A Research Study on Shift Work Fatigue of Air Operations Control Officer

Abstract

Purpose: Shift work can have physical and mental effects by destroying the physiological rhythm cycle by working at a times that does not match the worker’s physical and daily life rhythm. Due to the nature of its mission, the Korean Air Force performs 24-hour shift work in various fields, and this study attempted to analyze the sleep quality and mental workload of air defense operation control personnel who require shift work. Methods: Three surveys were conducted to analyze fatigue and job difficulty, etc. A general questionnaire asking about mission-related experience and demographic characteristics, the Korean version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-K), which measures sleep quality, and NASA-TLX (National Aeronautics of Space Administration-task load index), a subjective job difficulty assessment method. Results: Overall, there was no significant difference in the ‘total sleep index’ and ‘job difficulty’ as a result of comparing and analyzing the 5-team 4 shift method and other shift methods, but the ‘total sleep index’ score was analyzed twice as high as the reference score in both comparison groups. Conclusion: In order to prevent shift workers’ sleep-related fatigue and human errors that may arise from this, there is room for improvement in shift work, and as can be seen from the analysis results, it is necessary to manage the schedule by focusing on shift types rather than shift methods.

Keywords

• work
• fatigue
• humans