Working Hours and Fatigue in Aviation Maintenance

Presented by the Engineering Maintenance Standing Group

of the RAeS Human Factors Group

Hosted by RAF Bentley Priory, Stanmore, near Watford, North London

24 & 25 October 2002

The seminar addressed issues associated with aviation maintenance personnel working hours, shiftwork and fatigue, including papers from speakers followed by a workshop. A human factors calendar, featuring the MARSS “dirty dozen”, was given out to each delegate.

Notes:

(1) We recommend saving these files to disk rather than opening them online – some are quite large.

(2) All reproduction rights are reserved by the author(s). Information and papers presented here are not intended for sale or redistribution without written consent from their authors 

Contents
Meeting notes including programme

Presentations

• Mick Spencer
• Anne Stuart
• Bob Miles presentation and paper
• Evangelos Demosthenous 
• Drew Dawson 
• Simon Folkard presentation and report
• Simon Witts 
• UKOTG proposal (1999)
• Cliff Edwards – summing up

Work Hours of Aircraft Maintenance Personnel, by Simon Folkard D.Sc.

The report by Professor Simon Folkard on Work Hours of Aircraft Maintenance Personnel was issued on July 16th 2002. This report contains the results of an independent study carried out by Professor Folkard, funded by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The work was commissioned largely in response to concerns expressed via the Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme (CHIRP) that excessive hours worked by some maintenance personnel posed an aviation safety risk. The report is a scientific paper concerning the subject of work hours and fatigue. Please note that the recommendations are those of the author, Professor Folkard, and do not at this stage constitute formal, or informal, CAA policy regarding duty time limitations for maintenance personnel.

The CAA is reviewing the paper and its conclusions with a view to further action which will be discussed with industry. In due course the paper may be issued as a CAA paper.

Prof. Drew Dawson, Extended Work Hours in Australia – Counting the Costs.

Fatigue Expert Group: Options for Regulatory Approach to Fatigue in Drivers of Heavy Vehicles in Australia and New Zealand.