A Scale to Assess Fatigue, Concomitant Mood and Perception of Air Traffic Controllers: A Field Study

Air traffic controllers' fatigue seriously threatens aviation safety. Fatigue is able to impair the mood and perception of people and influence their performance. In order to learn the correlation between fatigue, concomitant mood and perception of air traffic controllers, a scale was developed and tested in a sample of 76 air traffic controllers on duty in a field study. The scale consisting of 7 items related to fatigue, mood, and perception, had simple instructions, and was completed with minimal time and effort adapted to field test. The fatigue, mood, and perception of air traffic controllers demonstrated very significant differences between their pre-work and post-work scores on the scale. The consistency reliabilities of the subjective scale were strong, and its validity and sensitivity compared favorably with the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. The subjective scale shall be very useful for air traffic controllers' fatigue management and benefit to aviation safety.