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ATM is currently seen by other industries as a 'High Reliability
Organisation' (HRO), although it is not fully understood why ATM is so
safe. Safety, in the levels seen in ATM, is something of an 'emergent
property', built on the professionalism within the industry, and
decades of trial and error in evolving best practices and procedures.
It is obviously desirable that ATM retains this hard-won HRO status
The most likely way ATM could lose this characteristic is via
fundamental change and particularly via the introduction of new
technology, which may radically alter the nature of the job. It is
believed that part of the resilience in ATC is due to safety culture,
which can be affected by fundamental change. Therefore, the impact of
major fundamental changes in ATM should be considered to ensure that
these changes will not result in a reduction in safety.
Three large proposed changes that will affect ATM are:
1. significant changes to the controller's tasks;
2. significant changes to the responsibilities of the controller, and
3. significant changes to the airspace itself.
These changes are planned in the form of automated tools, partial
delegation of separation duties to the cockpit, and the Single Sky
initiative.
The EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre has awarded a contract to Icon
Consulting, working with HRA, to study the first and second of these
fundamental changes.
To carry out this study we shall be reviewing previous work to
identify the possible dimensions of safety culture and then holding
discussions with a number of air traffic controllers to see if there
is a relationship between these dimensions and their own experiences.
We shall particularly be seeking examples where the introduction of
new technology or responsibilities has led to a perceived change, good
or bad, in the "safety culture" and where this can be
tracked through the dimensions.
If we are to achieve valid results we have to approach our
discussions with controllers with care. We are therefore inviting a
small number of organisations to arrange for us to meet a number of
their controllers to conduct the discussions
We are looking forward to achieving some interesting and relevant
results from the study, which will be published with summary data only
(individual responses will be anonymous) and sent to the ANSP.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this project, please
do not hesitate to contact Icon, HRA or Rachael Gordon at the
Eurocontrol Experimental Centre:
Dr Rachael Gordon
Eurocontrol Experimental Centre (EEC)
BP-15 91222 Bretigny-sur-Orge
FRANCE
Tel. +33 (0)1 6988 7867
Fax. +33 (0)1 6988 7890
rachael.gordon@eurocontrol.int
Bernard Kinchin
Icon Consulting
2nd Floor, Berkeley Square House,
Berkelely Square
London W1J 6BD UK
Tel. +44 207 494 9994
bernard.kinchin@icon-consulting.co
Dr. David Embery
Human Reliability Associates
1 School House
Higher Lane
Dalton, Lancashire
WN8 7RP UK
Tel +44 1237 463121
david.embery@humanreliability.com
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Air Traffic Management Safety Culture
