Development of a new concept for assessing labor intensity of civil aviation pilots

Abstract

The article describes a concept for assessing labor intensity (LI) developed by the authors. This concept is based on the results produced by comprehensive assessment of the current working conditions, by analyzing the psychophysiological state of civil aviation (CI) pilots in flight, as well as by assessing a contribution made by flight loads and signs of fatigue to an increase in a risk of aviation accidents (AA). It has been established that, according to sanitary and hygienic profiles, LI levels at all workplaces of civil aviation pilots correspond to harmful working conditions, which are aggravated by exposure to four other harmful factors (noise, microclimate, vibration, and working posture) in 48 % of cases. The research results have shown that the risks of fatigue increase significantly after 5 hours of flight. This fatigue manifests itself in the growing number of gaze fixations by 11 %; an increase in an average latency period of a complex visual-motor reaction, by 12 %; the growing number of significant errors for flight safety, by 50 %. All these processes occur in the absence of physiological recovery of the cardiovascular system, p < 0.05. Pilots who are in a state of fatigue and stress due to violated work and rest regimes tend to have more AA. This accounts for at least 8.4 % of cases from all others causes. It is proposed to introduce the 3rd degree of harmfulness for strenuous work, as well as new LI indicators for sensory, informational and intellectual loads, such as an increase in a time required to fix the gaze on a device (in %), the frequency of image / value change on a screen (times/min), the volume of information flows per unit of time (bps), and the number of multifunctional devices (more than 10 bits per second). It has been established that the assessment of LI should be supplemented with specific indicators of the flight load and work regimes. These indicators include the number of takeoffs and landings, the number of crossed time zones, the number of stress factors during a flight, and the number of night flight shifts per week. They are directly related to developing fatigue among pilots and an increased risk of AA occurrence.