Application of HFACS and grounded theory for identifying risk factors of air traffic controllers’ unsafe acts

Unsafe acts of air traffic controllers (ATCers) are caused by various factors. Based on interview data and case reports, human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) and the grounded theory were adopted to identify the risk factors of ATCers’ unsafe acts comprehensively. The interview data and the case data issued by the authority were first collected. Then, the above data were encoded to obtain the relevant concepts and categories based on the grounded theory, and the HFACS model is used to classify the concepts and categories. Finally, the relationship between the core category and the secondary category was sorted out in the way of storyline. The results show that the risk factors include environmental factors, organizational influences, unsafe supervision and controllers’ states, and the unsafe acts manifest as errors and violations. Among them, the controllers’ states are intermediate variable, and other factors indirectly affect the controllers’ unsafe acts. The first three risk factors with high frequency in unsafe incidents are technical environment, mental states and business ability. The three most common unsafe acts are giving the wrong order, insufficient situational awareness, and poor work order on-site. Through combining HFACS framework and grounded theory to analyze data, a more clear and comprehensive conceptual model of risk factors of ATCers’ unsafe acts can be obtained.