Safety in the Aviation Industry - Essay Example

Fatigue Risk Management System AC120-103A Name: Unit: Date: Fatigue Risk Management System AC120-103A In the airline industry, safety is of paramount importance. The long experience in the safe flight of both passengers and cargo have given the air transport industry a great understanding of having an alert and rested crewmembers (Romig & Klemets, 2009). It is identifiable that pilot has rest requirements which are important and supported by scientific evidence. This leads to support for the scientifically validated and data-driven means to reduce fatigue and ensure there are tangible benefits in safety (Goode, 2003). The Advisory Circular (AC) issued by the US Department of Transport is meant to provide guidelines on coming up with effective fatigue education and awareness training program. The guidelines given in the AC should be applied by the certificate holders who conduct their operations under the Title 14 based on the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 117. The concept of the Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) is described based on the Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 117, & 117.7 (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). The AC gives information on the FRMS components and how they are applied within the operators in aviation industry. Despite not being mandatory, the AC gives vital information on developing the FRMS application. Before proceeding on the AC, there is need to define some of the terms used. Fatigue is a psychological state where a person suffers a reduction in the mental and physical performance capability (Gander, 2015). This may be caused due to lack of adequate sleep and an increase in the physical ability. A crewmember suffering from fatigue has reduced alertness and is unable to operate the aircraft safely or carry out related duties. Fit for duty implies being physically and mentally ready and capable of carrying the assigned duty with the highest degree of safety. The crew member is supposed to be properly rested to assume the function. Acute fatigue has been closely associated with recent sleep. This is sleep within in a period of the last 24 hours. Those having less than 8 hours of sleep for a period of 24 hours or are awake for over 17 hours and working between midnight and 0600 having high likelihood of developing acute fatigue. Normal, abnormal and diseased areas on the body can be detected through use of biomarkers. Chronic fatigue occurs when a person gets less than 8 hours of sleep for multiple days. Circadian fatigue occurs during the circadian low especially during night time and is evidenced by reduced performance. Circadian rhythm is a daily behaviour and psychology alternation which is controlled by the brain. A mild sleep restriction for a long period leads to cumulative fatigue (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). FRMS is defined as an optional approach which is used in prescriptive regulations. It is developed as an alternative method of compliance (AMOC). This is meant to prescribe the limitations which are based on the objective performance standards. If a certificate holder is capable of demonstrating effective AMOC, they should be authorized to apply the FRMS to any part of in all operations. Unlike the fatigue risk management plan, which is a requirement to the certificate holders based on part 121, FRMS acts as an AMOC, which can prescribe the limitations which can be implemented by the certificate holders to manage fatigue and carry out mitigation measures. FRMS can be described as a data-driven system which is largely based on the scientific principles and scientific knowledge. This helps in ensuring that there are continuous monitoring and management for the risks posed by fatigue to safety. FRMS acts as a fatigue mitigation tool which can minimise the acute and chronic fatigue and also manage potential outcomes of fatigue. The FRMS by the certificate holders are designed with an aim of ensuring that the flight crew members are alert (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). This ensures that they can successfully perform their duties. In the aviation industry, the main causes of fatigue are timing, quality and daily amount of sleep. This is also known as the sleep-wake schedule. The amount of time that has passed since the last period of sleep is also a major cause. This is also referred as the continuous wake hours (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). The circadian rhythm which depends on the time of the day and operating in varying time zones may lead to fatigue (Dawson & McCulloch, 2005). In some cases, the workload may make the crewmember tired leading to fatigue. Over the years, the airline industry has been utilising fatigue management. There has been the traditional method of managing fatigue in aviation (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). This is through the prescription of flight and duty time limits and ensuring that rest requirements are met (Gander, 2015). The conventional methods have been accused of reducing conditions leading to fatigue. These are regulations which are based on the time task theories which assume that fatigue accumulates in a liner manner (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). The methods also fail in taking to consideration the sleep loss and circadian rhythms. In the airline industry, fatigue training is very important to reduce the risk of fatigue. The training ensures that the flight crewmembers and the certificate holders have adequate knowledge on the impacts of fatigue on flight safety (Rosekind et al., 1994). It is required that every certificate holder must be able to develop, implement and update an FAA fatigue education and awareness training program. The fatigue training is for all employees who include the flight crew members, operation control workers and employees who provide the management oversight in these areas. The full impact of the fatigue in the industry has been in some cases underappreciated but the impacts are well known (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). The negative impacts of fatigue in the industry lead to loss and accidents. Through the use of the FRMS, it becomes easy to monitor and manage risks associated with fatigue. FRMS has organisation process and procedures which are required to control the fatigue risk in the aviation operations. The process is data-driven and scientifically based. Through the use of FRMS, it becomes possible to measure, model, mitigate and manage fatigue risk. This makes the process an effective mitigation strategy. FRMS offers the best way in conducting the flights by giving flexibility which cannot