ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this cross-sectional survey study was to investigate the prevalence of presenteeism, attending work when ill, among Swedish commercial airline pilots and how presenteeism relates to mental health and flight safety.

Background: Pilots are regulated to refrain from duty when their mental or physical state could endanger safety. Still, the human factor is the greatest contributor to aviation accidents, and mishaps are attributed to human unfitness (physical or mental state of the operator), suggesting that pilots might engage in presenteeism. Presenteeism and its consequences have been studied across several occupational groups, but until now pilots have been neglected.

Method: Data were collected using an online self-report questionnaire (N = 1,133) consisting of items investigating presenteeism, mental health, and self-reported error rates.

Results: Results demonstrated that 63% of the pilots exhibited acts of inappropriate presenteeism in the past year. Inappropriate presentee pilots and pilots with poor recovery in terms of feelings of rest, physical and mental tiredness, and work-related worry, were also more likely to report committing 5 or more errors when on flight duty in the past 12 months. This relationship was not mediated by mental health, as shown in previous research.

Conclusion: This study indicates that pilots operate in states that could jeopardize flight safety and that current regulations might be insufficient to ensure safe flight operations.

摘要

目的：这项横断面调查研究的目的是调查瑞典商业航空公司飞行员中的出席感发生率，生病时的工作情况以及出席感与精神健康和飞行安全之间的关系。

背景：飞行员受到管制，以免其精神或身体状况可能危及安全。尽管如此，人为因素仍是造成航空事故的最大因素，而不幸事故则归因于人的不适应（操作员的身体或精神状态），这表明飞行员可能参与了现场表演。表现主义及其后果已经在多个职业群体中进行了研究，但是直到现在，飞行员都被忽略了。

方法：使用在线自我报告调查表（N = 1,133）收集数据，该调查表由调查出席感，心理健康和自我报告错误率的项目组成。

结果：结果表明，在过去的一年中，有63％的飞行员表现出不当礼物的行为。在过去12个月的飞行执勤中，不适当的演示者飞行员以及在休息感觉，身心疲劳以及与工作相关的忧虑方面恢复能力差的飞行员也更有可能报告犯下5个或更多个错误。如先前的研究所示，这种关系不是由心理健康来调节的。

结论：这项研究表明，飞行员在可能危害飞行安全的州运营，而目前的法规可能不足以确保飞行安全。