In surgery, up to 70% of adverse events are attributable to failures in communication. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to critically assess the results of team training interventions used in the OR. In the 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria, there were statistically significant before-and-after improvements in teamwork practices and in some secondary outcomes such as complication rates. Our findings suggest that team training interventions have utility in enhancing team communication and cohesion. Team training interventions that are developed in response to the nuances of the context are more likely to become embedded in clinical practice. The introduction of more complex interventions has implications for resources and staffing. Further research is needed to identify and evaluate strategies that address the sustainability of complex team training interventions across multiple OR contexts.

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Abstract. Recent aircraft accidents have implicated startle as contributory, or directly causal, in situation outcome. The startle reflex is a ubiquitous response to surprising stimuli, which results in aversive movement and attentional orienting. Fear-potentiated startle, where a startling stimulus is experienced in the presence of conditions that are appraised as harmful or threatening, has the effect of initiating and exacerbating the stress response, particularly where threat persists, such as during an aircraft emergency. The deleterious effects of this stress response on cognitive function are discussed. Results from startle research in a B737 flight simulator showed considerable cognitive impairment in approximately one third of participants.

The effects of blowing dust on transport operations are often mentioned as one of the significant impacts of aeolian processes on human welfare. However, few studies have been presented to demonstrate this impact. This research examined official air traffic incident reports in Australia for inclusively 1969-2010 to characterize the hazard of blowing dust to aviation in the country, the first such study of its kind. For the 42 year record, 61 incidents were identified (mean 1.4 per annum), with the large majority occurring in the first half of the 1970s. Only 20% of incidents occurred from 1984 onwards. Australian dust activity has not decreased over time, and the reduction in incidents is partly explained by improvements in aviation technology. The centralisation of Air Traffic Control operations to major coastal cities may however have reduced pilot reporting of dust-induced aviation incidents. By type of dust activity, dust storms were associated with nearly half of the reported incidents and dust hazes produced around a quarter. Only 5% of incidents resulted in any physical damage to aircraft and only one case involving personal injury was reported. The majority of the adverse effects on aviation due to dust (nearly 60% of reported incidents) were related to difficulties for navigation and completion of scheduled journey. Since aircraft damage and bodily harm were rare, the impact of dust in Australia is mostly that of inconvenience and associated raised economic costs. From 1990, the temporal pattern of incidents does not show any significant increase despite several intensely dusty years associated with recent droughts. This suggests that Australian aviation safety may be relatively resistant to the adverse effects of atmospheric dust as a hazard.

Communication and trust are fundamental factors in the operation of complex and highly regulated industries like aviation maintenance. This article reviews two preconditions of human error: communication and trust, as well as the way these are linked as aviation researchers have only recently started to study factors not individually, but rather by combining their effects. Communication is essential in the exchange of information and knowledge in aviation maintenance. The conditions that make communication effective and miscommunication avoidable are explored. Next, ways of communication, like aircraft maintenance documentation, are discussed along with appreciation of how communication is valued in aviation maintenance. Trust within different aspects of maintenance practice (interpersonal trust, trust towards technology, initial levels of trust) is presented and analysed, as well as examined as a prerequisite of effective communication. The characteristics of trust, its forms and results are identified in the literature with limited sources from the aviation bibliography, as it is a domain barely explored. Therefore, a gap has been identified in the study of trust and the exploration of the combined traits of communication and trust in aviation maintenance. Recommendations for additional research in this field are provided.