue Monitoring Study Judith Orasanu, Ph.D., NASA Ames Research Center Bonny Parke, Ph.D., San Jose State University Norbert Kraft, M.D., San Jose State University Yuri Tada, Ph.D., San Jose State University Alan Hobbs, Ph.D., San Jose State University Barrett Anderson, San Jose State University Lori McDonnell, San Jose State University Vicki Dulchinos, San Jose State University December 2012 Technical Report This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Alexandria, VA 22312. A copy is retained for reference at the Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors Division’s Library. U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration NOTICE This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. This document does not constitute Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification policy. Consult your local FAA aircraft certification office as to its use. Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No. DOT/FAA/HFD-13/001 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Evaluating the Effectiveness of Schedule Changes for Air Traffic Service (ATS) Providers: December 2012 Controller Alertness and Fatigue Monitoring Study 6. Performing Organization Code NASA Ames Research Center 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Judith Orasanu, Ph.D., NASA Ames Research Center Bonny Parke, Ph.D. and Norbert Kraft, M.D., San Jose State University Yuri Tada, Ph.D., Alan Hobbs, Ph.D., Barrett Anderson, Lori McDonnell, and Vicki Dulchinos, San Jose State University 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94025-0001 11. Contract or Grant No. 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Federal Aviation Administration Technical Note Human Factors Division Mail Stop: ANG-C1 Room 932 14. Sponsoring Agency Code 800 Independence Avenue, S.W. ANG-C1 Washington, DC 20059 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract The FAA’s Fatigue Risk Management Program is developing a Fatigue Risk Management System that will include science-based shift scheduling and other strategies designed to maintain air traffic controllers’ alertness over the 24-hour clock and to reduce negative impacts of fatigue on Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations. NASA was tasked with conducting research to provide up-to-date knowledge about the state of controller shift work, sleep, alertness and factors contributing to controller fatigue. To that end, the NASA research team conducted a two-pronged effort: a web-based survey of fatigue factors that was available to the entire ATC workforce and a field study that obtained objective measures of sleep, fatigue and alertness in a sample of controllers from selected facilities, including En 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 consisted of 14 days of continuous sleep and activity monitoring using wrist-worn actigraphs, daily sleep and activity logs, a brief objective measure of alertness, and subjective ratings of sleepiness and workload. The purpose of the present study was to establish a quantified baseline for evaluating the impact of the FAA’s planned fatigue risk mitigation strategies. Findings also will identify factors affecting fatigue and assist in targeting and designing future research areas. Results from this study were compared to those obtained from a 1999 survey (Della Rocco 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 Words 18. Distribution Statement Air Traffic Control This document is available to the public through the Fatigue National Technical Information Service, Alexandria, Human Performance Virginia, 22312. A copy is retained for reference at the Shift Work Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors Division’s Library. 19. Security Classification (of this report) 20. Security Classification (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 206 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The FAA Human Factors Division coordinated the research requirement, and its principal representative acquired, funded, and technically managed the execution of the research service under FAA/NASA Interagency Agreement #DTFAWA08-X-80020. The FAA sponsor for the work is the FAA ATO Safety and Technical Training Fatigue Risk Management Program Office. We are grateful to our FAA 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 continuing advice and support throughout this study. We also express our thanks to members of the FAA/NATCA Article 55 Fatigue Risk Management Work Group for their suggestions on design of the project. Tom Nesthus of the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) generously shared his experience and lessons learned from prior Air Traffic Control fatigue investigations. Conduct of this study was truly a joint effort involving many people from numerous organizations in the FAA, NASA and the scientific community. Initial design of the study benefitted from input from the scientific advisors to the FAA’s Fatigue Risk Management Program Office, especially Steve Hursh and Melissa Mallis. Execution of the study would have been impossible without the ongoing support and assistance of members of the FAA’s Fatigue Risk Management Program Office, led by Rick Huss, including Dave Buczek, Shayne Campbell, Annie Glenn, and Bill Yoder. Jeff Richards provided invaluable assistance in working with the facilities to conduct the field study. Edward Austrian, Katherine Berry, and Michael Sawyer provided technical input to the final version of this report. We especially want to thank the FAA air traffic control personnel who gave their time to participate in the survey and the field study. Without their input this project would not have been possible. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Howard Houben, who facilitated data analysis. We also thank Alonso Vera, Chief, Human Systems Integration Division, and Mary M. Connors, Deputy Chief, Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames Research Center, for their continuing support, which enabled completion of this project. Thanks also are extended to Kevin Jordan of San Jose State University for his contributions throughout the study. PREFACE The NASA research team consisted of two coordinated and interleaved work teams that each had primary responsibility for one component of the project. Dr. Bonny Parke led the Fatigue Factors Survey team, which included Dr. Alan Hobbs, Lori McDonnell, and Vicki Dulchinos. Dr. Parke’s team designed, conducted, analyzed, and wrote the survey report. The CAFM Field Study team was led by Dr. Norbert Kraft, and included Barrett Anderson and Lori McDonnell. Dr. Kraft’s team designed the field study, trained participants at various field locations, managed collection of the objective field study data, and contributed to the final report. Our statistical expert, Dr. Yuri Tada, conducted the analyses of the field study data and contributed to writing the Results section of the field study report. FAA FOREWORD The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long considered the operational impacts of human fatigue on Air Traffic Control (ATC) performance and safety. In October 2009, the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) established the Fatigue Risk Management Team (FRMT), formally committing resources to the topic of fatigue risk and the managed improvement of operational fatigue safety. In July 2011, the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) signed a Memorandum 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 Risk Management System (FRMS), with Agency and union membership on the Fatigue Safety Steering Committee. 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 monitored by the FRMT, which partnered with NATCA to assist with the design, planning and execution of this comprehensive ATC research. The FAA Human Factors Division provided funding and management for the project. The results of this study will establish a body of objective data from which to identify fatigue hazard areas and identify future research areas. The ATO has recognized