Human Factors in Aviation Considers Stress both Domestic and Work Related

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Introduction

Stress is often associated with anxiety, fear, fatigue, and hostility. It can also arise as a result of feelings of inadequacy, where we may feel we don't have the appropriate experience, knowledge, or capability to complete our allocated tasks.

All these feelings can have a direct and negative impact on performance. In fact, our performance will generally improve with the onset of stress however it will then peak and begin to degrade rapidly as stress levels exceed our abilities to handle the situation.

What is Stress?

Stress is the high level of emotional arousal typically associated with an overload of mental and/or physical activity. Stress is an inevitable and necessary part of life. It can motivate us as well as heighten our response to meeting the challenges we face.

Stress is often described as being insidious; that is, it develops slowly and has a gradual and cumulative effect. It can be well established before we are aware that it is degrading our performance.

We may think that we are handling everything quite well, when in fact there are subtle signs that our performance has degraded to a point where we can no longer respond appropriately. 

This stress tolerance level is based on our ability to cope with a given set of circumstances. If the number or intensity of stressors becomes too great, we can become overloaded. At this point, our performance begins to decline and our judgment deteriorates.

What Causes Stress - Domestic

Any changes in personal circumstances such as marital separation, bereavement, difficult family affairs, or financial concerns can lead to stress and affect our emotional state.

Domestic stress typically results from major life changes such as divorce, the birth of a child, or the death of a family member or close friend.

Preoccupation with domestic stress can play on our mind during working hours, distracting us from our tasks.

This inability to concentrate fully may affect task performance, error rates and our ability to pay sufficient attention to safety.

What Causes Stress - Work-Related

Work-related stress may include real or imagined commercial pressures as well as economic considerations.

Unfortunately admitting to suffering from these stresses is often viewed by co-workers as an admission of weakness or failure. Early symptoms of stress such as depression or sleep disruption are often denied. In this situation, we tend to look for other ways to cope with our high levels of stress, such as aggression, drugs or alcohol.

Typical Stress Components

▪ Physical, such as heat, cold, noise, or the onset of fatigue;
▪ Psychological, such as worries about real or imagined problems (e.g. financial problems, ill health, etc.);
▪ Reactive, such as events occurring in everyday life (e.g. working under unrealistic time pressure, bullying, encountering unexpected situations, etc.)

Stress Symptoms

▪ Physiological symptoms, such as sweating, dryness of the mouth, etc.;
▪ Health effects, such as nausea, headaches, sleep problems, stomach upsets;
▪ Behavioral symptoms, such as restlessness, shaking, nervous laughter, taking too long to perform tasks, changes to appetite, excessive drinking or smoking;
▪ Cognitive effects, such as poor concentration, indecision, forgetfulness, etc.;
▪ Subjective effects, such as anxiety, irritability, depression, moodiness, aggression, etc.

How to Cope with Stress

By identifying and dealing with the source of the stress, rather than just the symptoms.

Delegate workload when necessary, appropriately prioritize tasks and sort out problems rather than letting them fester. We cannot always change the situation - it may be outside our control - but even when this is the case, there are a number of coping strategies we can use.

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