Dubai: Airlines must strike a healthy workload balance for employees to minimise risk factors that can lead to accidents, delegates attending the World Aviation Safety Summit heard on Wednesday.
Employees in high demand, low personal control jobs within the airline industry who are micromanaged by supervisors are at risk of stress overload which can affect job performance, said Dr Mohammad Wasif Alam, director of Public Health and Safety at Dubai Health Authority.
In a presentation focused on minimising airline “accidents and near misses”, Dr Alam said the workers who are over-stressed may lose incentive, lose interest in doing a good job.
“You have no choice but to follow the boss’s order, the boss’s way,” he said, adding long-term exposure to that kind of work environment can lead to “physical and mental changes” that are detrimental to a person’s health.
On the flip side, Dr Alam suggested that employees who are given more latitude to do their jobs “are healthy people. There is a lot of work but you can do it your own way”.
Using a cockpit environment as an example, Dr Alam pointed out that for an airline captain and his or her first officer, “taking off and landing is a lot of stress”. If the person in ultimate control, the captain, is difficult to work with in a professional capacity and is too demanding, the first officer’s performance may suffer.
“If the captain is a nice person ... that first officer will excel,” Dr Alam said.
The key consideration for employers such as airlines is to determine the tipping point of stress loads on employee positions and work to stay on the positive side known as eustress, rather than allowing employees to fall into the negative, or distress.
Dr Alam said it’s no secret that working in the fast-paced airline industry requires an ability to handle stress in a good way from a variety of roles within the organisation — from pilot and air traffic controller to maintenance and ground crews.
Everyday, staff face issues such as inclement weather, delays, possible bird strikes, and drone intrusions but airline employees must maintain strict flight schedules to compete in a global market.
Flight attendants are masters of handling stressful environments everyday, he said, noting that on a recent flight that he took to the United States aboard an American-based carrier, he watched a passenger ask the attendant to lift his carry-on bag into the overhead compartment.
The United Airlines attendant replied, “You put it up,” Dr Alam said.
He said you would be hard pressed to find a flight attendant saying that to a passenger on a UAE airline.
“Can you imagine an Emirates attendant doing that? The difference in service is unbelievable,” he said, noting Emirates’ attendants would comply and “keep their smile on”.
