Commercial and Business Aviation Advisory Circulars

Managing Disruptive and Unruly Passenger Behaviour

PURPOSE

This Commercial & Business Aviation Advisory Circular (CBAAC) provides air operators with guidance to assist them in developing a program for detecting, preventing and eliminating potential incidents of disruptive and unruly passenger behaviour, and for effectively managing such incidents when they do occur, either at the check-in counter, at the gate or on-board aircraft.

This Advisory Circular applies to all air operators insofar as it relates to their type of operation.

REFERENCES

• Canada Labour Code, Part II, Occupational Safety and Health
• Flight Attendant Training Standard (TP 12296), Transport Canada
• Commercial Air Service Standard 725.124 (39), Transport Canada
• "Guidelines for Handling Disruptive/Unruly Passengers", International Air Transport Association, 1st edition, 1998 12 01

BACKGROUND

Part II of the Canada Labour Code requires that employees must have a safe place to work in, where their health is never compromised. It also stipulates that employees have the right to be made aware of any known or foreseeable hazards in the workplace and employers are required to provide the proper training to deal with these hazards. Violence in the workplace is recognized as a foreseeable hazard.

With the rising number of reported cases of passengers interfering with aviation company personnel inside the terminal building and crew members on-board aircraft, and in view of the impact such behaviour has in the workplace, Transport Canada strongly recommends that air operators establish policies that will ensure that employees are able to effectively manage such cases.

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Air operators should develop a policy with a pro-active approach that reflects the concern and commitment to minimizing the risk to their employees from verbal to actual physical assault by one or more passengers. The policy should be developed in agreement with the safety and health committee or representative, thus ensuring that both management and employees have an opportunity to design a mechanism that suits the needs of everyone involved. The safety and health committee or representative should also be involved in any investigation following an unruly passenger incident and be able to gather information that could be used to examine trends relating to unruly and disruptive behaviour in view of improving the air operator’s policy.

The policy should also be distributed throughout the organization so that all employees are aware of the mechanism in place for managing disruptive and unruly passenger behaviour. It should address the importance of early detection of such behaviour, thus reducing the risk or preventing the occurrence of such behaviour on-board aircraft. Disruptive and unruly behaviour may not always be apparent at the check-in counter or in the screening area. However, it is often more noticeable in the controlled waiting area. It is there that passengers will most likely demonstrate some type of behaviour that can be detected by personnel before boarding takes place.

The cornerstone of a good policy is ensuring that all personnel working with the travelling public receive the proper training. Air operators employing flight attendants are already required to provide training in accordance with the Flight Attendant Training Standard (TP 12296).

Training points involving detection and prevention of unruly or disruptive passenger behaviour can be linked through the following training points required by TP 12296:

• 3.6A.1  Identify the requirement for passengers to comply with instructions of crew members.
• 3.6A.4  Identify the air operator’s policy for accepting or denying boarding to passengers and who is responsible for making this decision.
• 3.6A.6  Outline the regulatory requirements regarding passengers who appear to be impaired due to alcohol or drugs, and the air operator’s policies and procedures regarding alcohol service to passengers. Include crew responsibilities in serving alcohol to passengers who appear to be impaired.

Furthermore, Commercial Air Service Standard 725.124 (39) entitled Crew Resource Management Training states in part that initial training is required for all crew members and shall cover:

1. attitudes and behaviour;
2. communication skills;
3. human factors;
4. conflict resolution.

Skills obtained through the instruction of these subjects are not limited to interaction amongst crew members, but can be applied when dealing with unruly passengers.

All employees who deal with the travelling public should be trained. The training program should address the following, but is not limited to:

1. employee familiarization with the air operator’s policy;
2. hazards associated with unruly and disruptive passenger behaviour;
3. the importance of preventing passengers exhibiting unruly and disruptive behaviour from boarding the aircraft and responsibilities of employees involved in this action;
4. the role of the pilot-in-command as decision maker when dealing with incidents occurring on-board aircraft in flight;
5. in the case of a flight where there is one flight attendant or no flight attendant, identify the resources and methods available for dealing with an incident;
6. identification of factors which influence behaviour, their causes and effects;
7. identification of the types of unruly and disruptive behaviour and coping mechanisms for each;
8. methods of coping with verbal or physical assault from a passenger;
9. the proper use of restraints for those air operators who use such devices;
10. reporting incidents of unruly and disruptive passengers to the air operator, the police and other authorities;
11. knowledge of the laws that prohibit acts of violence or disturbance of public peace, such as the Criminal Code;
12. gathering evidence at the time of the incident;
13. providing statements from employees and witnesses to the police authorities;
14. what to expect if required to testify in court;
15. identification of mechanisms used by the air operator to support an employee subjected to physical or verbal assault by a passenger.

This training should be integrated in the air operator’s initial and recurrent training programs.

Managers and supervisors should also be aware of their roles and responsibilities with respect to the air operator’s policy and procedures.

Air operators should establish procedures clearly explaining actions to be taken when a passenger interferes with a crew member. Whenever possible, such actions should be progressive, becoming increasingly more stringent if the passenger does not co-operate with the employee. Air operators should also establish a policy for initiating legal action, in all cases, against passengers who have exhibited disruptive and unruly behaviour.

Transport Canada has developed an incident reporting model form in which the three following levels of incidents are described

1. minor incident;
2. moderate interference with crew members;
3. serious safety concerns for passengers and crew.

This categorization will facilitate the reporting of the incident and enable employees to decide on the best way to deal with it.

Air operators should use this form to report incidents to Transport Canada, who will use the information for statistical purposes. Air operators should also put a procedure in place to ensure that the incident reports are filed. The form will also assist Transport Canada, the regulating body, in ensuring the safety and health of employees and the safety of the flying public, identifying trends, examining root causes, and evaluating the effectiveness of remedial actions by regulatory authorities and industry.

CONCLUSION

The guidelines enunciated above should be of assistance to air operators in developing their own program for dealing with unruly and disruptive passenger behaviour, starting with the development of a pro-active policy where both management and employees commit to working together in reaching the ultimate goal of eliminating these types of incidents.

M.R. Preuss
Director
Commercial & Business Aviation