Fatigue Awareness. Introducing fatigue awareness devices as a part of FRMS in an airline

Abstract

Fatigue has become more of broad and current interest, and has been claimed to be a contributing factor in several aviation accidents and incidents (European Cockpit Association, 2010; Flin, 2008). The International Air Transport Association (ICAO) changed one of their annexes in 2012, allowing fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) instead of prescriptive flight time limitations. From 2018 there are new rules, which requires all Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) -operations to incorporate FRMS as a part of their safety management system (ICAO, 2012). This thesis focuses on FRMS and its implementation in an airline. The thesis had Lufttransport RW as its area of study and the research question is: “How has the introduction of fatigue awareness devices as a part of Fatigue Risk Management System in an airline affected awareness of fatigue among crewmembers?” During the summer of 2015 Lufttransport Rotor Wing (RW) introduced fatigue awareness devices on all of their HEMS-bases. Pilots and HEMS-crewmembers had to state their felt level of fatigue before and after a mission. Methods: The thesis used a quantitative method combined with one qualitative interview. A questionnaire was sent out to all helicopter crewmembers working with HEMS in Lufttransport RW. Out of 22 pilots and HEMS-crewmembers, 18 answered the questionnaire. The questionnaire asked about how the crew perceived the user friendliness of the device, if there was any change in awareness of fatigue and if there had been any behavioural change due to the device being introduced. As a follow up an interview was conducted with a manager in RW where the management’s perception on how the device had led to any change within the organization. Result: The empirical findings show a slight increase in awareness of fatigue. The crew discussed fatigue more after the device was introduced. The rate of how often the crew thought about fatigue has somewhat increased. The management had noticed an increase in the willingness to report issues regarding fatigue. Conclusion: The finds in this thesis shows that the fatigue awareness device could be somewhat effective in regards to increasing awareness of fatigue. There has been an increase in awareness of fatigue in RW – but it is difficult to pinpoint if it is because of the device or other parts of the FRMS.