Introduction

In 2011, ICAO introduced an amendment to Annex 6 Part 1, providing national aviation authorities with the regulatory framework to offer Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) as an additional means for operators to manage fatigue.

In January 2014, in line with this new approach, EASA published the 'European Regulation for Flight Time Limitations (FTL) for commercial air transport (CAT) air operator certificate (AOC)'. These regulations include a European FTL scheme and multiple Operator Responsibilities (ORO.FTL.110) for managing fatigue.

This course has been designed to be consistent with the EASA regulations as well as ICAO's latest guidance material on FRMS. The course covers both ORO.FTL.110 (managing fatigue under SMS) and ORO.FTL.120 (Fatigue Risk Management). In addition to providing a detailed explanation of the science of sleep, circadian rhythms and the impact of fatigue on individual and operational performance, the course includes a series of 'how to' sessions each focusing on a different aspect of FRMS requirements.

Course Content

Day 1 – Background and the science of fatigue

• Introduction and background
• What is fatigue? How does fatigue impact cognitive performance?
• What are the consequences of fatigue for aviation?
• What are the causes of fatigue?
• Prescriptive approaches to managing fatigue
• Fatigue Risk Management (FRM)
• Benefits of FRM
• Managing fatigue within a Safety Management System
• The science of sleep, fatigue and alertness regulation
• Features of a roster that may elevate fatigue risk
• Individual countermeasures to fatigue

Day 2 – Implementing FRM

• Preparing the organisation for FRM
• The ICAO and EASA approaches to FRM
• Requirements of ORO.FTL.110 and ORO.FTL.120
• Gap Analysis against ICAO and EASA requirements
• Components of a FRM policy
• Processes for measuring, mitigating and managing fatigue risk
• Using biomathematical model data to provide a baseline of the organisation’s fatigue risk
• Collecting fatigue data from the workforce
• Introducing an effective fatigue reporting system
• Identifying fatigue-related Safety Performance Indicators
• Developing a fatigue training programme that engages crew
• Common mistakes to avoid when implementing FRM
• Summary and next steps

Group discussions, group tasks (e.g. identifying causes of fatigue, looking at crashes that have had fatigue as a contributor); use of rostering problems to illustrate roster-related fatigue contributors, analysis of examples of fatigue reports.

Learning Objectives

This course is designed to provide attendees with all the tools they need to begin to measure fatigue risk and to introduce FRM into their operation. Attendees leave with an understanding of:

• Fatigue Risk Management and the requirements of FRM as set out by ICAO and EASA
• The science of sleep, fatigue and alertness management (sleep need, circadian rhythms, sleep inertia)
• Operator Responsibilities for managing crew fatigue
• The processes to be established in an operation to measure, mitigate and manage fatigue risk
• The tools used to collect data to identify an operator’s fatigue risk
• Data that can be used to provide a baseline of fatigue risk
• Data that can be used as Safety Performance Indicators

Who should take this course

Personnel responsible for the implementation and oversight of FRM, Safety professionals, FRM advisors, NAA Inspectors, Fatigue Safety Action Group members, crewing and rostering personnel, CRM instructors.

Pre-requisites

None.

Duration

2 days, starting at 09:00 on both days and finishing at approximately 16.30 on the second day.