title: When and Why Threats Go Undetected: Impacts of Event Rate and Shift Length on Threat Detection Accuracy During Airport Baggage Screening.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to assess the impact of task demands and individual characteristics on threat detection in baggage screeners.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Airport security staff work under time constraints to ensure optimal threat detection. Understanding the impact of individual characteristics and task demands on performance is vital to ensure accurate threat detection.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined threat detection in baggage screeners as a function of event rate (i.e., number of bags per minute) and time on task across 4 months. We measured performance in terms of the accuracy of detection of Fictitious Threat Items (FTIs) randomly superimposed on X-ray images of real passenger bags.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses of the percentage of correct FTI identifications (hits) show that longer shifts with high baggage throughput result in worse threat detection. Importantly, these significant performance decrements emerge within the first 10 min of these busy screening shifts only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Longer shift lengths, especially when combined with high baggage throughput, increase the likelihood that threats go undetected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Shorter shift rotations, although perhaps difficult to implement during busy screening periods, would ensure more consistently high vigilance in baggage screeners and, therefore, optimal threat detection and passenger safety.
authors.affiliation: Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia r.meuter@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Renata F I
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Meuter
authors.affiliation: Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Philippe F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Lacherez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059028:Airports; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D005222:Mental Fatigue; D008875:Middle Aged; D012637:Security Measures / Q000592:standards*; D023481:Terrorism / Q000517:prevention & control; D000066477:Work Performance / Q000592:standards*; D016526:Workload
keywords: airport security; detection performance; threat image projection; vigilance