MADRID, 13 (EUROPEAN PRESS)

Between this Thursday and Friday, Enaire held a meeting on critical incident stress management (CISM) with representatives from Eurocontrol and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with experts from Australia, Austria, USA, Qatar, Ireland, Greece, Poland, UK, Sweden and Spain.

Enaire’s general director, ngel Luis Arias, opened the first day in which he pointed out that air traffic management “is a very complex technical system operating in a changing environment”, so “adaptability and flexibility” are needed to keep the system safe. .

Enaire has consolidated its CISM program by setting the standards set by Eurocontrol and the Critical Incident Stress Foundation, which includes updated manuals, protocols and training.

In general, members of certain professional groups, such as emergency services, pilots or air traffic controllers, are better equipped to handle unusual situations, due to their experience and training.

However, there are events that go beyond the professional experience itself, which can be potentially traumatic, and are defined as critical incidents, as Enaire points out in a press release.

A critical incident is any situation, whether professional or personal, that occurs suddenly or unexpectedly and has the potential to cause an extremely high stress reaction that can manifest itself in a variety of ways, and that affects professionals while doing their job as beacons or in the workplace. control room.

Enaire’s CISM Program or Critical Incident Stress Management Program is a short-term assistance process, aimed at promoting natural resistance to return to normal functioning, and is structured through a ‘peer’ model.

A ‘peer’ is a voluntary operational air traffic controller, selected and trained to support any colleague who needs their assistance, in a strictly confidential manner.

The ‘peer’ team, made up of more than 50 colleagues, is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, as sharing a common language “facilitates understanding and makes assistance much more effective”.

Mental health and organizational practice in critical incident stress management has been addressed by Steven Shorrock, Human Factors Specialist at Eurocontrol, and Jóhann Wium Magnússon, from ICAO’s Section of Aviation Medicine.