With the Covid-19 pandemic throwing traditional working patterns and staffing levels into disarray, particularly across the aviation industry, it’s never been more vital for employers to consider the impact of fatigue on their workforce. While many in the aviation industry have been grounded, those still working in air freight, cabin crew, maintenance technicians and pilots have found themselves working longer shifts with shorter rest intervals – the perfect storm for fatigue to become a potential hazard to health.
Baines Simmons, aviation safety specialists, have developed a new training course designed to help Air Operators to gain increased understanding of Fatigue Risk Management (FRM). The course supports learners in understanding the topic on a deeper level, allowing them to implement effective methods of data capture, reporting and controls, especially regarding the increased potential for fatigue risk brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Early in the pandemic, aviation operators providing cargo and evacuation or repatriation flights were granted exemptions from local flight time limitations in order to permit long haul return flights without crew staying over down route to minimise the risk of Covid-19 infection. The operators were required to demonstrate that their Fatigue Management arrangements were sufficiently robust to ensure duties could be operated safely. With the aviation sector still operating at limited capacity and within restrictions due to border controls, Baines Simmons has worked to develop an FRM course framework that provides delegates with learning that can be applied flexibly to a changeable and challenging industry landscape.
The newly designed Effective Fatigue Risk Management three-day virtual course enables learners to look beyond the essentials covered in most traditional FRM training.
Key areas of focus are:
- Developing a fatigue dashboard and suite of fatigue safety performance indicators (SPIs)
- Assessing current FRM processes using validated tools and identifying improvements
- Understanding new developments in fatigue science and how this can be used to inform FRM
- Evaluating the effectiveness of controls for fatigue
- Embedding a safety culture to support fatigue reporting
- Interpreting and integrating fatigue data from multiple sources
- Avoiding mistakes when implementing fatigue risk management.
The course is aimed at job roles across the aviation sector including Operations Managers, Chief Pilots, Safety Managers, Cabin Crew Managers and Crewing Managers.
“While we’ve seen fatigue risk quickly emerge as a key challenge across many industries as a result of the pandemic, pressures around fatigue risk and the management of that risk have been especially prevalent throughout the aviation sector,” says Ian Holder, Managing Director of Baines Simmons. “It has become clear that there is a need for education around FRM that provides learners with the ability to build a system that is nimble and responds to change.”
“Our new course combines our expertise around FRM with a focus on practical advice that reflects the current realities faced by organisations in 2021 and beyond. Delegates will work through real examples of the challenges operators have overcome, enabling them to identify strategies to build more effective FRM into their organisation, while learning about recent developments in FRM, including scientific advances and regulatory changes.”
Building on Baines Simmons’ successful shift toward implementation of virtual training courses, the new Effective Fatigue Risk Management course can be accessed by learners around the world and can also be delivered as an exclusive course within a client’s company.
For more information, please visit https://www.bainessimmons.com/