Aviation Week & Space Technology - 3 November 2014

nighter. It’s losing an hour to 90 min.

a night. It accumulates and comes

on gradually” As a result, “there is a

misperception of our ability to adapt

to it.” Even when we feel tired, we are

usually reluctant to admit it. “We tend

to think, ‘I’m a dedicated professional;

I’m going to get the job done.’ There’s

also a perception that it is weak to say

you are tired and need to step aside,”

says Gregory.

Technicians and managers must

better understand what fatigue is,

how it afects us and what its symp-

toms are. Self-assessments can help

diagnose fatigue (see sidebar). Short

breaks from a task, walking around

for exercise, moving into a well-lit

area and cafeine can help combat it.

Gregory urges organizations to

adopt a Fatigue Risk Management

System (FRMS), to include policies

that allow workers to ask for help

without being penalized and a system

for reporting and analyzing fatigue

issues. For instance, if a technician

reported working four nights in a row

and the fourth night was too much—

and there were multiple reports like

this over time—it might make sense

to reorganize the schedule or pair the

worker with a buddy on the fourth

night or lighten the workload.

Admittedly, this is difcult and will

likely require a massive cultural shift.

But it is crucial the maintenance

industry move in this direction.

“There are reasons we are fatigued,”

Gregory concludes. “Everyone has a

limit, and at some point people need

to recognize that.” c

some of the most important aspects

of a technician’s job. This is why it

has been pinpointed as one of the

“dirty dozen” root causes of errors in

aviation maintenance.

CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

Early shifts that require technicians

to rise at 4 or 5 a.m. work against the

body’s natural circadian rhythms and

can produce fatigue. Hours of wake-

fulness are an issue as well; once we

reach 17-18 hr. of being awake, perfor-

mance degrades. Unplanned varia-

tion in the work schedule—such as

working longer hours than planned

for an urgent job—make it tougher to

get the required rest. And a complex

workload can bring about fatigue

more quickly than low-intensity

tasks.

Echoing the sleep study above,

Gregory adds, “Fatigue doesn’t get us

in one fell swoop, like pulling an all-

The demographics of study partici-

pants likely are similar to those in any

MRO organization. Those studied—

healthy adults aged 21-38—were cho-

sen because they fit the demographic

found in occupations associated with

chronic sleep restriction, including

shift work. In that age range, it is also

common to find other factors lead-

ing to sleep deprivation, including

raising young children. These factors

can quickly add up to a lifestyle that

results in chronic sleep restriction

without the worker being aware of

how it is afecting their performance.

“People think about fatigue as being

physically tired,” says Kevin Gregory,

vice president/senior scientist at

Alertness Solutions. “But most of it

occurs in the higher functions: making

decisions, reacting quickly, checking

checklists and communicating well

with other members of the team.”

Fatigue strikes at the heart of

Human Factor

By Heather Baldwin

Heather Baldwin covers

MRO, training and human factors.

She can be reached at:

[email protected]

Working Tired

Acknowledging how sleep afects work quality

S

ome years ago, scientists at Harvard Medical School and

other top research facilities examined the cumulative costs

of sleep deprevation. What they found was startling: When sleep

was limited to 6 hr. or less per night over 14 days, it produced

cognitive performance deficits equivalent to up to two nights

of total sleep loss. Even more alarming, due to the gradual and

cumulative nature of the sleep restriction, the subjects studied

were largely unaware of their declining performance. In tests,

they thought they were doing just fine.

MRO Edition

MRO42 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY MRO EDITION NOVEMBER 3/10, 2014 AviationWeek.com/mro

T

o determine whether you may be working tired, ask yourself

the following questions:

Before starting work:

Did I get less than 6 hr. of sleep last night?

Have I been building a sleep deficit over time?

Did my shift require me to wake up extremely early in the

morning?

Am I working a series of shifts that require me to get up at

progressively earlier hours?

FATIGUE SELF-ASSESSMENT

Have I been asked to work longer hours than normal?

During the shift:

Am I slower than usual in performing a task?

Am I having a tough time finding the right words when com-

municating with others?

Did I forget someone telling me to do something?

Am I generally feeling short-tempered?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” you may be fa-

tigued and therefore more prone to making an error on the job. c

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