be achieved based on regulatory limits (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). It is capable of complementing the prescribed flight time, duty time and rest. According to the AC, there are four basic tools for an effective FRMS. The tools are fatigue data, fatigue analysis method, fatigue drivers identification and management and lastly the using the fatigue mitigation processes (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). It is important to look at the FRMS beyond a collection of tools. FRMS can be looked like a management process which is built on policies and procedures in an organisation. It is a systems approach which is made up of an integrated network of peoples and resources with an aim of minimising fatigue in aviation operations (Dawson, Chapman & Thomas, 2012). The four basic tools are used by the people to address potential fatigue. The organisational components of FRMS, in this case, are the FRMS policy, education and awareness training program, fatigue analysis and reporting system, monitoring fatigue in the flight and cabin crew, incidence reporting process and performance evaluation. All these are under § 117.7 (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). A typical FRMS is made up of 4 steps to come up with a continuous process. It is Important to look at the FRMS as a living system rather than set of rules. The steps repeat leading to a continuous cycle of performance improvement in reducing fatigue. The four steps are measurement and assessment of the situation at the moment, modelling and analysing the risk of fatigue, manage and mitigate risk and finally assessment and feedback. It is important to note that the FRMS has three stakeholders who are the certificate holder, employees/ crew and lastly the regulator. For the employee/ crew, it is important to note that people are poor in making their judgements (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). This makes it vital for the employees to be observed for fatigue. They should be advised to plan their sleep ahead of time and report fatigue. As the airline is a large industry, the implementation of FRMS depends on the complexity of the organisation. The organisation is also expected to commit resources which help in coming up with building blocks. The building blocks of FRMS are policies and procedures, organisation and personnel, tools and methods and lastly training and publicity. After developing the FRMS, the approval process commences. This is done in five phases which are completed in succession (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). The process is a major way in which the airline can address the cases of fatigue. From the analysis, use of science-based information makes the measures very important in the industry. There have been uses of scientist who are expert in the field of fatigue and human performance. The scientific report helps in coming up with mitigation measures that can be relied on such as FRMS (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2013). There is adequate evidence to show that fatigue can lead to an accident. There have been reports in the airline industry that fatigue-related accidents may increase in future if they are not addressed (Goode, 2003). With the airline industry becoming more competitive, the pilots working periods has been on the increase (Petrilli, Roach, Dawson & Lamond, 2006). The shift work has been on the increase with an aim of boosting productivity. Employees especially the crewmembers are subjected to unpredictable working hours, insufficient sleep, circadian disruptions and long duty periods. Also, the modern aircraft are highly sophisticated and can fly for longer hours which lead to an increasing demand on the flight crew (Romig & Klemets, 2009). For the flight crew, they have to consider their time on task, cumulative time duties and the extensions on their work time. It is important for them to note that building fatigue levels can be prolonged due to crossing time differences, sleep environment and pre-flight delays. The new rules on fatigue employ three tiers. The first level is based on basic limitations. The second level is fatigue management while the third level is FRMS (Cabon et al., 2008). In conclusion, FRMS, as described and analysed based on AC, creates a flexible environment where potential fatigue risks are highlighted and reduced. The FRMS can be used as a part of the existing safety management in aviation. If the certificate holders can implement FRMS well, they can improve flight safety, productivity, efficiency and make it more flexible. This will help in meeting the industry duty to care for the employees and public. As discussed, fatigue cannot be eliminated but can be managed and risks reduced. This is through addressing the sources of fatigue. The certificate holder, employees/crew and the regulator all has a role to play. If well implemented, FRMS will be able to manage the risks associated with fatigue in the airline industry. References Cabon, P., Mollard, R., Debouck, F., Chaudron, L., Grau, J. Y., & Deharvengt, S. (2008). From flight time limitations to fatigue risk management systems. In Proceedings of the Third Resilience Engineering Symposium (p. 27). Presses des MINES. Dawson, D., & McCulloch, K. (2005). Managing fatigue: it's about sleep. Sleep medicine reviews, 9(5), 365-380. Dawson, D., Chapman, J., & Thomas, M. J. (2012). Fatigue-proofing: a new approach to reducing fatigue-related risk using the principles of error management. Sleep medicine reviews, 16(2), 167-175. Gander, P. H. (2015). Evolving Regulatory Approaches for Managing Fatigue Risk in Transport Operations. Reviews of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 10(1), 253-271. Goode, J. H. (2003). Are pilots at risk of accidents due to fatigue? Journal of safety research, 34(3), 309-313. Petrilli, R. M., Roach, G. D., Dawson, D., & Lamond, N. (2006). The sleep, subjective fatigue, and sustained attention of commercial airline pilots during an international pattern. Chronobiology international, 23(6), 1357-1362. Romig, E., & Klemets, T. (2009). Fatigue risk management in flight crew scheduling. Aviation, space, and environmental medicine, 80(12), 1073-1074. Rosekind, M. R., Graeber, R. C., Dinges, D. F., Connell, L. J., Rountree, M. S., Spinweber, C. L., & Gillen, K. A. (1994). Crew factors in flight operations 9: Effects of planned cockpit rest on crew performance and alertness in long-haul operations. U.S. Department of Transportation (2013), Advisory Circular: Fatigue Risk Management Systems for Aviation Safety AC No: 120-103A, Federal Aviation Administration, Retrieved 6th April 2016 from, http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_120-103A.pdf Read More