Fatigue Management

This page will be continually updated with the latest information from EASA on the management of fatigue. 

"State of Wellbeing and Fitness for Duties" is one of the Top 20 Cross Domain Safety Issues in Volume III of the European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS). There are a number of EPAS tasks that help mitigate this risk, including both Research and Safety Promotion tasks. 

It is important to remember that fatigue is not just an issue for aircrew (flight and cabin crew) but for everyone who works in aviation including ground staff, controllers and engineers as well. 

From the people part of the EASA Safety Map safe and effective operations are achieved by having enough competent staff who are operationally ready and fit for duty. 

Latest Update on 16 February 2024

Below are the key points and best practices discussed at the EASA Fatigue Conference that was held on 30/31 January 2024, that was co-hosted with Austrocontrol in Vienna. Over 200 representatives from authorities, airlines and aircrew associations came together to collaborate on how the industry can more effectively understand and mitigate the risks of fatigue to safe and effective operations. 

The presentations will be uploaded to the Event Webpage for the Conference in the next week (hopefully by 23 February). 

Collaboration, conversations and the importance of working together

It is hard to avoid the fact that the topic of fatigue is a challenging subject. One thing is for sure, we will only mitigate this risk effectively if we work together as Authorities, Organisations and Staff. Fatigue is a shared responsibility and we must talk about it openly to undestand the roles each actor has to play.

The FTL rules are not targets - manage risks to ensure safe operations

One of the key messages is that the FTL and any other rules related to fatigue for other aviation workers are not targets. The rules are not negotiable and as EASA has stated in various communications, most recently SIB 2023-05, the exercise of commander’s discretion is an exceptional measure. Extension of flight duty period when operating to and from aerodromes with a known high propensity for delays should not rely on excessive use of exceptional relief solutions.

Our staff perform to their best when they are operationally ready and fit for duty. It is on organisations to manage the risks to help people perform to their best. In the context of fatigue management being a shared responsibility - this also means that staff also have a key part to play as well. 

Key Fatigue Risks and Topics

There were some excellent presentations at the Conference from a number of different airlines and operators. Here are the main risks and topics related to fatigue, consider which of these relate to your operation and how you mitigate them.  

• 2 Pilot North Atlantic Operations.
• Night flights/ split duties.
• Early hub connections - depending on your airlines' network. 
• Disruptive schedules.
• Multiple sector duties.
• Commuting populations.
• Roster changes.

Mindset

It is important for organisations to have a mindset that safety, and particularly Fatigue Risk Management in this context, is not just a cost -  effective human performance is what drives the bottom line.

• Your FRM should reflect your individual operation and its risks.
• An evolution from reacting to generic fatigue and towards understanding and promoting individual performance - predicative, proactive and preventative initiatives. Performance and alertness principles as part of an integrated management systems
• Reporting and follow up investigation is key: A positive culture is needed to encourage that. It is important to identify root causes and pre-cursors, high risk sectors/ schedules using Pilot Alertness Form at Top of Descent (sent to independent sleep science organisation and results presented to Fatigue Safety Action Group), Proactive and Reactive Fatigue Reports.

People

When it comes to the people side of FRM, the following were considered to be very important things to consider.

• Empower staff to be involved in the FRMS, e.g. Giving crews the chance to bid for rosters that fit their personal lifestyle etc.
• Have clear roles and responsibilities in your organisation for FRM. Particularly the roles of the operational and safety teams, how the Fatigue Safety Action Group works, Fatigue pilots (A specific pilot from the line who has special training and works with the safety team).
• Staff support, promotion and training to deal with specific issues that you identify, such as for Disruptive Schedules. Some of the solutions/ mitigations included: Home base dedicated sleep facilities, Personnel Commuting Declarations, Rest day prior to start of a roster period so staff get ready, crew scheduling guidelines. initial and recurrent training, OCC rostering training, confidential support for crew from sleep scientists (e.g. to cope with lifestyle changes), safety nights by the fatigue pilots (to allow two way exchange on how the organisation can improve), providing results and insights in safety magazines.
• Alertness and Performance examination: Analysis of roster crew related performance to correlate with FDM data, incorporat

Resources and Data

With data at the heart of our operations it is important to have effective IT Tools and also the right data. This is a challenge in any organisation where different Departments battle for IT resources. 

• Understand the difference between quantitative and qualitative data and beware of success based optimism - everything is fine because you didn't have a major event but are you really managing the risk in a conscious way?
• Using technology: e.g. Melatonin testing and light exposure control, Actiwatch studies to identify situations or people at risk to take actions. effective use of AI in fatigue for reporting textual analysis to identify contributing factors, chat functionality to query information,

Rules and Procedures

When it comes to EASA Rules and company procedures:

• EASA rules are the baseline but you need to have company approaches that are specific to your evolving operation.
• ED Decision 2023/023/R published 12/2023 covering topics such as night duties, increased probability of fatigue at Top of Descent (TOD).

Risk Mitigations

As a summary, the key risk mitigations discussed include:

• Effective handling of situations when people report fatigued - to be more positive using an anonymous committee of peers.
• SPI Monitoring: CDR per 1000 duty periods, roster stability, fatigue reporting culture, KSS 8s and 9s.
• Fatigue Risk Management is vital to identify the right mitigations for your organisation. What are your high risk sectors? 
• Roster Analysis and Metrics: relies on good input roster data. Aviation is a data driven industry so we need to be aware of the human element and not just focus on the data alone.

Learning

You must use what you learn to make changes to continually mitigate your risks and communicate them to your staff.

Sharing best practices

Organisations and authorities were able to share best practices on areas including organisational roles and responsibilities (particularly how to get the most out of Fatigue Safety Action Groups), fatigue reporting (proactive and reactive), data collection and analysis, risk management, staff training and promotion.

The main follow up actions from the EASA Conference

• EASA continues to develop and improve the rules related to fatigue based on the science available as part of ongoing rulemaking activity in the EPAS.
• EASA will use the EPAS Safety Promotion Tasks to continually evolve the material available to Authorities, Organisations and Staff to help with the management of fatigue risks.
• Finally, we will continually look to host collaborative events to continue the discussion in person between all stakeholders and particularly to focus on these shared goals and responsibilities.