Update on Safety at the
Experimental Centre
Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) for air
traffic controllers
An EEC
note was produced late in 2004 on this issue, which concerns how
controllers can be affected with affected by traumatic symptoms following
near-miss incidents. The report is written by Marc Baumgartner of Skyguide, also an ex president of the controller’s union
IFATCA. It traces the origins of critical incident stress to other fields and
includes the medical and psychological evidence for such stress occurrences. It
then explains how CISM works, and how support is being given to controllers in
a number of countries in
Root Causes of Accidents in Design
A second
note produced late in 2004 concerned the argument that 50-60% of accidents
have their roots in the design phase. This is of course a relevant argument for
the EEC, where much concept development takes place. The work by NLR & AEA
reviewed a number of different industries and showed a general stability of
this figure across all of them. The report also highlights some of the types of
design and concept planning errors that can actually lead to unsafe systems
design engineering.
Safety Managers for four Research Areas
Three safety
managers have been elected for the four research areas that will together work
towards the 2012 concept (Sector Safety & Productivity, Airports, Network
Capacity & Demand, and the System View Cell). The respective safety
managers are Eric Perrin (SSP & SVC), Paul Humphreys (APT), and Andrea Pechhacker (NCD). These three people help the research
areas determine and carry out safety activities (e.g. SAND, SAFLEARN, etc.) in
their various work packages, as directed by a Research Area Safety Plan. At
present SSP has a Safety Plan signed and enabled, the others are in various
stages of development. This working arrangement helps the research areas do the
right type and amount of safety, and ensure that the future vision of ATM is a
safe one.
EEC Safety
Co-ordinator