Cabin crew play an important role in aircraft safety, though they work in a hazardous environment. Their duties include ensuring passenger safety during normal flights and in emergencies through roles like providing medical assistance. However, cabin crew face several occupational health and safety issues like injuries from lifting passengers and luggage. Their training focuses on emergency procedures but may not adequately prepare them for medical roles or lack technical aircraft knowledge. Effective communication between cabin and flight crews is important for safety but challenges exist.

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AVIA 2100 - Week 8
Human Factors and Cabin Crew

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Cabin crew
• Cabin crew are an integral part of the aircraft operating crew
• Their role is primarily concerned with safety even though
service may take up the majority of their time

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Cabin crew
• Cabin crew are the public face of safety within the airline
environment
• The actions and lead of cabin crew will have a significant
effect on customer behaviour

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Cabin crew as employees
• Cabin crew are employees working
in a hostile environment
• On average, there are more lost-
time injuries suffered by cabin crew
than byJoggers
• Injuries to cabin crew are a serious
issue for most airlines even when
OH&S legislations does not cover
their work environment

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Cabin crew as employees
• Hazards encountered by cabin crew include
– Lifting injuries (pax, luggage, catering trolleys)
– Burns and scalds
– Turbulence related injuries
– RSI
– DVT
– Food poisoning
– Sunburn (lifestyle)
– Violent acts by passengers

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Cabin crew as employees
• Hazards can be mitigated in a number of ways:
• Procedures
– No service during turbulence
– Lifting protocols
– Reporting systems
• Ergonomics
– Design of lifting harnesses
– Design of galleys
– Design of uniforms
– Design of repeatedly used equipment e.g. trays

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Cabin crew as safety professionals
• Cabin crew have a safety role to play both in
flight and in the event of an accident
• In flight, the safety role can cover passenger
health as well as aircraft emergencies
• A level of medical training is given to all
cabin crew and equipment is carried on board
• The changing demographics of travelers has
placed new pressure upon this role

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Cabin crew as medical experts
• All cabin crew are expected to be able to
provide assistance to doctors on board or to
3rd party medical services such as MedAir
• Some airlines carry defibrillators for use by
the cabin crew
• Cabin crew must also be trained to deal with
the deceased
• Are cabin crew adequately prepared for this
role?

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• All cabin crew receive emergency procedures training both as
ab intios and annually
• Key areas are the management of evacuations, firefighting,
operating exits, teamwork and passenger management
Cabin crew as safety professionals

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• A number of accidents have highlighted the critical role that
cabin crew can play in flight
• Lack of technical knowledge has been shown to be an issue
Cabin crew as safety professionals

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Cabin crew technical knowledge
• Cabin crew don’t know what they don’t know…

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Cabin crew and CRM (Crew Resource
Management)
• Many airlines now have either separate or integrated CRM
courses for cabin crew
• For some carriers, this was a late development
• The two cultures could be very different and communication
was often very poor or non-existent

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Cabin crew and CRM
• The flight deck door was generally seen
as a barrier to communication, or indeed
an excuse
• The concept of a ‘sterile cockpit’ could
be confusing
• Neither crew seemed to understand each
other’s role and needs
• Increased security post S11 has had a
negative effect on crew communication

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The life of cabin crew
• Several human factors issues are associated with the lifestyle
including;
– Party-hard mentality
– Exposure to disease
– Isolation
– Unsociable hours
– Pace of work
– Sleep loss / disturbance
– Workplace injury
– Sexuality (STDs, discrimination, harassment)

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Aircraft emergencies
• Up to 70% of aircraft accidents are now survivable
• Assertive cabin crew can expedite emergency evacuations
• Commercial pressures threaten crew complements (1: 36 to 1:50)
• Passengers look to cabin crew for their lead

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Aircraft emergencies
• The ability of cabin crew to perform in an emergency is a
function of:
– Training
– Preparation
– Crashworthiness
– Leadership
– Equipment
– Experience

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Aircraft emergencies
• Experience of emergencies may be
very limited
• Simulation facilities tend to be
much less realistic than for flight
deck crew
• Many airlines underestimate the
need for training to de-sensitise
crew

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The future?
• Increased pressure from aging
population and increased cabin
crew to passenger ration
• Increasing threat of inflight
violence
• Larger aircraft - more difficult to
communicate
• Increase in survivable accidents?